Here’s further proof that building costs have dipped and it’s a good time to put that shovel in the ground: The five bids to renovate the former downtown post office building came in under the projected $1.3 million price tag.

Greenville-based SYS Contractors submitted the lowest base bid of $999,000 at Thursday’s 2 p.m. bid opening held in a second-floor meeting room at City Hall. Triangle Construction, also based in Greenville, had the next-lowest base bid of $1,027,777.

Gaffney’s Sossamon Construction had the third-lowest bid of $1,090,000. M.B. Kahn Construction had a bid of $1,118,000, while Hoke Enterprises submitted the highest bid of $1,163,811.

All five general contractors were pre-qualified by the project architect.

The contractor will be responsible for Phase III of the post office project, which includes the general renovation of the building. Phase I of the project — asbestos removal — has been completed while work on the second phase to replace the old roof is ongoing.

The bids also included unit prices for rock removal on the ground floor of the building and exterior joint repair. There was a great disparity in the bids for the rock removal, with Sossamon submitting the highest rock removal bid by far at $2,000 per ton. Hoke Enterprises was the next-highest at $700 a ton, while Triangle Construction stated it could do the job for only $75 a ton.

The exterior joint repair bids ranged from a low of $2.80 per linear foot by M.B. Kahn Construction to $5.00 per linear foot by SYS Contractors.

The contractors also were asked to submit an alternative bid for the installation of an elevator. Hoke Enterprises had the low bid at $50,000, while Sossamon submitted the high bid of $85,5000 for a new elevator.

The contractors also listed their subcontractors for HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and landscaping.

The project architect will spend the next days reviewing the bids before giving a recommendation to city officials.

The city will use Hospitality Tax revenue and a remaining portion of a state grant to pay for the renovations. Most of the $400,000 state grant acquired two years ago by the Legislative Delegation was used to purchase the building from a North Carolina businessman.