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Ask any designer—architect, AV consultant, MEP engineer, etc.—how they can do their jobs better, and consistently they will tell you: “We need to be involved in projects from the very start.”
Getting in on the front end of planning is how designers avoid making mistakes. And it’s also how they help their church clients save time and money. Yet, all too often, early involvement is not a luxury these professionals get.
Church.Design sat down with two seasoned professionals in the realm of church AV design—Worship Arts Consultant Ron Cochran with NV5 in Atlanta, and David McCauley, vice president of business development with CSD Group in Dallas—and asked them, what’s the worst you’ve seen and how did you turn it around?
Read on to find their interesting, and oftentimes invaluable, responses.
C.D: What design issues have you experienced in church projects, in terms of trouble waiting to happen or even all-out design failures, that you learned from the most?
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"There are so many trades on a jobsite. I want to be the one you don’t have trouble with," shares David Cochran, worship arts consultant with NV5, Atlanta.
Cochran: Problems on a church project almost always come down to a lack of coordination. Somebody didn’t communicate with someone, or an engineer sent drawings to the architects [but] the general contractor (GC) was not looking at the most recent set of drawings.
I was successful in church integration because I realized, early on, that those things can happen, and I became a bulldog to keep them from happening to my clients.
[That said,] I remember when we were opening one new building, and the pastor looks around the lobby and says, “Isn’t there supposed to be an 80-inch TV on that wall?” So I go and peel back the layers and yes, some documentation didn’t get delivered …
So I put together a coordination meeting and made sure we were all looking at the same date on our plans. That TV that should’ve cost the church $5k now cost $10k-$15k because the power and conduit had not been installed, resulting in a costly change order.
Somebody, whoever dropped the ball, had to be willing to own up and eat the cost. But even then, every time the pastor walks by that TV for the next 15 years, he sees it and thinks, “That cost $15k!”
“Make sure that you know the loads you’re putting on circuits and that you have good grounding. Pay attention to these things and do not overload.”
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"More and more, architects are calling us early … we are good partners, collaborative … and are able to bring ideas to the team that make projects better, even from the architecture side," shares David McCauley, vice president of business development with CSD Group, Dallas
McCauley: Room shape [is important]. In the world of trying to get the most people packed into the most economic space, we see less than stellar experiences in a lot of facilities. The form does not follow the function of connecting people—this could be sight lines to stage, viewing angles to screens for proper connection, coverage of audio/acoustics …
There are a whole lot of issues when the room is not properly designed. The decision [to go with] extra seats at the cost of the overall experience for most of the people is always something to [properly consider].
In addition, noise control is something that can be a huge distraction. Bad HVAC design (having it sound like thunder or just really loud), [and it] turns on an off during times that you’re trying to communicate, or bad roof/insulation design—anything from hearing pings and noises from structure expansion during the morning, to rain noise that’s way too loud, or even birds and animal noises.
[Also, noise issues such as the] transfer of sound from the main room to other spaces and back [can be significant]. In addition, sometimes local neighborhoods get bombarded with energy from services. And in most instances [when these issues occur], this was an afterthought in design.
C.D: What about safety, as it pertains to rigging, for instance? What are some key words of wisdom—and what other areas should church designers and church clients watch out for?
McCauley: [When it comes to] rigging and proper support, this is a real issue in a lot of places if you do not have a strong design team that knows what to ask for when building, or if you are retrofitting after the fact, it can be a very scary thing to see. And I have seen a lot of scary things over the years as a former rigging inspector.
People don’t know the cost of rigging correctly; it is not cheap, nor do they think about the true cost of not doing it correctly and accidentally hurting someone … If you are designing, we always ask for specific steel to be in place and rated specifically for the tasks that are needed.
[Another issue] I see is a lot of cheap LED walls that have the same power connector and the in and out, so that you can wire them wrong and melt them down. Buy reputable products, get reputable structural engineers involved with structural decisions. If you do not have the ceiling rated, get it rated to know what your parameters are. Get qualified rigging help with designing and implementing projects. Make sure that you know the loads you’re putting on circuits and that you have good grounding. Pay attention to these things and do not overload.
“Anything flyable needs professional hardware [installed] by people who do rigging.”
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Cochran: Anything flyable needs professional hardware [installed] by people who do rigging. Nobody wants the liability and most churches understand this.
Another trouble spot can be when churches try to make their own acoustic paneling. Small churches might [tell designers], “We have guys and we’ll make our own acoustic panels.” NO. Remember the nightclub that burned down in New York years ago? I heard a story that they did what kids do in garage bands. They got egg crate hospital bed style foam and put it in 4-foot by 8-foot wooden frames, and pyrotechnics sent this all up in flames!
“Small churches might [tell designers], ‘We have guys and we’ll make our own acoustic panels.’ NO. Remember the nightclub that burned down in New York years ago?”
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If churches are doing it themselves, at least buy acoustic panels online, with a safety data sheet, because once you put it up, even with fire inspections before the building opens, they’re just looking at access, lights, and those kinds of things. They assume the panels on the wall are professional.
C.D: What issues can arise when churches want to use their own people on a project, or to employ local contractors near their church? And what do you advise in these instances, to avoid problems?
Cochran: Churches must make sure somebody is watching out for their interests. Some churches are large and they say they have people who can monitor the project. But Sunday is always coming so they don’t always have someone to oversee their project. That’s how I’ve made my career, by taking care of clients so they don’t have big, crazy, expensive errors on their projects.
It can also be a problem when, for instance, you have a design engineer who has done projects for many years, and a church building is in a rural area or suburban area, for example. So the designer is from a major city, and the same for the integrator. But the GC is hiring local contractors, like electricians, who may not have the experience interpreting and executing complex plans that a larger firm would have. I try to make sure that I’m on good working terms with that electrician, because they can unintentionally ruin my job.
[I suggest, for designers] meet with the electrician and have a 10-minute conversation—it can clarify something on a plan that doesn’t make sense to them. Get a little relational equity going with them so they trust you, as an out-of-town designer. Be willing to have those conversations and don’t intimidate that person. Set a cooperative tone for all trades to work together.
McCauley: Everyone that is [involved in a project] can be a part of the problem if they do not speak up and call out potential issues. Most of the time, the people involved just do not have the project knowledge or understanding of what, why, and how [something is critically important, and] this affects communication negatively. So unless [you help them] to understand how big of a deal it is, they can’t make an educated decision.
C.D: What final, brief words of wisdom do you have that can make a world of difference on a design and building project?
Cochran: There are so many trades on a jobsite. I want to be the one you don’t have trouble with. I have to work cooperatively with other trades to be successful.
McCauley: More and more, architects are calling us early … we are good partners, collaborative … and are able to bring ideas to the team that make projects better, even from the architecture side.
