The accessibility renovation at Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street in Downtown Brooklyn, now opens Thursday, October 1, at 2 p.m. DCAS moved it there with Addendum 5, dated September 1. That's the third time this summer the date has slid. Addendum 3 on July 14 set August 13 at 10 a.m. Addendum 4 on August 3 pushed it to September 16 at 2 p.m. If your calendar still says the 16th, fix it today.

Here's what didn't move. None of the five addenda revised a drawing. The title blocks still end at a CD Final set dated March 23, 2023. There's no question-and-answer addendum either, even though the question deadline was stretched to July 20. So you get two more weeks to price a design that's three and a half years old, and none of the five addenda answers a bidder question. One more: the addendum that added the drawings to the solicitation is dated June 12, two days after the June 10 site walk.

“The date has moved three times. The drawings haven't moved once.”

The paperwork: DCAS solicitation 85624B0007, RFI-001375 on our board, with a $20 million agency estimated procurement value on the PASSPort record. It's general construction with asbestos abatement inside it. The building has 51 courtrooms on floors 2 through 5, 7 and 9. Sheet T002 lays out the work. That's 23 public restrooms renovated with new fixtures, accessories and finishes, and two new public restrooms on the first floor. Add two vertical platform lifts, reworked jury room toilets, office counters, new lighting, doors, hardware and signage.

The schedules are where a sub finds the number. The A-703 fixture schedule calls for 94 sinks, 94 sensor faucets, 89 wall-hung toilets, 22 urinals, 156 grab bars and 94 soap dispensers. The A704 bench schedule carries 177 new oak-veneer spectator benches in ten types across the courtroom floors. One lift goes in at the third-floor Law Library, the other at Stair S04D on the fourth floor, each about five feet of rise. The spec names a Garaventa GLV-EN-72 as its basis, or approved equal. There's a new ramp at Courtroom 224 too. The fixture sheet tells the contractor to verify every count, so treat those numbers as a starting point, not a promise.

Now the asbestos, because this is where somebody leaves money on the table. The hazmat survey took 315 bulk samples and confirmed 26 asbestos materials. It assumes six more it couldn't reach are asbestos too. All of it comes out before the renovation touches it. The trouble is the survey and the abatement drawings don't agree on how much. Courtroom bench backing is 6,300 square feet in the survey and 1,310 when you add up the room tables on the H-sheets. Wiring insulation is at least 7,500 square feet in the survey, with one row left blank. The sheets carry it as 5,115 linear feet, which isn't even the same unit. Ceramic tile mastic runs 6,000 square feet against 5,761.

Let's say you price bench backing off the survey. You're carrying almost five times what the drawings show, and you probably lose the number. Price it off the drawings and the extra footage turns into a change-order fight in a live courthouse. One more thing: the survey was scoped to design drawings dated June 11, 2021, almost two years before the final set. That's an RFI, and it should go in writing before October 1.

Lead is the milder story. All 43 paint chips tested under 0.25 percent, so none counts as lead-based paint under Local Law 66, and certified lead abatement workers aren't required. You still treat those surfaces as lead-containing paint under EPA and OSHA rules. That means respirators until an exposure assessment shows your crew is under the limit.

You do all of this in a working courthouse. The spec says the building will stay occupied and operational for the whole renovation, and every system stays live. Electrical shutdowns need five business days' notice and written approval from the Commissioner. Plumbing and sprinkler shutdowns need 48 hours. General construction runs 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. under the Noise Code. The plumbing spec also wants evening and weekend price options for torch cutting in occupied space. Every one of those rules costs labor hours, and somebody has to carry them.

Security isn't spelled out the way you'd expect at a courthouse. The rider in the set is the City's standard one. It says the City may require background checks on anyone working the contract, possibly with fingerprints. The contractor pays for them. The City owes nothing if a clearance runs late or gets refused. Build your crew list early, because anyone who can't clear can't work.

A handful of spec lines will either bounce a bid or eat margin later. The electrical spec wants itemized costs for every light fixture in the bid. The HVAC spec wants the cost of helping with special inspections in the bid. Sprinkler and plumbing manufacturers are locked to the names listed. If you propose an alternate anyway, you pay the owner's cost to review it, whether it's accepted or not. Schedule 10 sprinkler pipe is not allowed. Light fixture substitutions have to be requested at least two weeks before bidding closes. With an October 1 opening, that means by September 17.

Now the labor side. The 2025 citywide renovation project labor agreement is posted with the solicitation. The bid booklet is what formally applies it to this job, so confirm it there. As written, it covers City renovation primes over $3 million, and this job is well past that line. Where it applies, the winning bidder and every sub at every tier signs a Letter of Assent. Nobody has to join a union or pay dues to work the job, but hiring goes through the local halls first. Here's the catch for M/WBE subs who aren't signatory. The agreement lets up to 7 percent of the work go to non-signatory certified firms, but only on primes of $25 million or more. At a $20 million estimate, don't build your plan around that. Wages come from the City's Article 8 prevailing wage schedules for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, which Addendum 3 added.

The drawings and spec books don't give M/WBE goal percentages, contract duration, liquidated damages, bid security or bond requirements. Those belong in the bid booklet, the Information for Bidders, on the PASSPort record, and every addendum amends it. If a roundup or calendar handed you a goal number, check it against the booklet before you build a sub list around it.

So who's looking? Firms on the site walk and pre-bid sign-in sheets in Addendum No. 3 include CLS Project Solutions, Sea Breeze G.C., Minhas General Contractor Company, Five Star Contracting Companies, Corbex, Iannelli Construction, Strong Steel Corp, Siedlecki Construction, Prismatic Development Corp, Centennial Elevator Industries, NYCD Group and Sienia Construction. CLS, Five Star, Iannelli and Strong Steel signed both sheets. That's attendance, not a bid list, and the walk wasn't mandatory. Two names are busy on our Bid Results tab this month. Prismatic won DCAS's 1 Centre Street elevator modernization at $73,878,998. Corbex won DDC's roof upgrade at the Clarke Bronx Family Criminal Courthouse at $18,930,819. Some of the people chasing this job already know how big City building work goes.

What to do now: pull all five addenda, the bid booklet, the H-sheets and the survey from the PASSPort record. Put your abatement quantity question in writing. Get light fixture substitutions in by September 17. DCAS strongly encourages bidders to submit 48 hours before the deadline, so treat September 29 at 2 p.m. as your real finish line. The date has moved three times. The drawings haven't moved once. Price the building that's actually standing at 360 Adams Street, not the one on the 2021 survey.