It’s been said that the only place that a church facility can be built ahead of schedule, under budget, and with only the finest materials, is in a building committee meeting!

The fact is that on every project there are three key components to balance: the size of the facility (square footage), the budget and the materials. The challenge for the building committee is to decide which two components are the most important. You can’t have all three as a priority.

The tension that exists with this decision is manageable as long as the project team understands it early in the process. The stewardship challenge of a new church building plan begins long before drawings are started, it begins with reasonable expectations being set and understood by the building committee months prior to designing.

Time spent early in a planning process will directly influence the cost of the project. The idea that "value engineering" (saving the church money) can take place after the design is complete is a myth. After the project design is complete, the typical approach to cutting costs is to decrease quality or decrease square footage. This chop-and-hack approach is not only contrary to positive momentum, it is contrary to the vision and mission of the church.

Hidden behind the pastor's door in half of America's churches is a set of plans for a building that will never be built. And churches that do build a new facility lose their pastor within 18 months of the completion on average.

Poor planning and improper budgeting for the upcoming project are mainly to blame. The lack of early expectation management can become a spiral of frustration, poor quality, and at its worst, fractured fellowship within the body of believers.

Because of poor planning and budgeting, building committee members typically go through six phases of emotion and action about a project: enthusiasm, disillusionment, panic, search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent, praise and honors for the non-participants.

Another result of poor planning is litigation. The construction industry is the second most litigated industry in the country. For years architects and contractors have been taught to distrust and even undermine each other to maintain control and protect their egos and pride. The result, according to Project Management Journal, is that over 20 cents of every construction dollar goes to claims and litigation.

The No. 1 reason for these disconnects is the lack of an integrated project team and a discovery process that guides that team carefully through planning each unique project.

True value engineering and good construction decisions are made early in the process with a team approach of owner-architect-contractor equally yoked and in step, pulling toward the same goal. A good discovery process keeps the project team in step and protects the project from potentially disastrous surprises.

1) Alignment of facility goals with financial capabilities.

2) Alignment of facility needs with congregational needs and involvement.

3) Alignment of the facility location with the challenges that the building site presents.

F.W. Dodge, the largest provider of construction analysis and statistics in the United States and Canada, has verified that the average construction project is 30 percent over budget due primarily to beginning construction design prior to understanding the vision and mission of the client and the project challenges that would have surfaced during a feasibility study. An integrated project team working through a comprehensive discovery process together makes good cost and stewardship decisions.

A project team dedicated to understanding the church will focus on designing a facility around the ministry by actually connecting the facility design to the church’s vision and mission. Good construction decisions begin by understanding who the church is, what the church’s long range goals are, and who the target of the church’s outreach may be. 

The Word of God never changes, but the way we convey God’s Word does. Creating an environment that reaches the first-time visitor and serves the long-time member is critical.

Designing relevant facilities where people can relax, be themselves, connect with others, and become a part of the "community" is nothing new. The church can learn, and has been learning, from the retail business industry. Coffee bars and bookstores crop up with the same feel as Barnes&Noble and Starbucks Coffee because they see what works to attract business.

The more the church strives to understand the "lost" in their area and then meet them where they are, specifically via good construction decisions, the more effective the church will become in drawing the "lost" into their facilities to hear God’s Word. One example in understanding people is in technology. When visitors pull up to your facility with more technology on four wheels than you have in the entire facility, there is a relevant disconnect.

But it is difficult to retrofit audio/visual and other technology. It’s much easier, more cost effective and better stewardship to plan ahead. Good construction decisions are made long before the bricks and sticks arrive on the jobsite. A good design/build team can guide you through the process of discovering the facility challenges before you, and designing a facility around your ministry. Discovering who the church is and following the Lord’s leading is a critical component for a successful project.

Kurt Williams is a design/build veteran at T & W Corporation with over 20 years in the industry, 15 of those years guiding over 60 churches through the various stages of discovering, designing and constructing their new facilities. T & W Corporation is a design/build firm dedicated to serving the churches of Central Indiana and is an active contributing member of the National Association of Church Design/Builders. Kurt can be reached at kwilliams@twcorp.net mailto:kwilliams@twcorp.net.