Built for the Long Haul: PATCO Delivers Waterboro’s New Public Works Garage
For years, Waterboro’s public works crew worked out of an old salt shed. A lean-to on the side served as the garage, the office was one small room, and for a long time the building didn’t even have a bathroom.
“We outgrew it. It was inadequate,” said Waterboro Town Manager Matt Bors. “The useful lifespan of what we had was done.”
This past summer, that changed. PATCO finished a voter-approved public works garage of about 12,000 square feet that gives the town room to grow. The project came in on schedule and under budget, even though it was built straight through a Maine winter.
A Building for the Town’s Future
The Waterboro Public Works Department, led by Director Jason Champion, maintains the town’s roads, culverts, and other municipal infrastructure. For many years, the town has paid contractors to do its winter plowing and sanding, which is a significant expense. When town leaders looked for ways to save money, bringing that work in-house rose to the top of the list.
Doing that means more plow trucks, more equipment, and a place to store and maintain them. Keeping all of it outside, with no way to work on it, didn’t make sense, Bors said.
The project had been in planning for several years. Almost two years ago, voters gave it overwhelming support. The town put the project out to bid with $2.4 million available, an amount that left a cushion.
“Our goal was that we needed to stay under budget,” Bors said. “Waterboro is a relatively conservative community. We knew we couldn’t go back to the taxpayers looking for more money, so we kept that in mind the whole time.”
Choosing PATCO
Several firms bid on the project, and PATCO was the lowest bidder. Bors credits PATCO with looking closely at what the town could get for the money it had. PATCO worked with the town in what was essentially a design-build approach using a pre-engineered steel building. The result is a facility where every dollar goes toward function.
“This is not the Taj Mahal,” Bors said. “There are no extras in it. It’s a building that’s functional for the future.”
The finished garage includes about 3,000 square feet of offices, bathrooms, a break room, and a workshop. It also has a full mezzanine for storage.
Seamless from Start to Finish
The town decided not to hire a clerk of the works. Instead, Bors and Champion were on site often, and weekly meetings with PATCO kept everything transparent.
Dennis Waters was PATCO’s primary contact for the town. At the start of the project, he laid out exactly what PATCO’s job would be. “He communicated issues. When questions came up, we were able to address them, talk to him, and quickly move on,” Bors said.
“Our time with PATCO was seamless. We didn’t have any issues,” Bors said. “There was great communication. Dennis did a great job with us. He was our point of contact, and we really funneled everything through him.”
The building went up on land the town already owned, so there were few unknowns and only a handful of change orders. The biggest surprise was ledge that had to be blasted, which added an unexpected $20,000 to $30,000. Even so, after the contract was awarded, PATCO worked with the town to save money in other places. “They were very flexible as we went along,” Bors said.
A Winter Build, Delivered on Time
Construction started in the fall of 2025, so crews worked right through the winter. The concrete was in around the first of the year. Once spring came, crews were “off to the races” on the interior, framing out the offices and work areas.
Bors admits he expected delays, especially in getting materials. They never came. The project wrapped up in the summer of 2026, right on schedule.
Because the town stayed within budget, its cushion of about $200,000 could go toward furnishing the building. “These weren’t dream items,” Bors said. “They were essentials for what we do day to day.”
Looking Ahead
The town received its certificate of occupancy a couple of months ago. Moving in is happening gradually, because the small crew’s first priority is finishing up road projects before winter.
Bors says it’s too early to measure how the building will change day-to-day operations, but he knows what it makes possible. Plow trucks and equipment will have a home. In time, the town hopes to have its own mechanics servicing vehicles for public works, recreation, and possibly the fire department.
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