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Entries in Church Construction (35)

Wednesday
May122010

Outlook Christian Church - One Year Later

DateWednesday, May 12, 2010 at 02:35PM

Outlook Christian Church (formerly Oaklandon Christian Church) recently celebrated their one-year anniversary in their new building, designed and built by Aspen Group.  We met with Senior Pastor Rob McCord to get an update on what has happened since they moved into their multipurpose space in February, 2009.  

The church took a risk leaving the street they had been on for over 140 years with building a new facility on a green site.  “But it was 100% the right move,” Rob shared. “And that has been confirmed again and again.”

Attendance started increasing immediately when they moved into the new facility, increasing over 60% in the last year.  Many of the new attendees have said they “watched the building go up” and wanted to come check it out.  “We are thrilled to see unchurched folks coming, finding our church to be comfortable and inviting but passionate about following Jesus,” Rob said.  It is about transforming lives which was just celebrated through cardboard testimonies during their Easter services.

The growth has created energy and a “revival” spirit in the church.  Outlook has had over 65 baptisms in the last year, and the bi-monthly membership class has more than doubled in size.

The space is bustling with activity seven days a week, and there is a lot of coordination with set up and tear down. But the building has created a culture of flexibility, which is  part of Outlook’s DNA. “Phase 1 is perfectly suited for what we need, and we are squeezing a lot of ministry out of it,” Pastor Rob said.

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Tuesday
Apr062010

A Design-Build Discussion - Part One

DateTuesday, April 6, 2010 at 01:50PM

Written By Matt Burress, Aspen Estimator 

I had the honor of being part of a recent panel discussion on Design-Build Conceptual Estimating at a joint meeting of the Indiana chapters of DBIA (Design-Build Institute of America) and ASPE (American Society of Professional Engineers). The panel consisted of myself as the GC representative along with representatives from Edward's Electrical and Mechanical (Plumbing), Long Electric, Ryan Fire Protection, and McCurdy Mechanical (HVAC).

The discussion revolved around the steps required to be taken as an estimator when we receive a design-build RFP and how we address all of the unknowns and contingencies that come along with unknown scope and/or poorly defined projects in a proposal document.  While this was discussed at some length, no real progress was made in this regard as these questions were based around a flawed version of design-build.  While design-build is making headway in our market, especially the public sector where it was recently approved through state legislation, the way it is commonly implemented is a form of quasi design-build that is contrary to the spirit of design-build and the best standard of practice promoted by the Design-Build Institute of America.

The panel shared that we are seeing more and more "hard bid" design-build projects where the owner presents a set of schematic drawings and asks a dozen contractors to provide proposals to complete the design and construct the building.  This process eliminates much of the innovation possible under design-build by defining too much of the design in the bridging (bidding) documents.  The bidders, using a hard bid mentality, each tend to invite several contractors to bid each trade which leads to a flood of bids on the final bid day.  This does not give the general contractor enough time to review and analyze the bids and does not foster a team approach to the proposal.  In these scenarios, the owner is often selecting a contractor based mainly on price, therefore forcing the general contractors to accept flawed and incomplete quotes from subcontractors out of fear that taking a better, more expensive proposal may cost them the job due to price.

The discussion quickly moved to the realization that to truly realize all of the schedule and cost benefits possible using design-build, owners need to create RFP’s that are well thought out and that have as little of the design defined as possible. 

It was a great discussion and very thought-provoking. I am looking forward to sharing more of the conversation with you.  Stayed tuned for Part Two of my article that shares the panel’s continued conversation related to developing RFPs.

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Friday
Feb052010

New Cornerstone Conference Website!

DateFriday, February 5, 2010 at 11:14AM

Aspen is thrilled to announce the debut of the redesigned Cornerstone Conferences website! The Cornerstone Knowledge Network partnered with the talented folks at HAAN Marketing to create the new website design – a design that aligns with the content and quality of the conference and offers a great experience for those interested in learning more about the Cornerstone Alignment4 Conference.

We encourage you to visit the site and explore the great line-up of speakers and sessions planned for the upcoming March 16th conference in Indianapolis. Whether you are a senior or executive pastor, business administrator, staff, lay leader or building team member, you won't want to miss the incredible experience and insights offered at this event.

Please don’t forget that the extended Early Bird price of $100 will end on Feb 15th. Take advantage of this great deal and register today!

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Thursday
Jan212010

Church Planting??

DateThursday, January 21, 2010 at 08:10AM

Written By Tom Shields, Aspen Group Field Construction Manager

Churches that are planning a building project often look for parts of the project they can do themselves to help save costs and create ownership within the church family. One area that many churches take on themselves is landscaping. This may sound like an easy task; however it is important to understand the full scope of landscaping before committing to undertake the project. Landscaping goes beyond just digging a couple holes and planting a few trees.
 
It is important to have a clearly defined checklist of what needs to be completed. One thing that many owners are surprised by, for instance, is that erosion control is part of landscaping and is usually required by law.  This may sound overwhelming, but really it can be accomplished in a short period of time with a handful of volunteers.
 
As a Field Construction Manager with Aspen Group, I have seen that with a clear scope and outlined plan, “by owner” landscaping can not only save the church money, but  provides a time for fellowship and creates ownership of the project among the congregation.
 
Here are two examples of Aspen Group clients who did their own landscaping:
 
West Lafayette Apostolic Christian Church planted trees, laid landscaping mats for erosion control, and did the seeding on their new property. With approximately 10-15 volunteers they accomplished this in a couple evenings and a Saturday morning. This saved the church over $19,000.
 
Greenwood Christian Church had a crew of about 15 people - one paid staff person (Head of Grounds) and the rest volunteers. The team put in approximately 600-700 man-hours of work over a period of several months.  Aspen Group prepped the ground in a finished graded condition and then the church took over from there.  They planted trees and plants, seeded and laid sod in the grassy areas, and built a retaining wall on both sides of the new worship center addition, saving the church over $29,000.

With good coordination on the front end, this kind of "sweat equity" can be a blessing to all involved!

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Saturday
Nov142009

Leadership Journal Webinar with Ed Bahler and Bill Couchenour

DateSaturday, November 14, 2009 at 03:50PM

Assumptions about church buildings are changing. What does this mean for planning our facilities?

Sign-up to ask your questions during a live webinar.

Ed Bahler President of Aspen Group and Bill Couchenour, President of Cogun, are co-founders of the Cornerstone Knowledge Network and have decades of hands-on experience when it comes to creating effective ministry space. Skye Jethani from Christianity Today's Leadership Journal, will be interviewing Ed and Bill about what church leaders should do before they decide to build or renovate their facilities.

Sign up for the live webinar on November 17th.

11-12pm CST

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