CHURCH ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING

BUILDING A CHURCH?

You have spent a season of prayer about the direction your church is to go and have a confirmation of the road ahead. Now what do you do? How much do you do on your own?

When should you call in the professionals?

When building a church or planning a church expansion project, it is best to get a professional involved in planning as soon as possible. Why? A design professional can guide you through the construction process by:

  1. Talking to the right people in government and avoiding wasted time. There are many departments in government and it seems like no two cities, counties, or townships are set up the same way. It can be confusing and frustrating if you do not know the right questions to ask of the right officials.
  2. Determining a construction budget. Some churches come up with great ideas but have no idea what the cost would be or if they can afford it. There also are those that are financially sound yet think there isn’t any way they have enough resources to afford a building. A design professional will help with these issues.
  3. Providing guidelines for building committee selection. The building committee is instrumental in all phases of the construction experience. The right people provide strong leadership and reduce pressures on ministry staff.
  4. Defining current land use potential. Some churches are faced with the prospect of running out of land for their growing church. How much is enough and when should you look at moving or branching out are important items to be considering in master planning.

Who should be involved in the design professional selection process?

The best thing is to have many people view the presentations and a few make the decisions. A church board, with pastors present, should view the presentations and make the selection. Then, with the recommendations of the design professional, appoint your building committee. The building committee can see the same presentation upon their first meeting to become familiar with the chosen design professional.

What should the qualifications of the professional be?

A good request for proposal or interview should always have these qualifying items.

  1. List of church or related projects with in the past ten years.
  2. Percentage of total work on church projects.
  3. Fee structure.
  4. List of ten references from past church projects.
  5. Key people who will be involved in the project.
  6. Do these key people attend church on a regular basis?
  7. What is a typical timeframe of a project like ours?
  8. What would the church need to provide you to complete this project?
  9. What kind of innovative ideas have you implemented in other recent projects?

From these answers you should be able to determine if the design professionals are church specialists, a design specialist in another field, or just a general design professional. Obviously, you want a church design professional, with specific church architecture and construction experience. Any designer can design a building to code and give you a space to seat 500, 1000, or 3000 but, are you building a room or are you building a church, worship center, family life center, or multi-ministry building? A church design specialist will know how to make the nuances and small features “church friendly”. If they are involved in their church, chances are they have experienced overcrowded foyers, small restrooms, poorly designed kitchens, inflexible platforms, poor traffic flow, and not having enough classrooms. Instead of trying to explain these things to someone, why not have someone who understands your ministry?

After you have selected your design professional you should check references on at least three of their former projects. Make sure to ask…

  1. Were they trustworthy?
  2. Were they honest?
  3. How is the quality of the finished building?
  4. Is the function of the building appropriate for the ministry using it?
  5. Would they use them again?
  6. How did they handle problems?

Problems are going to come up. Did they handle them quickly, effectively, and in a Christ-like manner? These items will tell a lot about the design professional, the builder, and the church.

Fees can be set up different ways. A set fee, hourly, a percentage of the construction cost, or a combination of all three.

Should you choose a professional who does Design/Build or Design – Bid – Build? A study conducted by the Construction Industry Institute reveals that of 350 projects, Design/Build was significantly better that the Design – Bid – Build process in the areas of cost, time and quality.

It is very rare today for the Holy Spirit to give us a detailed plan to pass on to our builder as David gave Solomon in 1 Chronicles chapter 28. It is imperative that you, after prayerful consideration, select a design professional that is a church specialist.