Unlike many commercial building projects that can have a single owner, church renovations are often discussed and decided by committees. It’s important to remember how many people are involved and how many people are affected. Pastors, parishioners, employees and volunteers will all want to have a say in the design and the budget.
That’s why we prefer to do a Design Charrette with church leadership when working with churches. This consists of a series of meetings where we bring all of the stakeholders together before we get started with the project.
A Design Charrette gives leaders, team members and key decision-makers a chance to have open dialogue about what they expect. When everyone is present and engaged, we can get everything out on the table. We can discuss challenges and address concerns. This will put you in the best possible position to have a realistic plan with achievable benchmarks as we move forward.
“We’re really excited when we get to partner with a church and they entrust us with their facilities, with their money, with their people, because we know that church leaders have a lot of responsibilities and they’re held accountable for how things go,” says Joey Rhyne, chief executive officer of Dow Smith Company. “So, we like to make them feel relaxed and feel confident about who they’ve hired.”
The process can also save as much as six figures. Some churches, eager to get to work, will pay hefty fees for designs that are impossible to build on their budget. Having an intensive discussion ahead of time can prevent this from happening.
Luke 14:28 asks us, “For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”
This is a critical question, and it’s not just about the financial cost, though that’s part of it. It’s also about the strain renovation can put on a congregation and the sacrifices that you’ll inevitably have to make along the way.
Understanding how to minimize disruption to existing operations, while keeping staff and members of the congregation safe, is of the utmost importance.
So, what does a typical Design Charrette do?
- Establish metrics such as historical attendance, space usage and project budgets so that everything will scale appropriately.
- Conduct discovery interviews by meeting with staff and core ministry leaders identified by the church to better understand the ministries that are under design.
- Prepare at least two optional site campus master plan concepts based on the conclusions from discovery interviews.
- Prepare conceptual schematic design floor plans for the next identified building phase for the teams’ review.
- Prepare conceptual exterior building elevations to capture what the exterior may look like.
- Revise site plan, floor plan and elevations according to feedback from leadership to be presented again to capture any final comments.
- Provide overall code summary and discuss any red flags or concerns.
- Discuss final details to be completed and delivered.
- Prepare computer-generated model of the church.
This will be time well spent as everyone will leave the Design Charrette on the same page and ready to start the next chapter of your church. You will gain consensus.
“I don’t consider a job a success unless the clients are our friends at the end of the job,” Rhyne says. “We are really passionate about the construction process, and even though it’s usually going to be inconvenient, we want it to be as enjoyable as possible. Construction is supposed to be exciting. It’s supposed to be about growth and good things, and change is a good thing.”
While growth is good, it can require strategic planning and the right partnership.
In 2002, Fellowship Bible Church started meeting at middle school with 40 members. By the time Dow Smith Company built the church’s facility in 2014, the congregation had grown to 250. At the start of 2020, as Fellowship Bible Church’s numbers exceeded 400, the building was busting at the seams.
Pastor Monty Waldron says he knew it was time for the building to grow to keep up and having a local design-builder to partner with was comforting.
“It’s been encouraging,” he says. “Every church wants to grow in size and influence. We were as lean as we could be, and we were using every square inch.”
Dow Smith Company began working on an expansion project at the church that added 8,000 square feet, which included classroom space for kids, a midsize gathering space and most of the staff offices.
The project totally transformed the entrance of the church. In the past, the main lobby has been “wall-to-wall people where members of the congregation gather on Sunday morning,” Pastor Waldron says.
The project included knocking out a wall, improving flooring and turning the space where offices had been into a hospitality room. Sofas, books, and a fireplace now provide a relaxing environment for regular church-goers as well as visitors.
“There is tremendous benefit to having a builder who’s already done a great job,” Pastor Waldron says. “Now we can just call and say we’re ready for the next phase. They get who we are and what we’re going for. We don’t have to start over.”
Getting people on board and forming the right partnership will help avoid pitfalls.
One of the best ways to avoid pitfalls is by having a due diligence period. It is a time to turn a vision into drawings to discern if the vision is feasible. Due diligence, if done properly, will either confirm the vision or help determine if moving forward could be a costly mistake.
We strongly recommend working with a design-builder and designing to your budget rather than budgeting to your design.
All too often, we’ve seen renovation or expansion plans rolled up in the corner of a pastor’s office because leaders wanted to include every idea and didn’t consider budget until after the plans were finished.
By involving people, partnering with a design-builder and using due diligence to avoid pitfalls, you may not please everyone, but you’ll have a plan for a renovation that is feasible and affordable.
Dow Smith started Dow Smith Company in Smyrna, Tennessee, more than 32 years ago, www.dowsmith.com. Dow Smith Company has continued to grow and now employs more than 35 people, with an emphasis on designing and building churches, medical facilities and commercial buildings in Middle Tennessee. Today, Dow serves the company in the role of Visionary.
