With billions of dollars spent every year on church construction projects, many pastors and church leaders find themselves immersed in building campaigns that can boggle the mind.
According to McGraw-Hill Construction, which tracks construction and spending, churches spent $5.1 billion in 2002 on building projects.
Often comprising massive, multimillion-dollar projects, building campaigns should be a
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But, just because church leaders know how to reach the community and build attendance, that doesn't mean they know anything about building, so it is important they carefully choose partners who will lead them into this new season of ministry.
At first, choosing the right partners may seem like a daunting task. And it can be, if not thought out and executed properly. The options are numerous, but the approaches are significantly fewer. Most building projects are either done with a design/build or a bid/build approach.
Design/build vs. Bid/build
With the design/build approach, the church hires one entity to provide the complete design and construction of the building.
"Basically, you have one point of responsibility, a point person, that's either the architect or the contractor that is running the whole show," said Brian Cassidy, president of CCBG Architects.
"If it's a contractor, they will turn around and hire an architect under their umbrella to be the designer," said Cassidy, whose company has offices in Phoenix and San Diego. "If the design/build team is led by an architect, they will partner with a contractor in sort of a joint venture format. The church client deals with one entity."
Jim Couchenour, marketing director for Cogun Inc., a design/build firm located in North Lima, Ohio, said many find this approach appealing because it takes much of the guesswork out of the project  at least when it comes to the bottom line.
Couchenour said bid/build projects, which involve separate negotiations with architects and builders, frequently will run over budget in one way or another.
"In that sense, if we can design a building from the very beginning that fits within the financial capabilities of a church, they are much better off," Couchenour said. "Another advantage to design/build is we take responsibility for the design, so there is no opportunity for us to come back and say, ‘Well, the architect didn't design this right so we need extra.'"
A study by Penn State University that evaluated 351 design-build projects of all types concluded that, on average, design-build delivery is 23 to 33 percent faster and 6 percent less costly than traditional bid/build projects.
But not everyone is sold on the approach.
The approach "can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing," said Robert Knowles, founder and president of Arks Inc., a project-consulting firm based in Raleigh, N.C. "We don't recommend design/build, although we work with some excellent design/build firms."
Knowles, author of "Successful Church Building," said his company's concern is that the church's best interest is sometimes overlooked in a design/build program.
"By the very nature of the contract of the design/build program, the general contractor is employing the design professionals," Knowles said. "So who is looking out for the church's best interest in this situation? Who is protecting the church here?"
Be Prepared
Regardless of which approach they choose, church leaders should be prepared when they get ready to embark on a building campaign.
"The first thing is they have to look at themselves as a developer," said Al Stone of CCL Associates, an Atlanta project management company. "It doesn't matter if they are building a $500,000 facility or a $50 million one. The church needs to realize it is a developer."
Part of that realization involves someone doing a lot of homework.
"They need to look at that property the same way a developer looks at it," he said. "What are the utility costs? What are the upkeep costs? What is the traffic flow pattern? What are the demographics of this community? How will our ministry change if we stay here?"
Couchenour said the Internet can be useful when searching for a building partner.
"In the very beginning they can learn a lot about a company by going to their Web site and at least getting a feel for the expertise level," he said, adding that contacting references is also an important step.
It's a Two-way Street
Pastors and building committee leaders aren't the only ones who need to do their homework. Contractors, architects and project managers should be able to demonstrate some expertise in the special needs of churches.
That is particularly important when it comes to new church starts, said CCBG's Cassidy.
"I think it's really critical to understand church campuses," he said. "It's a much different type [of] product than doing a commercial office building. I think the design team and the construction team need to have a good understanding of how churches work, how they grow and how limited their finances are."
Working with experienced partners, he said, helps ensure that future growth and needs are built into the concept.
Knowles agreed about the importance of understanding the spiritual aspects of church building. In 1992, he chaired a building program at his Raleigh, N.C. church. He initially thought it would be an easy task because he was used to developing multi-unit apartment buildings and large retail developments.
"I can do this with one hand tied behind my back and never break a sweat," he originally thought. Later, he came to a different conclusion.
"It's the toughest thing I've ever done in my life," he said. "The reason was [that] I did not understand the spiritual aspects of church growth and church building."
Bringing in an organization to work on a church project that does not understand those spiritual aspects complicates an already complex task, he said.
"So partnering with whatever organization it is, whether it be architects, engineers, general contractors or consulting firms like Arks Incorporated, there needs to be an understanding up front of the spiritual foundation," he said. "To use the building analogy, if the foundation is not right then the building can't stand."
Who's the Boss?
Bill Rogers, business administrator at Faith Family Ministries in Frankfort, Ind., said a bad experience with a building project taught him a valuable lesson. His church had a specific idea about its building project and sought out an architectural firm to draw up the plan.
The firm, he said, overstepped its boundaries.
"We sat down and told them what we wanted. They came back and said, ‘Well, you can't afford it.' I said, ‘Yes, we can.' They just wanted to argue with us about what we could afford and what we couldn't afford," Rogers recalled.
"We said, ‘We want you to tell us how much it will cost to do what we want to do.' They came back with two proposals that were just blown totally out of the water  ridiculous things that we had even talked about. They said, ‘See, we told you couldn't afford to do it."
While they chose not to work with that particular architectural firm, Rogers said the experience wasn't a total wash.
"It taught me a few things," he said. "It taught me that you should stand strong and tell the architect or builder what you want, and ask them what it will cost. If you stand your ground, they will come back to you with what you want. It might not be the price you want, but they will give you the building that you want."
Couchenour said it is often easier for the contractor to be more realistic about a project than the church. Steering the church in the right direction is sometimes difficult.
"There really is a thin line there. What we have tried to train our project consultants to do is share the truth in love as we see it," he said. "If a church with 100 people wants a building with seating for 1, 000 and we know it is beyond their financial capability, we need to be open and up front on that."
However, that does not mean pastors like Rogers are always wrong.
"We also need to recognize that we can't put a lid on faith and sometimes God wants to work a miracle through the prayers of his people," Couchenour said.
Rogers said his experience taught him that building projects are not for the faint of heart. Should he embark upon another building project, he will be better prepared to lead the planning phase.
"We're not going to do anything unless we are in control of all the circumstances. We can't go in and rely on the secular world to respect us, respect what we want to do and honor their commitments," he said. "We have to be in control of every aspect of a building project."
