Architectural Design of a
Church is not as Easy as Many Think
The way most churches hire a
church architect is wrong and ends up costing God's church
millions of dollars every year before it even begins building!
This money is wasted on
church plans that will probably never be
built because the plans outweigh the financial ability of the
church. The church has a responsibility to fundamentally
understand what they need to build and what they can afford
before they hire their architect! This fundamental
theme is the core of my ebook Preparing
to Build.
Follow these tips and you will save
time, money and effort in the hiring of a church architect and
the architectural design of your new church. Church
construction is never easy, but there are things you can to do
make the church design process a lot more effective.
There are three things that your
church should do before it engages a church architect.
-
Understand what your church needs to build to meet the needs
of ministry. Church architects, even many of those who have
helped other churches, are typically not really good a
translating the needs of the church into land and building
requirements. If you need help, look to engaging the
services of an independent
church construction
consultant.
-
Those needs must then be
accomplished within the scope of what you have
determined you can afford to build; and that budget needs to
be clearly conveyed to your architect.
-
Read our article
75 Questions to Ask When
Hiring an Architect.
Failure to know what you need
and what you can afford before you engage a design firm
will, far more often than not, end up costing your church
money to create a set of plans that they can never build.
Many architects do not really know much about church design,
and they certainly cannot help you with understanding what
you can afford and how you will pay for it.
Get some help from a
church consultant to become equipped to
get the right design solution and provider.
Once you conceptually know
what you need to build, and what you can afford, your church
needs to decide on whether to go with the traditional
design/bid/build process or a more contemporary solution
called
design/build. If
you decide to hire an architect, you will probably benefit
from help from a consultant to help you evaluate, select and
negotiate with the design firm. An experienced
consultant, working for the church, can usually help your
church save 20-30% or more on architectural fees.
The same consulting services can help you if you should go
with the design/build process as well, to insure you get the
best church design and construction solution for your money.
Church architects normally try to charge between 7% and 10%
of the project budget. An experienced consultant may
be able to get that fee down to 4-5%. The church may
be able to save even more
by purchasing church plans from other building programs.
Tip: Look for
architects that will provide flat fee services rather than a
percentage of the project. The problem with percentage
based fees is that there is no incentive for the architect
to save you any costs on the project, as doing so costs them
money.
Look at architects that have
not only done churches before, but have built churches like
the one you want to build. A church architect that has
designed dozens of traditional mainline churches will be
less equipped to build a cost efficient small contemporary
church.
|
Church
Building Guide
 |
Written by an experienced church
building consultant,
Preparing to Build provides
your church valuable, real-world insight based on real-world experiences and
input from hundreds of church building projects.
"Preparing to Build was an
incredible value - just a wealth of
information. The truth & his experience
jump off the pages."
Dwight VanDaveer, Engineer & Church Building Committee Member
With over 160 information packed pages, this
book will explain the process of building and how equip the saints for the
work of building the church in an effective manner that will reduce the
church's cost, risk and effort.
Click for more information or to purchase. |
