Common Mistakes To Avoid

Have you ever hear of a church pastor or church member that mentioned problems or even disasters that happened during a church building program? Were there things they should have done differently or things that they should have done before they started? The following is a listing of 10 common mistakes that church building committees make. We offer this list so that you may avoid the common pitfalls.

Failure To Conduct A Needs Analysis

Yes, you realize you need more space but what kind of space do you need?
 
Can existing space be utilized, or will you have to add to your building?
 
Do you have the land to expand? 

These questions and many others should be answered during a needs analysis or master plan study. This study or "master planning" should be done by your architect before the church proceeds with any plan development or fund raising involving the membership at large. Having an unbiased, outside source to do a study allows a better view of the church's needs. Once the church gets beyond the emotions and feelings, they can see the facts. A master plan study is simply understanding where the church is now and what it wants to be 10 to 20 years from now. This ensures that what the church does today does not prohibit the growth it needs to do in the future. This includes not only the location of an addition, but also the internal relationship of spaces within the church. Proper planning should allow the church to build a building that can be added on to without having to tear-up an asphalt parking lot that was paved just last year.

The master planning process will help the church determine how much building is needed to meet your ministry's needs. Do not fall into the limited thinking of not building enough. Build for the future's needs (5 years from now) so that you are not overcrowded the day you move in. Remember that the total time for the planning, designing of the building and the construction of the facility may take 1-1/2 to 2 years, so plan adequately for the future. Build your church to accommodate growth.

Selecting The Wrong Help At The Wrong Time
If the church does not have substantial experience at building, where should it turn? Whether to a denominational resource or independent consultant, the church often needs to look outside the walls of the church for wise counsel.

Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is
established…For by wise counsel thou shall make thy war: and in
multitude of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 24:3,6

Once you go through a building program, you will have a better appreciation for the “war” reference in the preceding Proverb. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, realized wisdom alone was no replacement for experience when he purposed to build the Temple.  One of the first things he requested from the King of Tyre was for a man cunning or skillful (depending on translation) to do the work.

Skill birthed out of experience is a precious commodity. If you are as wise as Solomon, you too should seek experienced help. An outside church designer can provide a proven process and can help you objectively determine the best solution for your building program.

Selecting an architect who does not understand how you worship, and generally does not understand what goes on in a church, can be the foundation for the failure of your building program. Your architect should be a Christian that is involved in his own church (such as a deacon or a teacher) so that he truly understands the detailed functions that should be incorporated within a church facility. The architect being considered should also have had much experience in designing church facilities. Why let an architect practice and make mistakes on your church with your money? Check out at least 10 recent church references that an architect has listed.

Selecting a contractor is equally as important. Check their references closely asking if the contractor was late paying their subcontractors, how they worked with the church during the construction process, and what was the quality of workmanship. If there are any indications of instability, you do not want anything to do with this company. Selecting a Christian builder may not be enough to ensure that he will be upright in his dealings with you. Remember, the best plans can be ruined by an inexperienced and under-financed contractor with good intentions.

Planning Only On The Building Cost
Before the church decides what it wants or needs, it must first determine what it can afford. A building program has two very real physical limitations imposed upon the program: the amount of land and the amount of money a church has available. By far, the most common mistake in building programs is a church going into the design of a building without objectively understanding its needs and without having a firm budget. Before you start planning, you need to know what you can afford and how you will pay for it. The number of churches that end up with a set of million dollar plans with no concept of what the monthly payment would be or how they could pay for it would surprise you.

Not budgeting for all of the expenses involved with the construction or not budgeting adequately will also leave the church financially strapped. This could result in hurting other ministries or it will shut-down the building program all together. There are many cost that are incurred by the church over and beyond the cost for constructing the building.

We have listed these costs for your consideration to include into a complete budget that should contain all costs. Do not lose the trust that the congregation has in the building committee by making the mistake of presenting the "total expenses required for construction" until the final bids are in from the contractor and your are sure that all other non-construction costs have been included in your budget.

Not Planning For Adequate Parking
Sometimes the size of your building that is designed is determined by how many parking spaces can be developed on the property. Unfortunately, many visitors will not stop (or stay) at your church if they can not find a parking spot. There is no logic in designing a new sanctuary for 1000 people if you can only support enough cars for 500 people. The parking lot should have room for growth. A proper ratio for planning purposes should be 2 people per car. Do not make the mistake of applying the unrealistically low local code requirement of 3 to 4 people per car.

Improper Site Selection
There are many more concerns to selecting property for a new church than the location and price. Property that is selected for the intended use in mind will enhance the success of the building program. There are many issues such as easy access, visibility from the main road, land usability, zoning, and many other restrictions that have major impact on the property. The days are gone when you could go out, buy a plot of land and build a church on it without thinking about other impacts of the property. Now there are numerous environmental, regulatory, and restriction issues to investigate.

Unrealistic Projections Of Income
You can have great planning, great drawings, a beautiful and environmentally friendly site, and room for all of the cars, yet without proper financing, all of your plans will lie in a drawer gathering dust. Start early talking about your financing capabilities being realistic about how much you can afford. However, do not make the mistake of limiting God as to how much he has planned to bless you and to limit the plans for growth He has for your church. It is difficult to know the true potential for raising funds within your church without much continued prayer. The planning of the building and the fund raising efforts must go hand-in-hand.

As a rule-of-thumb, your church should be able to raise 1 to 1-1/2 times your members’ annual giving. Also, a general guide for borrowing money is that a lending institution will lend a church approximately 3 times its annual budget. Many churches do not want to borrow money for construction, but remember that the contractor must be paid while the building is going up, not at the end of a three year member commitment campaign.

One final word. Tell your congregation that you have good news!  The good news is that the church has all the money that we need for the building program .... the bad news is that the money is still in their wallets!
 
Not Working With Local And State Review Agencies
In order to obtain a building permit, the city, county and/or state fire marshal's office must review and approve your drawings which are prepared by your architect. These agencies will have the authority to require additional work that was not originally anticipated. It is our experience that the review agencies are requiring more special construction issues for church facilities than ever before. This equates to higher construction costs. If your architect works with these agencies early during the design process, the permitting is typically easier and may have less of these requirements placed on your building. If you do not try to work with them, they may take a defensive position or one of not trying the help the church. This situation can cause a lengthy review process which will delay construction start and increase the construction cost.

Allowing A Building Program To Overwhelm You
A building program is a huge responsibility involving the growth of the church's ministries and spending wisely the monies of the congregation. This responsibility should not be solely taken by the pastor or the chairman of the building committee. The importance of a committee is to spread out the responsibility to more than one individual. Your pastor should not be the head of a committee. Let him continue to do his job as pastor of the church, and let the building committee take on the work of the building program. Use your committee wisely by delegating within the committee and to other subcommittees.

Not Praying For Your Contractor and Architect
How easy it is for us to miss opportunities to see God work right in front of us each day. Prayer should be a part of each committee meeting to direct the church in it decisions. But do not forget the important work that your architect is doing everyday at his office.  Pray for him and his staff. Also, during the construction, pray for the safety of the contractor's workers every day.  Make this a challenge to each member of the church.
 
Waiting To Celebrate Until The Building Is Finished
Do not wait until the end of the construction to celebrate! There are many steps along the way to celebrate. For instance, you might want to celebrate when you complete the master plan designs and when you complete the fund-raiser. I challenge you to come up with some other milestones that might be major goal that was achieved. This will keep up the interest within the church and will encourage the members to continue to support the process with their prayers and finances.