News

Courthouse expansion vote hinges on guaranteed maximum price

County commissioners are expected to vote by the end of March on whether to authorize a four-story courthouse addition. If they say yes, they will green light the most expensive capital project in county history. The projected total currently is $170 million for the combined courthouse-jail project. [FENTRESS ARCHITECTS]

By Bill Moss, Published: January 7, 2026

As they edge closer to a decision on the largest capital project in the county’s history, Henderson County commissioners are still waiting for the all-important final price tag.

It’ll be a  whopper.

At $170 million, the jail addition and a massive four-story courthouse expansion would eclipse the current holder of the record for the costliest project — the $60 million renovation and addition to Hendersonville High School. The building that turns 100 years old this year got a top-to-bottom makeover that makes it ready for the next one hundred.

With the $78 million detention center project currently under way, commissioners face within the next three months a vote on whether to greenlight the four-story courthouse addition on Grove Street. They’re awaiting the final number, which project managers expect to present by the end of March. If commissioners approve the overall guaranteed maximum price (GMP), it’s up to the construction manager at risk, Haskell-Cooper, to deliver the building at that cost or less.

Shaun Bowman, senior project manager, unveiled a guaranteed maximum price on Monday night for the courthouse sitework of just over $5 million. That’s a fraction of the total projected cost of the job, which stands currently at $92,951,987. The contractor doing the sitework for the jail addition, Tennoca Construction Co., was the only bidder on the courthouse site prep. By law, the county had to rebid the work, and still drew no more offers.

“To be honest, I’m uncomfortable that we only got one bid,” said county commission chair Bill Lapsley, a retired civil engineer.

But Bowman pointed out that having Tennoca on the ground now could speed up the work.

“They’ve already mobilized, they have staff and equipment there,” he said. “But also Haskell Cooper has a fair-sized construction team and so the sooner we can get started, the sooner we’ll finish so we can keep the staff (and project) really compressed to a 30- or 35-month schedule.”

‘Any red flags’ on cost?

Commissioners disagreed on whether to go ahead and award the site-prep contract and break ground.

“Is there any practical reason not to go ahead and start with the groundwork?” Commissioner Michael Edney, an attorney and the strongest advocate for the new courthouse, asked Bowman. “No sir,” the project manager responded. “And every day we don’t start costs us more money,” Edney added. “Have we seen any red flags or even yellow flags in the market to make us feel uncomfortable about (guaranteed maximum price) 2 and 3 coming up — anything from Venezuela, stuff like that?”

“Not at this time,” Bowman said. “Generally it’s the first quarter where subcontractors and vendors will start sending out notices of material escalation or tariffs. No red flags right now so far.”

Edney said, “So I see no reason why we don’t just keep moving forward.”

Commissioner Jay Egolf saw one big reason not to — the unknown cost.

“I just find myself completely at an unease,” he said. “If I don’t know the price of the whole thing, it just seems to me, it allows us to start work and then — and I hate to use these words — we’re held hostage. … I want the price of the whole thing. I come from the automobile business, and when someone says, I want an out-the-door price, I gotta have the taxes, the fees, the addendums — everything. If I’m buying a car, I want to know what is the price, not the base price, I want to know what is the price, everything included.”

When Edney said “it will cost $250,000, 300,000 just to wait,” Egolf responded that “paying an additional $200,000, $300,000 is better than a total price coming in at 97 or 98 or 99 (million dollars) when it’s at 92 now. I think $300,000 — I’ll play that safe against a $7 million increase.”

Commissioners agreed to take no action until Haskell-Cooper receives and vets bids from dozens of subcontractors and suppliers. Those are due Feb. 10. If Tennoca agrees to extend its $5 million site prep bid by one month, “it’s not going to cost us any more money for this first piece,” Lapsley said.

Board members agreed that they’re ready, willing and able to meet as soon as possible after the construction management team finalizes the GMP.

“I think this project is of such significance to this county that after we get these numbers, if this board needs to have a special called meeting to go over them, that’s what we need to do,” Lapsley said.