SIDNEY — During the Shelby County commissioners’ regular meeting, Thursday, July 19, architects Dan and John Freytag and project manager Amy Schwieterman, of Freytag and Associates Inc., presented new ideas for constructing an animal shelter.

The Shelby County Animal Rescue Foundation, known as SCARF, has been raising money for three years to pay for the building of the Bob Sargeant and Family Shelby County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. The Freytag firm designed it and a ceremonial groundbreaking took place in November.

When it was put out for bid in late spring, no bids were returned. On June 11, which was when bids were to have been opened, John Freytag theorized that market forces had driven up the cost of materials, resulting in a prebid estimate of project costs that were too low for contractors to meet. In addition, “local contractors are all busy,” John said, then.

Thursday, Dan reported that the firm has since talked with several contractors who had expressed interest in the project.

“Masons were on a very tight schedule. That was a sticking point,” Dan said. The original plans had called for all the walls in the kennel area of the 7,998-square-foot building to be masonry. The architects consulted Shelter Planners of America for other ideas.

The designs presented Thursday are for tiled walls.

“We’ll put in stud walls,” Dan said. He noted that they spent a lot of time working out how to protect such walls from wear and tear that comes with the frequent washing required by dog kennels.

Between the wood and the interior tiles of the kennels, there will be several layers of materials, including a waterproof membrane and a cement board. The walls will rest on curbs instead of the full foundations that the weight of masonry walls had required.

“That had a major cost impact,” Dan said.

In addition, the new pre-bid information lists items that will be bid as alternates, including options for HVAC equipment that before had been specified.

“We’ve reworked some numbers,” Schwieterman said. “We did this in combination with people who were planning.”

The result is an estimated cost of $2,610,00 for construction, which includes site work, general construction, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, casework, animal shelter equipment and a contingency amount; $224,960 for design and professional fees; $30,000 for consultants’ fees; $7,500 for plan approval fees and printing; and $18,890 for geotechnical and utilities installation costs. They total $2,891,350.

Not included in the estimate are furniture and communications equipment. To be rebid as alternates are the under slab kennel floor heating system, porcelain tile floor and base rather than luxury tile and rubber base for the reception areas; and HVAC equipment.

SCARF’s fundraising goal of $2,400,000 has not changed. As of Thursday, the group had raised $2,351,872.51, which is 98 percent of the goal. SCARF members are soliciting in-kind donations of materials and continuing with fundraising to meet the increased cost estimates.

The commissioners plan to begin advertising for rebids in early August with a due date of Aug. 23.