Raising a House of Worship Is Hearty Task for Many Hands
Collaboration Is Key for Contractors Faced With a Kaleidoscope of Challenges
By PAT BRODERICK [Reprinted from the San Diego Business Journal]

The pastor or rabbi, the organist, the Sunday school teacher, the board of directors and the congregants — that’s just some of the many users that a builder has to accommodate while trying to erect a house of worship.  

“There are multiple players and users of a church facility and they all want to make the church work best for their interests,” said David Weigel, chief estimator and preconstruction services manager for Escondido-based Erickson-Hall Construction Co. “There are a lot of cartwheels you have to go through to make this happen.”

Being pro-active is key, said Weigel, whose company has more than a dozen religious facilities in its portfolio.

“We try to get good communication in the pre-design phase, bringing the owners and users together with the architect and design team,” said Weigel. “I consider myself a therapist. I don’t know how I do it, but I manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat a lot of the time.”

How so?

“They say they are going to build for $5 million,” he said. “They ask, ‘Can we make this thing look like the Sistine Chapel?’ We are there to help bring reality in terms of costs. We team up with the church and approach the project from a business standpoint.”

Mark Baker, principal of Escondido-based HB&A Architects Inc., has worked on several church projects over the years.

“It’s always comprised of a group of volunteers with differing opinions,” he said. “There isn’t that drive or underlying motivation to get the building done and make money. It’s like herding cats, getting the groups together to make decisions and move on.”

Tweaking Tradition
Baker grabbed what he considers to be the brass ring with the recently completed $2.4 million Ner Tamid Synagogue on Pomerado Road in Poway.

“It’s a great showpiece for us,” said Baker, who served as primary architect and project manager on a project that was in the works for four years.

The new 6,000-square-foot synagogue — located on an 8-acre campus — includes a 300-seat sanctuary, kitchen, library, administration offices and support spaces for the 400 members. Among the design features are 12 stained glass windows depicting the original tribes of Israel. The windows were created by David Ascalon of Asca­lon Studios in Philadelphia.

But, as with any religious building — especially one steeped in centuries of tradition — any modern innovation can prove to be a hard sell. Baker recalled that one “very vocal and prominent” member of the congregation objected to the asymmetry of the design.

“This can really bother some people and it bothered the heck out of this person,” said Baker.
The early houses of worship tended to be symmetrical, Baker observed, but in the 1900s the modern movement began to take hold and the dynamics started to shift. Prior to that, joked Baker, an architect who tried to tweak tradition risked getting burned at the stake for heresy.

How did Baker resolve his design dilemma and appease the disgruntled con­gre­gant?

“The ultimate tipping point came when there was enough consensus with the rest of the group, and he finally went along with it,” said Baker. “He is ecstatic about it now.”

Another big challenge with building houses of worship is that money tends to be tight.

“Pastors feel a strong responsibility to make budget,” said Geoff McMillen, project manager for San Diego-based Legacy Building Services Inc., which is now finishing up the Eastlake Community Church auditorium in Chula Vista that is scheduled to open in December. “They don’t know the industry, and it’s hard for them to understand what the end cost will be.”

McMillen’s job is to show them the many elements that come into play beyond the building itself.

“More often than not, they are taken off guard about how complicated it can be,” he said. “They are trying to do the best they can with the resources given to them by their congregation.”

Those collateral costs can add up, said Weigel of Erickson-Hall.

“People think in terms of what a building will cost, but not about the development site and what the city and county governments want us to do on the infrastructure,” he said. “We have to approach it as a business.”

San Diego, along with other metro areas, has its own set of challenges, said Weigel.

“It’s not like building out on the plains of Kansas where you can go out on the prairie and build a church,” he said. “People don’t realize that the government looks at you as any other developer. You have to do the same environmental studies and it takes a long time. During the process, you better know where you’re going in terms of budget or you could end up with something way over budget, because you didn’t take into consideration what the city wants you to do.”

With the uncertainty sometimes involved with building religious facilities, in addition to balancing the often conflicting needs of congregations, some pros take a pass, said Weigel.

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