GUNTERSVILLE — The new Marshall County Jail addition project in Guntersville is behind schedule by up to 75 days.
Project manager Kelly Howard told the Marshall County Commission on Wednesday that repeated setbacks due to “poor workmanship” have delayed the project 60 to 75 days.
Howard said plumbing and walls that were not installed correctly or in the right place have had to be demolished and redone, costing valuable time. He also said scheduling conflicts and delayed deliveries have brought construction to a complete halt on parts of the project.
“We’ve had at least 15 walls of various sizes that have been demolished after erection, which they’re going to have to reinstall,” Howard said during the meeting. “Most of them have been reinstalled at this point. But that’s been the major problem with the scheduling conflicts.”
Howard said the contractor must submit a recovery schedule that shows how much overtime and manpower will be needed to make up for lost time and get back on track.
“We have put the contractor on notice a couple of weeks ago to have us a recovery schedule before yesterday,” Howard said. “They sent us a schedule last week, we reviewed it, and it was not a recovery schedule at all. So we put them on notice again yesterday.”
In December 2024, the County Commission awarded Carmon Construction, Inc. the contract for a new 250-bed jail addition after the company submitted the lowest bid for the project at $35,636,844, which included a base bid of $30,634,844 and an alternate budget of $4,600,000. Construction began a few months later in 2025.
Carmen Construction did not respond to a request for comment.
SEE: Marshall County approves $35.6 million bid for new jail addition
Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims told 1819 News that additional costs due to the delays and redone work would be borne by the contractor, not the taxpayer.
“It's Kelley's [Howard] job as construction manager to make sure the contractor and subcontractors do what they are supposed to do,” Sims said. “He is holding them to the schedule that was agreed to in the bid. Any mistakes they make fall back on them to fix and to pay for it. That cost is not passed on to the taxpayers, but is incurred by the contractor.
“That's what the contractor is responsible for. It falls back on him to fix those issues. All the work that has been done right is good. Kelley makes them redo any work he finds that is poorly done. If it is done right, he will approve it.”
At the last Commission meeting on March 11, Howard said there have been 12 payouts on the jail so far, totaling about $11 million, and 17 requested change orders, The Advertiser Gleam reported.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to note that Carmen Instruction did not respond to a request for comment.
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