Construction on Peterson and Edgerton school classroom additions in Kalispell is under budget and ahead of schedule.

The work may be completed a couple of weeks before the planned move-in date of Aug. 15, according to Tom Heinecke of the engineering firm Morrison-Maierle.

Peterson’s addition includes four classrooms, three restrooms, a serving kitchen and multipurpose room. Edgerton’s addition includes four classrooms and four restrooms. The additions are intended to deal with overcrowding at the kindergarten- through second-grade level in Kalispell elementary schools.

Peterson Principal Rick Anfenson said crews are hanging drywall, painting and completing a covered walkway that connects the north wing of the school to the cafeteria.

“It sounds like we’ll be move-in ready by Aug. 1,” Anfenson said. “The construction company has really hustled.”

The steel structure of the Edgerton addition recently was closed in and workers have begun hanging drywall. Edgerton Principal Merisa Murray said the addition should be completed before the deadline.

Swank Enterprises is the general contractor for the Edgerton project; The firm Hammerquist and Casalegno is doing the Peterson work.

Both Anfenson and Murray expect that the classroom additions will bring kindergarten- through second-grade classes back into accreditation.

There should be no more than 20 students per class at this level to meet state accreditation.

With the first day of school Aug. 28, registration continues at both schools. On Tuesday, Murray said there were between eight and 10 spots available at the kindergarten level for the 2013-14 school year.

Peterson has added one kindergarten and one first-grade class for the upcoming school year. Each grade level will have four classes, Anfenson said. Anfenson said the extra classrooms also will allow students attending schools outside their neighborhood because of overcrowding the option to return.

Edgerton has added second- and fourth-grade classes for the 2013-14 school year. There will be five classes each in kindergarten, first and second grades. One of the second-grade classes will be a “super-second” classroom, which entails combining two classes into one team-taught by two teachers.

Voters approved a $3.35 million elementary district bond request to fund construction projects at the two elementary schools plus a new central kitchen near Kalispell Middle School.

Currently the elementary construction project has about $39,300 in budget reserves.

Although under budget, the project has incurred some additional costs.

One significant change in the project was due to unexpected soil conditions at Peterson.

During excavation, more topsoil was discovered than anticipated. Eighteen inches of topsoil had to be removed and replaced with a mixture of rock and soil to make the site stable, at an additional cost of $20,942. Heinecke said a soil report from a previous construction project was used prior to excavation and didn’t indicate any concerns.

“What we suspected happened during previous construction is they stripped the topsoil and redistributed it,” Heinecke said.

For the other Kalispell school construction project, general contractor bids for the new central kitchen are due June 25.

The lowest bid for kitchen equipment already has been selected by Morrison-Maierle and will be wrapped into the general contractor bid as one action item to be approved by school trustees.

Two bids came in for the kitchen equipment. Only one was considered because the other bid came in after the deadline and did not meet requirements.

“I was expecting at least three, so that was a bit of a surprise,” Heinecke said.

The selected kitchen equipment bid came in at approximately $251,000 — $10,000 more than anticipated but less than the invalid bid, according to Heinecke

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.