Feasibility Studies For Church Projects

Should your congregation be contemplating a building project, we would be pleased to meet with you to discuss how we can help. At the start of a building project, we recommend our Design Development Feasibility Study which we believe to be the most economical way for a church to determine exactly what they can afford.

In the study we answer four questions that are essential for any congregation to be able to make an informed decision.

1. What do we need?
   Working with your congregation we develop a Space Needs Assessment that details the spaces required by the various user groups and ministries in the church. To facilitate the collection of this information, we provide a questionnaire to be completed by the user groups. We collect this information and prepare a summary of the required spaces along with a preliminary area allocation which results in an estimate of the required building area. This then allows us to develop a preliminary estimate of cost of the project.
2. What can we afford?
   Harder & Associates prepares a detailed Financial Assessment of the church, looking at the five year giving trends and how this would affect what the church could expect to raise over and above the annual budget toward the proposed building fund. This assessment has proved itself to be an accurate estimate of what a church can afford and as such is a reasonable basis on which to develop the new building design.
3. What will it look like?
   Only when we have the first two questions answered do we begin actually designing a new facility. We develop a design that fits within the budget set by the church. The design process usually results in a number of design approaches that are gradually refined until you are satisfied it fits your space needs and budget parameters.
4. What will it cost to build?
   As the design develops, we prepare cost estimates of the various options as they are considered resulting in a final estimate of the selected design.

If your church is wondering if they can redevelop their existing property to serve their growth needs or whether they need to sell and relocate, our Development Feasibility study can apply the above four questions to both options. The result will be a design solution and cost estimate for both. With this information in hand it will be much easier for the congregation to decide on how to proceed.