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 | Pre-Construction Consultation
 | Consider how long it will take to pay for your new
building or renovation. Consider how much longer you will use the new
facilities. Now, consider how much technology will probably change in
that window of time. This consultation will help you to avoid costly
mistakes and insure that your facility will not be obsolete before it opens. |
| Pricing: One day for the first 10,000 square feet of new
or remodeled space plus an additional day for each 15,000 square feet.
Cost is $1400 per day, plus travel, lodging, and meals. (The
consulting fee for an 8000 sq.ft. addition would be $1400. The
consulting fee for an 22,000 sq.ft. addition would be $2800. The
consulting fee for an 35000 sq.ft. addition would be $4200.) |
| How soon? Though it is certainly cheaper to redo
blueprints than to redo conduit runs, the earlier in the process that you
retain a Pre-Construction Consultation, the more valuable that it will be
for you because your earliest blueprints can then reflect your likely
technology needs. |
| Note: A General
Technology Consultation is strongly recommended, especially if there are
phone, computer, sound, or other systems that will be shared between new and
pre-existing facilities. |
One evening, in Houston, Texas, I had a meeting at the
church where I was then serving. A member who was an electrician walked
into the room a few minutes early. As we chatted and waited for the
other committee members, I asked about his day at work. He replied: "We
spent the whole day doing DC work at the expansion project at the Astrodome."
I was intrigued, because I thought that electricians spent most of their time
with AC (Alternating Current) work. So I asked, "What kind
of DC work? Emergency back-up lights or some other equipment that runs off of
batteries?" He laughed and said: "No, when we say "DC work" we aren't talking
about Direct Current. We're talking about Digging Concrete!" DC
work meant tearing up concrete to put electric circuits, or sound, or video,
or network, or phone conduits someplace where the need had been overlooked.
That kind of "DC work" is very expensive. It is easy
to tend toward blaming the architect when such expensive errors occur.
Though architects may be partly to blame, in fairness, many clients,
especially churches, assume too much when they contract for architectural
services. Architects are experts at blueprints, and building codes, and
the laws of physics which dictate how may beams of what dimension are required
to hold up the roof of your building. And, though some architects are
sensitive to ministry needs, even those few are really not ministry experts.
The role of technology in ministry is clearly evolving at a
rapid pace. To presume that your architect is fully up-to-date with all
of the technology issues confronting churches today is a dangerous
assumption. To presume that they are sufficiently expert in those same
issues to help you prepare for the technology that will be used in that
facility in 10 to 20 years is just naive. |
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