Land purchase $2 mil. First 14 courts, etc $4 mil. Design fees $0.5 mil. Second 14 courts: $1.5 mil. Final ( ? ): $8 mil. Tennis courts can’t be all that much different from any other paving job when it comes to construction contracts and management composition.

In parking lot paving, there is always a paving contractor and sometimes there is a general contractor over the paving contractor. In the first instance the paving contractor usually gets the job with a guaranteed bid lower than the competition’s prices. In bigger jobs that include other construction besides the paving, the general contractor guarantees the total cost.

In tennis court design, a lot of the time the tennis court contractor builds courts “just like those last ones” and uses drawings and specifications already proven in previous projects. Other times there is a landscape architect who is practiced in tennis court design and construction. And to really get picky, in addition to the landscape architect there could be a separate specialist, the tennis court designer, typically from far enough out of town to rate expert status and high fees.

In tennis court construction, a tennis court contractor wins the bid for just the courts, even if there is a general contractor over the larger project. Sometimes the tennis court contractor answers to the public agency that is building the court complex without a general contractor.

Take the Lexington County tennis facility on Oak Drive, for instance. Built four years ago, the 21 courts and the large clubhouse cost about $2.1 million, to include landscaping and parking. Howard B. Jones & Son had the tennis courts contract as a separate work order, and the 21 courts were built for $550,000 or about $26,000 per court. There was no separate tennis court designer, and there was no general contractor with a guaranteed maximum for the whole development. Still, all the participants say the facility was a success.

In Sumter last year, 18 courts were built by the general contractor, Singleton of Sumter, overseeing its tennis court sub–contractor, Thermal Belt Sports Services of Taylors. There was no separate tennis court designer, but there was a landscape architect, Columbia’s Ken Simmons. Simmons designed the courts and authored their specifications. Simmons monitored the construction to be sure the courts closely followed his construction documents. Trying to tally the cost of the courts, most participants agree the courts came in for less than $40,000 each. The whole job was about $2 million, to include a clubhouse and a shelter and plenty of parking.