A New Idea for Church Construction

  It is not a new concept in construction, just a new idea for churches. The idea is construction management. The University of Alabama uses construction management on all its projects. Currently one of Alabama’s largest construction firms is retained by the university to review every nonathletic building program. The result has been savings in the multiple millions of dollars, university officials say. 
  
The retained construction company cannot bid on any of the work for which it serves as construction manager. That eliminates conflict of interest problems. The company proves its value to the university by carefully reviewing all architectural plans to see how value can be retained but costs lowered by working with contractors to find cost-cutting methods for construction that maintain quality and much more. 
  
Now the idea is coming to church construction. The question is being asked if churches can benefit from the concept of construction management. 
  
Robert Cornelius and Bobby Keith both say yes.
  
Cornelius is the retired president and owner of Sun Building Co. in Birmingham and a member of NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville. Keith is the retired president of Hoar Construction in Birmingham and a member of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham. Cornelius continues to play a key role in NorthPark’s building programs, according to Pastor Bill Wilks. Keith leads church construction teams around the world. For this effort, he was selected as Alabama Baptist Volunteer of the Year in 2000. 
  
Cornelius related an incident in a NorthPark building program in which the architect’s drawing resulted in more cost than the church could afford. Because of his extensive knowledge of construction, Cornelius spotted the problem while reviewing the drawings. By working with the architect and the builder, he was able to help all parties find a solution that resulted in the same feature but kept the cost affordable. 
  
Keith shared an experience related to building the current Hoover High School. At the time, he was chairman of the Hoover school board. In that role, he met with the architect and in one afternoon, succeeded in taking more than $1 million in cost out of the project. 
  
Both men said there is no doubt that construction management can result in better finished building projects at less cost for churches. Otherwise the process would not continue to be popular in the secular market. Both also said construction management could help the building process go more smoothly for many churches because often churches want “to save Jesus money at the expense of the contractor.” Construction management helps ensure all parties are fairly treated. 
  
The areas of contribution for construction management are many. They begin with consultation about building projects and include assistance in selecting an architect and contractor, assistance in preparing contracts, reviewing all drawings to ensure church leaders’ intensions are fulfilled, suggesting savings opportunities and consultation with the building committee during the process. 
  
Obviously, to fulfill that role, one has to be extremely knowledgeable about the building process. A construction management consultant must have expertise like Cornelius or Keith, or he or she would not be of much value. Many churches cannot afford to pay the going rate for such expertise. 
  
That is why the two men have the same goal. They would like to be the nucleus of a statewide group of Baptist construction executives who would offer their services to churches at a reasonable rate in order to help churches get better buildings, to make the building process go more smoothly and to help churches save money. 
  
Both men said they would like to use the knowledge and skills developed over a lifetime of work in the construction field in a ministry-related way. And they believe there are other Alabama Baptist laymen with senior management experience in construction who would be willing to join them. 
  
Birmingham Baptist Association Executive Director Mike McLemore is in the process of letting churches in that association know of the resources offered by the two men. He is also exploring the possibility of forming a group of individuals that could be endorsed to churches as able to provide the services of construction management. 
  
For churches building multimillion-dollar complexes, the advantages of construction management are obvious. But even for smaller projects, the benefits could be substantial. Churches with smaller projects must be as careful with their dollars as churches with major projects. 
  
Recently some repairs were needed on the building that houses The Alabama Baptist. We went through the usual process of getting bids for the work that we knew needed to be done. Then I asked Keith to look at the project and to meet with the builder selected for our work. As a result, several changes were made — changes in projects, materials, methods and costs. The Alabama Baptist Inc. benefited greatly from his involvement. 
  
If a small project like repairs to a building can benefit so greatly, then I believe the concept of construction management could help any church considering a building or remodeling project.