What is the Biggest Mistake in Church
Construction?
BEFORE you call the
architect, builder or
design-build firm
for your building program,
you need to know what you need and what you can afford - you
need to count the cost of building.
Before you engage these professionals you need to understand
both what you need to build and what you can afford to build.
What you need to build to achieve the vision for your church
often outstrips the financial ability of the church. It is
therefore very important to count the cost of your church building
program,
Many
churches can attest to the reports of churches that have had to
throw away architectural church plans because the church cannot
afford to build what the architect drew. Each year millions of
dollars of church plans are thrown away or tossed into a closet
because the church cannot build the plans they were provided.
While many churches only waste $15,000-$50,000 on church
blueprints, we have seen many churches that had to walk away
from over $100,000 in work and start over. In one extreme case,
the cost was over $240,000!
| Tip:
The first step of any church building
program should be to understand what you can afford and then
get the best building solution that you can for the money. |
Before you engage the architect or builder, it is imperative
that you understand three things.
-
What do you really need in order to meet the needs of
the ministry. God has promised to meet our needs our of His
riches and glory, not our greed.
-
What can the church afford to build, and
-
How will the church pay for it.
For more information on
avoiding church building mistakes, read the book, Preparing
to Build.
|
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. |
The process begins with needs
analysis and feasibility to understand the "what" and "how
much" of your building program. Get
professional help to
develop a rough cost budget and then
financially prepare for a building program. Jesus tells
us in Scripture to count the cost before we build. We tell
you that doing do the first things first will save your
church time, money, effort and frustration.
Given what you have learned
about what to expect from lenders, you will be able to
create a preliminary construction budget without having a
bank loan approved in advance. Your church
construction budget is very simple, it is:
The money you
have on hand
+
The money you can borrow, plus
+
The money you can raise from the sale of assets.
-
Current long-term debt
=
Preliminary Planning Budget for church construction
If you have $60,000 in cash, can borrow $500,000 (and
have no other debt) and have a piece of land for sale under
contract for $40,000, your building budget is $600,000.
Understand your financial
ability before you build, set your budget, and make the building program fit the
budget and you Do this and you are well on your
way towards a successful church building
program. |
