Preparing to Build – Book Overview

Paperback version of Preparing to BuildThis is likely to be the best investment you will make in your entire church building program. A trivial investment to save the church time, effort, stress, and potentially tens of thousands of dollars.

  • 3rd Edition
  • 200 pages, with Illustrations
  • Forward by Dr. Paul Smith
  • 3 Appendices, including a readiness assessment
  • Available in paperback and eBook form
  • View Table of Contents, Forward, Preface, and Chapter 1 - (pdf)

Preparing to Build is a comprehensive guide to preparing for a church building program, a ‘must read’ for any church that is planning on building a church anytime in the next one to five years.

Preparing to Build will help your church…

  • Understand practical guidelines for church construction.
  • Understand the proper steps in a church building program.
  • Understand what the church can reasonable expect to borrow.
  • Describe how to develop a preliminary church construction budget.
  • Understand what to expect from a church capital campaign.
  • Understand how to evaluate architects and builders.
  • Understand various church financing options.
  • Avoid common mistakes and pitfalls in church design & construction.
  • Understand various methods of contracting for construction.
  • Determine your readiness to build through the included assessment.

As a result your church will…

  • Move forward with confidence.
  • Save money in church design & construction.
  • Reduce the amount of time & effort you will have to invest.
  • Reduce the amount of the stress and worry.
  • Reduce uncertainty of what to build and why.
  • Properly equip your leadership and building or long range planning committee.
  • Be more satisfied with the outcome of the building program.

Topics Covered (partial list)

  • The role of vision and mission in a church building program.
  • Determining project feasibility.
  • Ascertaining needs and separating them from wants.
  • Financial preparedness.
  • Financing church construction.
  • Raising money to build – the church capital campaign.
  • Things to consider when searching for a church architect.
  • Church construction contracting methodologies.
  • Church design & construction guidelines.
  • Church construction contracting methodologies.
  • Church construction contracting methodologies.
  • Church construction contracting methodologies.

We encourage you to read some of our testimonials…