Project Profile #001
Clearview Foursquare Church | Snohomish, WA
Welcome to our first project profile! Here at CPM we have decided that it’s not fair for us to keep our projects hidden away in a file folder and on a job list, deep in the archives, never to be seen by the light of day after completion. No, these projects are built FOR people, therefore we should share our projects WITH people. So… without further ado, we present to you project profile #001 – Clearview Foursquare Church | Snohomish, WA.
This church just so happens to be in the same town we are located in so the pastor knew who we were and our reputation so it was a no brainer for him to approach us about the project. He said, “We’re out of room and we need to expand. I trust you guys. Can you help us?” Our immediate response was YES! We understood the challenges they were facing and honestly, we already had an idea and a direction we thought would be best for the space. We can’t help ourselves but envision every space we walk into and see its potential for what it could be, and the church was no different.
The first issue we ran into was the fact that there were no as-builts for the existing space or property so we needed to get an architect on board to help us draft those so we had something to work off of. The second step we went down was an initial conceptual design. The original thought from the pastor and his team was to build a newer, bigger sanctuary, in front the of existing building and then tie the two buildings together. The main goals being accomplished would be, create bigger seating capacity and update/refresh the existing facility. Once the conceptual building design was done, we began a pricing exercise so the church had a ballpark number to work with so they could begin raising funds with a building campaign. This also would allow them to submit for a conditional use permit with the county. Once we completed our initial ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) pricing, and presented it to the pastor and the church board members, the initial reaction was one we were already expecting. The price is too high and the timeline is too long! 9 out of 10 times when this is the case we get to use our two favorite words. VALUE ENGINEER.
We went back to the drawing board and asked ourselves, “If we don’t build a new building, and instead just maximize the existing building, what are our options? After a few rounds of move this wall here, add this, take this away, we ended up with a general layout and concept that everyone agreed upon AND it fit the budget. Now the only issue we were up against was the schedule. By the time we crossed our T’s and dotted our I’s, we had 8 weeks to accomplish a 10 week job. They wanted to be done before Easter so they could host Easter services in their own building for the first time in 3 years. Oh, and by the way, the church still wanted to hold their services in the sanctuary every week DURING construction. This meant we had to work longer days Mon-Thurs, and work a half day on Fridays so the second half of the day could be spent demobilizing and cleaning. This allowed the church to set up chairs and AV equipment on Saturday for 3 church services on Sunday.
Most contractors would have laughed at the thought of this schedule and extra work, but we didn’t blink an eye. This project wasn’t just a job for us. Most of our projects are viewed this way. We take the angle that this work is a way for us to build a relationship with the client and in the end, help them achieve their goals. Their lives are better and they can achieve their dreams better when we come alongside them and walk them through the process till the very end. Step by step together. Our agenda is never bigger than theirs.
The days were long, many changes were made along the way (typical) and at times we thought we were gonna blow the budget and not complete on time, but we refused to accept that and found ways to work through every challenge with a positive outcome. In the end, we actually finished under budget, due to collaborative and sacrificial inhouse design, and we completed the job a few days ahead of schedule! GO TEAM! We walked away with the most unique experience we have ever gone through as a company and the church walked away with a project that exceeded their expectations. We helped turn their dreams into a reality. The church doesn’t view their building as an exclusive members only meeting place, but rather a state of the art, modern facility that is inclusive to the entire community. Events will happen hear, life will happen here and most importantly, the reason we wanted to participate in the first place, lives will be changed here too.
We can’t thank the church enough for allowing us to partner with them in this project and in fact, this was just phase 1 of a 3 phase process. We can’t wait for phase 2 to begin so stay tuned for that!