Needham High School’s newly renovated tennis courts, completed in September 2025, came in nearly $466,000 under initial estimates of $2.7 million — using $2.2 million of the $3 million approved for the project, and bringing the town’s public tennis court count to 16 courts.
The $2.2 million replaced four former NHS courts with eight new post-tension concrete courts, and allowed for demolition, regrading, stormwater management, landscaping, fencing upgrades and ADA accessible walkways. This was the first major upgrade to the courts since their construction in 2006. Upgrades were designed by campus and athletic facility planning firm Activas, and built by local contractor and athletic facilities specialists Argus Construction Corp.
Construction began in Spring of 2025, finishing in September in time for the spring tennis season.
“I wasn’t surprised it was under budget; I was surprised at the amount it was under budget,” said director for Park and Recreation Stacey Mulroy. “I mean, happily surprised. It’s not often we get to do that, you know, be able to turn back that kind of money to the town, which is helpful.”
Given that it was off by 17%, was the project mis-estimated? Not according to Mulroy. Line items were within range, but economic uncertainty around possible inflation rates, together with potential demand that could make materials more expensive and less readily available, led to a larger-than-usual contingency budget.
Mulroy noted that toward the end of 2025 and early 2026, generous contingencies were added to projects to anticipate inflation and growing delays in the delivery of project materials, which were increasing the overall price of projects.
Design study estimates included a 7.5% construction and design contingency of $173,550 for the NHS courts, and escalation costs for 2024 and 2025 totaling $188,822.
A quick comparison of design cost estimates and final project costs shows most line-items, including mobilization, erosion control, installation of a seat wall, the asphalt parking lot and post-tension courts, came in above original estimates. While several thousand was saved on the water line, area drains and new plantings, more than $100,000 was spent on added costs for drainage repairs, extra concrete and paving work.
“I think one of the hardest parts for both Activitas, who ran the project, and the town, is trying to estimate in advance by like three years what the project might cost,” she said. “And I know we had overshot on purpose because of the questionable rates, the steel, everything that’s being delayed — and the prices are getting really, really high for things that weren’t high two or three years ago. I know there was a built-in percentage that we overshot on purpose, because there were so many unknown factors in the equipment.”
In the end, the contingency for the NHS courts was unnecessarily generous. Materials like steel that were expected to bump up the cost caused little to no issues.
Mulroy also credits engineering company Activas for helping to bring the courts in significantly under budget.
“Activas was very much on top of their contractors,” she said. “And we were able to do some of the project management in-house again.”
Leftover project funds — a rare phrase to hear — will return to the town in the form of Free Cash or CPA General Reserve funds, available for appropriation in future Town Meetings.
Project dollars were originally drawn from multiple funds, including the Community Preservation Act General Reserve, the Athletic Facility Stabilization Fund, Overlay Surplus and CPA Free Cash.
Another project on the table also could come in under budget, said Mulroy: the disc golf course, currently in the feasibility and design phase.
“That’s the one that I was being extremely conservative of, and making sure that there was money built in if they went high,” she said. “But it could be one of the projects that comes in under budget.”
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