| I don’t usually make it a practice
in my articles to use specific examples of things gone wrong
by local churches, because it is not my intent to embarrass
or admonish anyone for an honest mistake. But I do think it
is important that when a mistake is made that the lesson of
the mistake is passed on so that other churches won’t suffer
the same fate.
The sad story of a particular church I am about
to tell you is just such an example. It is not a local church,
but it is in this state. You probably won’t recognize who it
is, but if you do, please keep it to yourself.
Earlier this year I was contacted by the pastor
of a church who requested a proposal for my fees for a project
they were going to construct this year. I went to their church,
met with the pastor, looked at their site, then mailed the proposal
to the pastor a few days later.
A number of months later, I received a call
from a man who served on the church’s building committee. He
explained that they had hired an engineer to prepare the construction
drawings, and had paid him his entire fee, which was about 60%
less than the fee that I had quoted for the same project.
The project was in a small city that issues
building permits, but because they have no one qualified to
review the drawings, they send applicants to the State Fire
Marshall’s Office for the review. Even though the State Fire
Marshall had not yet seen the drawings, the city official told
the church that they could go ahead with construction.
The church began construction on the building
right away, but delayed submitting their drawings to the State
Fire Marshall’s Office until several weeks later.
When they finally did so, the drawings were
immediately rejected because they were not prepared or sealed
by an architect, which is required by state law.
Unfortunately, the foundation, floor slab and
plumbing had already been installed, and the metal building
package had been ordered. In all likelihood, the building was
not designed to meet handicapped standards or building codes,
so part of the project may need to be demolished and reconstructed
in order to bring it into compliance.
When the church told the engineer what happened,
he promised to get an architect to seal the drawings, which
is also illegal. By the time this gentleman called me with this
story, his repeated calls to the engineer had gone unanswered
for several weeks, and they still have no valid drawings.
The church made a number of mistakes which we
can all learn from.
First, they did not understand the law, which
requires an architect on all church projects. The engineer told
them, “I can do everything that an architect can do”. In some
building types, that is true, but not so with churches. Either
the engineer lied or he did not know the law.
Second, they made their decision to hire the
engineer based solely upon cost. The allure of a cheap fee was
just too attractive to pass up. Now they are stuck not only
with a set of plans that probably are not usable, but also with
the loss of all of the money they paid the engineer and the
cost of remediating the construction they have already done.
Third, they proceeded with construction without
a permit. Building officials do not take kindly to anyone who
does this, and it creates an atmosphere of bad will. There are
times that you really need a building official to work with
you to help you deal with difficult situations. Most building
officials are much less cooperative when they are dealing with
someone who has already circumvented their authority.
Fourth, they did not adequately count the cost
of the project before they started. In the beginning, I advised
the church that their budget was far too low for their project,
but they proceeded ahead anyway.
Finally, I know that at least three different
people, all Christians, and all professionals, tried to give
them good advice, but they chose to ignore it.
My advice to the caller was that he should report
their engineer to the Engineer Board, where there is a slim
chance that the engineer could be forced to return the fee under
the threat of losing his license. But chances are, the fee is
unrecoverable.
I hope I am wrong, but I suspect that five years
from now, this project will be no further along than it is today.
When these kind of mistakes are made, especially in a small
church, the congregation loses confidence in the leadership
and either leaves the church or stops supporting it financially.
So please, if your church is on the same path,
stop before it is too late. Don’t assume that it only happens
to the other guy. God raises up people in all professions to
help you get the job done right, but there is also no shortage
of people who will make false promises in order to get your
business.
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