4. Don't build without expert help. I've never led a building program before but I was fortunate enough to get some experts around me who walked me through the process. From the outset, my desire was to build a team of experts that would work together to complete this God-given dream. Below are the experts I would recommend that you speak with IN THIS ORDER of the building process.
Dream it phase. In this phase you get your church leadership together and begin to dream about what your new facility would look like. You put proposal requests together from each ministry team and start writing down the vision/plan. I would highly recommend speaking with Greg Marquart of Capstone Management. Greg will not only walk you through the facility planning, but also the budgeting process and financial proposal to request funding, as well. Having Greg come in and help us was one of the best decisions we made in the whole process. His expertise as an executive pastor and former bank president was invaluable. In fact, Greg will walk you through each of the phases below until completion.
Draw it phase. This is when you hire an architect to help draw the dream. Don't hire the architect first. As a church, you stay in the driver seat and tell the architect what you want. Architects are notorious for telling others what to build and they tend to spare no expense. When it comes to building you get to choose one of three options - cost, quality and square footage. You can choose two, but not three. Most churches go with cost and square footage. We say, "it has to be "X" square footage and we can only afford "X" amount of dollars. Most architects are all about quality. That's why most work on a percentage of the total cost of the project. The average architect costs 7% of the total project cost. The more expensive the building, the higher fee they charge. They also want to design something that looks good on the front cover of a trade magazine. Stay in the driver seat and remind the architect that "this is what we want". We were fortunate enough to work with Michael Campbell . Michael is a phenomenal architect who understands both traditional and contemporary church facilities and design. He's been a gem to work with.
Fund it phase. Once you know what the dream is and what it's going to look like, then you hire a resource development firm to help you raise the faith and finances to fund the project. I made a mistake by hiring a fund raiser too early. But hey, we all live and learn. Typically, most fund raisers have no idea what you need to build, how the building needs to function, etc. They just know how to raise money to underwrite the God-given dream. We worked with Jack Strom of Strom Ministry Concepts. Jack has become a trusted friend and I would highly recommend him to all who need someone to come alongside them and help them fund a God-given vision.
Build it phase. This is the last phase of the process which requires perhaps the most critical decision of all - the firm that's going to oversee the construction of the new facility. We researched dozens of local construction firms and narrowed our interview process to the top three candidates. Greg Marquart helped us choose our local contractor, Spread Eagle Realty. Spread Eagle has been great to work with and they are giving us a quality built building.
Always remember, when it comes to building a building, it will always cost more than you think and take longer than you imagined. Word to the wise.
