The Philly Park Casino Conversion Project started out as a $16M upgrade and conversion of an existing racetrack outside Philadelphia, PA. The project consisted of renovations to and the addition of 2,250 slot machines in an operating thoroughbred racetrack facility. It also included restaurant and retail space. Trauner was retained by the owner to review escalation of the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract and the scope of work versus cost issues. During construction, the cost of the project escalated from $16.9 million to $61 million.

Trauner’s scope of work included a review of the original pre-GMP contract, the GMP amendments, and all attachments; a tour of the project site to delineate work areas that were within the original scope and those that had been added from owner-requested changes; a review of accounting records, including those of the subcontractors; a review of the estimating records; an analysis of a sampling of daily reports; analysis of the project schedule and schedule updates; analysis of manpower costs and overtime allowances; and presentation of our findings and conclusions.

All this work was aimed at determining if our client had received a fair and reasonable price for the work and materials they were provided. After receiving Trauner’s report, the client was able to close out the contract with the Contractor.