$11.56M Dayton Water Quality Lab Tracks 5 LV Systems

Dayton's $11.56 million Central Water Quality Laboratory expansion puts five low-voltage systems inside a public-health project built around PFAS and regional water testing. Using the current funded project total rather than Signal's blended capital-program value, the likely low-voltage package lands between $650,000 and $950,000, with an approximately $800,000 planning midpoint.

Project Overview

The City of Dayton is renovating roughly 16,000 square feet of its existing Central Water Quality Laboratory and adding approximately 3,240 square feet at 3210 Chuck Wagner Lane. The work is more than a cosmetic laboratory refresh. Public bid information describes demolition, new walls, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, and a full renovation of the operating laboratory environment.

The most current financing record is the May 2026 Ohio Water Development Authority meeting book. It puts total project cost at $11,556,550.21: $9.97 million of construction, about $1.49 million of contingency, and a $100,655 loan fee. Funding combines a $7.56 million zero-interest OWDA loan with $4 million of congressional funding. Current project tracking lists the job in the award and construction-start phase during 2026.

Signal's stored $47 million value is not used here. The source program lists a separate $47 million Miami Well Field recharge-lagoon project, and that amount appears to have crossed into this laboratory row during enrichment. The laboratory's own description called the work a $10 million project; the OWDA closing record now supplies the better $11.56 million total.

Project	Dayton Central Water Quality Laboratory Expansion
Location	3210 Chuck Wagner Lane, Dayton, Ohio
Current Project Total	$11,556,550.21
Construction Budget	$9,970,126.27
Facility Scope	Approximately 16,000 SF renovated plus 3,240 SF added
Status	Award / construction underway in 2026
LV Score	8/10
Signal Systems	5

Why This Laboratory Is Expanding

Dayton's laboratory was built in 1991, while the volume and complexity of required water analyses have continued to grow. The City's original design request describes organic, metals, wet chemistry, microbiology, bacteriology, and lime-quality-control laboratories operating within the building. It also identifies the need for PFAS-specific analysis, extraction, sample preparation, purge-water storage, external-client intake, and HVAC control that reduces environmental contamination.

The Ohio EPA environmental review connects the expansion directly to monitoring emerging contaminants, including PFAS compounds. Dayton's two water-treatment plants serve roughly 400,000 people across Montgomery County, so the laboratory is part of a regional compliance and source-water-protection system rather than a back-office amenity.

That operating mission changes the low-voltage brief. Network availability, controlled access, alarm reporting, environmental data, and documented commissioning affect the reliability of test results. Cable pathways and device placement also have to coexist with laboratory airflow, chemical-storage rules, sensitive instruments, and areas where contamination control is a design constraint.

Key Players and Procurement Context

The City of Dayton Department of Water is the owner and operator. A public bid listing identifies E. Lynn App Architects as designer. The reviewed public sources did not reliably identify the awarded general contractor, so this spotlight does not guess. Contractors should confirm the prime and current trade-buyout contacts from the City's award documents before treating the project as an open solicitation.

Role	Organization	What Matters to LV Contractors
Owner / Operator	City of Dayton Department of Water	Owns the laboratory mission, network, security, monitoring, and commissioning standards.
Designer	E. Lynn App Architects	Coordinates architectural, laboratory, MEP, fire-protection, and technology interfaces.
Funding	Ohio Water Development Authority + federal funding	Public funding drives documentation, compliance, closeout, and domestic-content requirements.
General Contractor	Not confirmed in reviewed sources	Verify the award and buyout status before outreach.

A subcontractor bid-room listing also flagged prevailing wage, a project labor agreement, tax-exempt purchasing, and Build America, Buy America requirements. Those conditions can affect labor eligibility, submittal timing, and material selection. They belong in the go/no-go review before a low-voltage firm spends estimating hours.

Low Voltage Systems Breakdown

Signal identifies five systems, but the useful scope is in their interfaces. This is an occupied scientific environment with specialized ventilation and instrument loads, so pathways, shutdowns, testing windows, and commissioning records may matter as much as device quantities.

