QUINCY — The approval of the last — and largest — contract for the construction of the new Quincy Valley Medical Center is scheduled for Oct. 30.

Joe Kunkel, a consultant working with QVMC on the project, said Monday the hospital board originally was scheduled to approve the contract for the third phase of the project during Monday’s meeting. But waiting a month was determined to be the better option, he said.

“We said, ‘Let’s take a little more time and let the market work on this.’ Because if we try to jam it through, we’ll get a lot of people not responding. And we need as many eyes as we can get on this thing,” Kunkel said.

The third phase was projected in August to be about $38.5 million, and Abram Jenks, also a consultant on the project, said that’s still the estimate.

Graham Construction, Spokane, the general contractor on the project, and the subcontractors have advertised for bids on many of the materials, bids that will be opened Oct. 17.

“The 17th is a big day. It’s a milestone for sure,” Kunkel said.

The estimate that will ultimately be approved by the hospital board should be submitted for review by Oct. 20, Jenks said.

“Ideally, it’s under budget, and it’s a very quick review, some clarifications and we’re moving forward. We have some additional time in here because sometimes they’re not under budget,” Jenks said.

Some portions of the project are in need of adjustment to get them back within budget, he said.

Materials in the bid package range from masonry and window shades to roofing, wall and floor tiles and landscaping. Kunkel said the contractors want to have multiple bidders for each item.

Construction trailers are scheduled to start appearing on the site next Monday, Jenks said. The first task will be clearing the site of trees that have been cut down already, then demolishing what were the administrative offices, a converted manufactured home. The next step will be demolishing three additional buildings on the site.

When the demolition is completed crews will start installing underground utilities and preparing to pour the building foundation footings. Jenks said that work will be ongoing through early November.

The plans for the foundation are under review by the city of Quincy, and those plans must be approved before the footings and foundation can be installed.

“They can dig the footings, they can do the ground improvement, (but) our agreement with the city is you cannot pour the concrete, because that is when we need the foundation submittal approved,” Jenks said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at [email protected].