Church Construction
SonRise
Depending on your point of view, this either has nothing to do with church construction, or it is the whole point. I was blessed with a copy of this sunrise photo taken by Bob Freeman who is a member of the capital campaign team at Metrocrest Church in Coppell, Texas. I think Bob’s camera caught […]
Should Your Church Build In These Times Of Economic Uncertainty?
I am hearing this question a lot these days, “Should our church build given the economic situation?” While a specific church situation may otherwise dictate, I believe that the general answer is that it should, if certain conditions are true. Here’s my premise. God is bigger than any economic crisis. He’s bigger than Fannie Mae, […]
Contracting for Church Design & Construction
Which Way is the Right Way? There are a myriad of ways for a church to contract for the design and construction of a new church. Today, many churches are built by what has become traditionally known as the design-bid-build method. This is the conventional general contractor approach, where the church hires an architect to […]
The Worst Way to Design & Build a Church
I have seen a number of articles recently that echo what I have been saying all along, that the “traditional” Design/Bid/Build (DBB) model is not the way to build churches. In DBB, the church hires an architect to design a building. That design is then put out to bid to a number of contractors. The […]
Financial Considerations for When to Build
A popular theory with some in the church is that the church should wait to build until it has raised most, or all of the cash for building. This can be a good strategy if the church is forward thinking enough to begin to accumulate cash well before it needs to build, but may be […]
Church Building Guide
Need a guide to church construction? I’ve put up a new web site dedicated to my book, Preparing to Build. Here’s the official description, Written by an experienced church building consultant, Preparing to Build is over 170 pages of real-world, practical information that will equip your leaders and church building committee to properly prepare for, […]
Avoiding Budget Bloat in Church Construction
Church construction projects (and their budgets) seem only to grow over time, not shrink. Here are three tips to prevent construction budget bloat. Tip number one is to make sure you have everything in the project budget to begin with. Your project budget should be one that includes everything including site acquisition, site development, architectural […]
Turning Around a Church Building Program Gone Bad
As the poet Robert Burns so accurately stated, “The best laid plans of mice and go oft awry.”. Even more so, plans go even more awry when they are not so well laid, especially in church building programs. If your church building program gets into hot water, or never seems to get off the ground, […]
Count the Cost of Church Construction
One of the things that fails to concern me is the general lack of financial skills in the leadership of many churches. If I had a dollar for every time a church of 50-100 people contacted me wanting to build a church of a million dollars, I could make a payment or two on a […]
God is a God of Order
The scriptures say that God is not the author of confusion. I had the pleasure of presenting the results of my needs and feasibility study today to a congregation that has needed to build for several years. In analyzing church and Sunday school attendance, it was apparent that this church had “hit the ceiling” several […]
