Last week I wrote about how China, building regulations and consumer demand have all worked together to force up the cost of church construction. China’s building boom, stiffer building codes, and the expectations of churchgoers have all contributed to the problem, but the one that has caused the most recent construction cost acceleration is China. China is continuing its growth at breakneck speed, as is India and other parts of the world, and barring some unforeseen disaster, will do so for many years.
I have no statistics to back up this claim, but it has been my observation that the majority of church buildings I see are quite old, and their conditions are in a state of decline. Over the next couple of decades, many churches will be faced with closing their doors for no other reason than their buildings have become too unsafe or too expensive to maintain. Before that happens, churches will look for ways to build new facilities at a low cost.
However, when we look for savings in building construction, we make the mistake of only looking at the construction itself, not to other factors. The cost of construction includes more than materials and labor; it includes costs for architects, engineers, surveyors, attorneys and financial consultants; it includes the cost of land, zoning, site approvals and building permits; and it includes the cost of financing and capital funding.
Dealing with all of these can be found in long-term planning. Now no one likes to hear about long-term planning, because it doesn’t necessarily produce short-term answers to problems that exist now. And what church doesn’t have a “master plan” stowed away in a closet somewhere?
So let’s start with a simple fact – most churches do not have the money they need for construction when they need it because they did not plan far in advance and they did not save on a regular basis. This means that when the need to build arises, churches are forced to conduct expensive capital funding campaigns and must borrow the money for construction.
Ever looked at that truth-in-lending statement on your mortgage that shows how you will be paying three times the principle amount over the life of the loan? Savings that accrues interest over a long period of time can literally buy you two to three times the amount of building that could be bought otherwise. Building smart includes good financial planning.
Building smart also includes a detailed master plan. A good master plan involves a great deal of research and design. Doing so can identify problems on paper, allowing problems to be solved before they are encountered, and the more detailed the plan, the greater potential for problem-aversion there is.
Here’s an example.
One of my church projects was an addition to an existing building that had been placed on the site with no real thought to future expansion.
What we found was that the new addition needed to be built two feet higher than the existing building. Without the added height, it was impossible to get stormwater to drain around the building and off the property.
As a result, stairs and a ramp had to be constructed, requiring an additional two hundred square feet of building area. At today’s prices, that would cost an additional $20,000 or more. You can do a lot of planning for that kind of money. The investment would have saved the church the additional cost, would have eliminated the liability that comes with stairs and ramps, and could have identified other similar costly problems. That’s what a good master plan does.
All of this at this point is 20/20 hindsight. What can churches that don’t have the savings and haven’t done the planning do about building costs when they need to build or do other capital improvements?
There is really very little that can be done about the unit costs of materials and labor. However, you can reduce the overall cost with good design techniques that maximizes the building area with the least amount of materials.
Building smart also includes doing value engineering during design and evaluating materials and systems for long-term maintenance costs. Sometimes spending a little more can avert significant costs later.
Dealing with high construction costs is much more challenging now, and stresses the need for planning more than ever. Churches who are willing to invest the time and money into good, solid planning will likely recoup their investment costs and save enough money that their projects are still within their reach. Building smart saves money, but it takes thorough planning and commitment to follow through to achieve.