Renovations to the Coatesville high school will cost taxpayers $46.9 million according to bids the district's operations committee is recommending to the full school board.

The bids came in $220,000 over the $46.7 million estimate prepared by Gilbert Architects, a Lancaster County based firm. Ken Lupold, the district's business manager, said had the low bidder for the plumbing contract not pulled out, bids would have been $18,000 under Gilbert's estimate.

According to Lupold, bid estimates prepared by the district's project manger, Turner Construction, were $52 million. Turner Construction has since been fired by the school district.

"Kudos really go to Gilbert Architects for getting these bids down to where the belong," said Lupold.

Lupold said there are construction choices regarding the high school project that could shave $500,000 off the estimate. "Then we would be $300,000 under budget," he said.

The winning bidders are as follows: Lobar Inc, general contractor, $25,228,000; Gooseworks Inc, electrical contractor, $7,770,000; Guy M. Cooper, plumbing contractor, $1,844,000; (G. Bass Co.. was the low bidder for the plumbing contract, but they withdrew their bid because of math errors); Farfield Co., HVAC contractor, $8,469,000; Vincent Pools Inc., pool contractor, $1,750,000; Gooseworks Inc, technology contractor, $1,750,000; and Anchor Fire Protection, fire protection contract, $7,99,000.