System	Likely Scope	Complexity
Structured Cabling	Backbone and horizontal connectivity for staff work areas, laboratory data capture, instrument interfaces, wireless access points, printers, and building-system gateways. Include labeling, test records, rack coordination, and migration sequencing.	High
Access Control	Controlled entry at laboratory suites, chemical and gas storage, sample-intake areas, administrative zones, and exterior doors. Door hardware and life-safety release coordination are central.	High
CCTV	Exterior, receiving, circulation, and chain-of-custody coverage with attention to privacy and laboratory operating policy. Storage, retention, and network segmentation require owner decisions.	Medium
Fire Alarm	Extension or replacement of notification, initiating devices, interfaces, and monitoring across renovated and added areas, coordinated with HVAC shutdowns and the existing campus system.	High
Environmental Monitoring	Room-condition sensors, alarm points, and BAS integration for temperature, humidity, pressure relationships, and equipment-space conditions. PFAS work makes stable environments and clean commissioning especially important.	High

Estimated Low Voltage Value

The value model uses the verified $11.56 million total project cost, not the $47 million field currently stored in Signal. A specialized research and testing laboratory typically carries a low-voltage share near 6% before system-complexity adjustment. Five coordinated systems justify a 1.15 multiplier, producing an approximately $797,000 midpoint, rounded to $800,000.

Verified Project Total	$11,556,550
Laboratory LV Benchmark	Approximately 6%
Five-System Multiplier	1.15x
Planning Midpoint	Approximately $800,000
Planning Range	$650,000-$950,000

The lower end assumes the City reuses substantial backbone, head-end, and enterprise-platform capacity. The upper end assumes broader replacement, tighter laboratory controls, additional fiber, and significant integration with security, fire alarm, and building automation. Exact trade boundaries will decide whether controls and monitoring sit with the controls contractor, electrical contractor, or a low-voltage integrator.

Owner-Furnished Boundary

The estimate excludes owner-furnished analytical instruments, chromatography and mass-spectrometry equipment, laboratory casework, process-water equipment, and specialized scientific software. It includes the pathways, network drops, alarm interfaces, security devices, monitoring points, and commissioning labor needed to connect the facility. Estimators should require an instrument responsibility matrix so that vendor cabling, network addressing, UPS power, and final data connections do not become unpriced handoffs.

Skills and Certifications Required

Discipline	Useful Credentials	Critical Field Skills
Structured Cabling	BICSI INSTC/INSTF, TECH, RCDD oversight	Fiber and copper testing, pathway planning, labeling, rack migration, Fluke certification
Access Control	Manufacturer training for the owner's platform; PSP for senior design staff	Door hardware, egress interfaces, credentialing, controller wiring, IP segmentation
CCTV	VMS and camera-manufacturer certification; Network+	Camera placement, PoE design, storage calculations, privacy-aware commissioning
Fire Alarm	NICET Fire Alarm Level II or higher; applicable Ohio licensing	NFPA 72 testing, SLC/NAC work, HVAC interfaces, AHJ documentation
Environmental Monitoring	BACnet training, Niagara N4 or specified controls-platform certification	Sensor placement, calibration, trending, alarm mapping, sequence verification

Entry-level technicians can support pathway installation, cable placement, labeling, and device mounting under supervision. Senior technicians should own testing, live-system migration, network and controls integration, and closeout documentation. A laboratory renovation also rewards crews that understand dust control, sealed penetrations, occupied-facility scheduling, and the difference between a device being online and a measurement point being validated.

Contractors should verify Ohio and City of Dayton licensing and permit requirements before mobilization. Public funding and project-specific labor terms may also affect workforce eligibility, certified payroll, product documentation, and approved-equals procedures.

Market Signal

Dayton's expansion is a compact example of a broader water-sector shift: emerging-contaminant rules are creating technology work inside facilities that rarely look like conventional smart buildings. The City's water-quality program reports more than 200 samples analyzed each day, while its laboratory has taken on PFAS and regional testing responsibilities. That combination increases data, monitoring, environmental-control, and security requirements even when the building footprint is modest.

For low-voltage firms, the repeatable opportunity is not merely pulling Category cable into a laboratory. It is coordinating networks, sensors, access, video, fire alarm, and validation around scientific workflows. Firms with water-utility references, clean laboratory practices, controls integration, and disciplined documentation can carry that capability into municipal labs, treatment plants, well fields, and environmental facilities across the Ohio River Valley.

The business-development angle is equally practical. The City is already past the public bid deadline and into delivery, so blind bidding is late. The useful outreach is to identify the awarded prime, confirm remaining technology buyout and change-order channels, and offer commissioning, integration, testing, or closeout support where a five-system lab renovation creates gaps between trades.

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