Construction on your church building is finally finished. But there are a few more steps to complete before the project is done. Here’s what else you need to do once the contractor has closed out their work.
Completing the Quality Assurance Process
Once the contractor finishes their work, you’ll need to have a final walk-through. Do this with the contractor, looking at every room and all aspects of the church building to make sure everything really is complete. This process is called quality assurance or sometimes just creating a “punch list.” That list includes everything that you believe needs to be finished or corrected before you sign the completion documents and make the final payment.
Moving In and Getting Trained on Your Church Building Systems
Once the punch list is addressed to your satisfaction, it’s time to begin moving into your new or remodeled church building. You will need to set up furniture and get the various systems set up to your specifications. You also need to get the right people trained on all the systems that help your church design function optimally. Obvious systems include your HVAC system and all the various electrical processes, such as audio, video, and lighting for your worship center and any other meeting or activity centers. You may also need to be trained on the Wi-Fi and security systems.
As part of that training, it’s a good idea to put all processes into one “operations manual” for your new church building. This provides an ongoing record of what was installed in the building and how it functions. This manual should also contain record drawings, which are copies of the construction documents marked in red, with all the details where changes were made during the construction process.
The manual should also contain the warranties which you will accumulate during this finalization process. Generally, warranties tend to be good for one year, but warranties for individual portions of the church building, such as the HVAC or lighting units, may have longer periods. All this material is helpful for future reference by the next generation of church leaders and the maintenance team.
Recapping the Church Design to Completed Building Process
It’s been a long while, likely 18 to 24 months, but now your church and its members can rejoice in a job well done. Here again are five major steps undertaken during the process:
- Church design phase and budget estimates
- Stewardship, funding, and fundraising
- Development of construction documents
- Permitting process and pricing finalization
- Church building construction and wrap-up
We shared this outline during one of the free i3 webinars we conduct to help church leaders keep up with the latest information on church design and building projects. To learn more and register for our upcoming webinars, click this link.