Most church leaders must face the painstaking problem of trying to reduce or control building costs at some point in the construction process, according to “Planning and Building Church Facilities” by Gwenn E. McCormick.
Often times, whether church leaders overspend or stay within their budget depends on how well they respond to these problems.
“Many budgeted items are beyond the control of the committee,” noted McCormick, former director of LifeWay’s Church Architecture department. “But some costs will be directly determined by decisions of the committee.”
According to McCormick, the five factors that have the greatest influence on church construction costs are size and design of the building, materials used and labor involved in construction and financing costs. At times, these areas may be manipulated to some extent to accommodate a church’s building
budget.
For instance, since many construction estimates are based on square footage and complexity of the proposed facility, many cost-conscious churches decide to build smaller, simpler structures, while others choose to use cheaper building materials in their project.
Another popular means of reducing costs is utilizing volunteer labor, which can reduce the cost on some projects by as much as 40 percent, according to McCormick. Usually, this option works well for smaller churches but may have limited applications for larger, more complex facilities.
“When a church building is large, specialized tools such as cranes are required making the percentage of the work that can be done by the volunteers relatively small,” said Gary Swafford, director of new work and church building at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Volunteers tend to do more of the residential type construction, which means their services on relatively small buildings are very beneficial.”
Although the above options can significantly decrease building costs, church committees should not focus solely on decreasing construction costs to reduce the overall project cost, according to church building experts.
McCormick believes that this could possibly “result in mediocre design, use of inferior materials and cheap buildings with high utility and maintenance costs.”
He added that churches often overlook the best solution for saving money.
“Committees should realize that the largest possible savings are usually in controlling financing costs,” he noted. “Frequently, churches pay more interest on long-term financing than the building itself costs.”
McCormick offers a few suggestions to help churches avoid high financing costs:
–Raise a significant amount prior to the building’s completion.
–Accumulate a building fund and capital fund-raising program.
–Establish regular monthly transfers from the operating budget to the building fund. “Churches should begin this practice several years before the building is needed,” he noted.
Although church building experts believe that good financial planning alleviates many money concerns, they advise building committees to make sure that they are not stifling an opportunity for growth or risking the integrity and safety of the project in trying to save money.
“Keep in mind the mission of the church is not to save money but to be vitally involved in the saving work of Christ,” McCormick noted. “If the choice is between saving interest and reaching people for Christ, the decision must be for the latter. If waiting caused the church to lose its growth impetus or slowed its evangelistic outreach, the money saved would have been a bad investment.”
Share with others: