The general contract for construction of the new Franklin High School was awarded last week to Agostini Construction Co., of East Providence, R.I., for $86.7 million, according to a project official.

 The company submitted the lowest of four bids received for the general contract. The winning bid is $1.1 million less than what was budgeted for the contract, said Tom Mercer, chairman of the Franklin High School Building Committee.

“When we realized we were $1.1 million under budget, there was nobody around that was happier than I was,” he said.

Mercer said the next lowest bid came from J&J Contractors Inc., of Lowell, for $87.7 million, followed by Fontaine Bros. Inc., of Springfield, for $88.6 million; and a joint venture between KBE Building Corp., of Farmington, Conn., and CTA Construction Co., of Waltham, for $89.9 million.

Agostini Construction has built four other high schools with layouts similar to Franklin’s design, which all replicate the “model school” plan of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, Mercer said.

 The total cost of the Franklin project has been pegged at about $104 million, with local taxpayers contributing about $47 million with the help of a Proposition 2½ debt-exclusion override passed this spring. The Massachusetts School Building Authority has agreed to provide the balance.

A ceremonial ground-breaking is scheduled for Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. next to the current high school, at 218 Oak St.