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Construction Case Study – LaGrange Christian Assembly
Aspen Group’s integrated approach yields many benefits
LaGrange Christian Assembly is a growing church of approximately 250 members located in the Chicago suburb of LaGrange. Aspen Group recently completed a 10,000 sq. ft. addition to their existing facility. This addition gives them a multi-purpose gym, administration rooms and education space.
Right from the beginning, LaGrange Christian Assembly’s board felt comfortable with Aspen Group. “[They] were not only committed to Christ, but… were involved in ministry with their local churches. They are people who understand the needs of a local church.” Says Pastor Steve Evans.
This understanding facilitated the entire process. Everything went more smoothly, from the feasibility study to creating the design to implementing change orders. With Aspen Group, the church “could speak in a language that we both understood.” Says Pastor Evans.
The church was looking for functional space done very economically. But it still needed to look good. “We wanted all the look and all the function, like everyone else,” jokes Evans.
Aspen Group architects responded to the challenge. They created a design that provided maximum function and also dramatically improved the existing building’s curbside appeal. This was done by placing the attractive addition in front of the existing facility.
One part of Aspen Group’s approach that really appealed to the church, was the Guaranteed Maximum Price. They had heard stories of projects that experienced huge cost overruns, a problem all too common in the construction industry. Since none of the church leadership team had experience building churches in the past, “knowing that our project would be brought in for a Guaranteed Maximum Price, that was a big plus,” says Pastor Evans.
Pastor Evans has a background in commercial property management, so has seen firsthand how “out of control” some projects can get. That’s why he sees a lot of merit in Aspen Group’s integrated approach. “I like the built-in accountability. The fact that you have architects that are designing things that they know their company will be building. You have builders that if there is a need for a change order, have the architects in-house so they are able to immediately go back…”
The church made several changes along the way. Early on, the church decided that the project cost would have to be trimmed in order to afford the building. Aspen Group architects, working with Aspen Group builders, were able to work as a team to trim just enough to make it work, without sacrificing any function or much aesthetic appeal.
Later, during construction, the church made some modifications to the plan. This went very smoothly. “In a situation where you have the design/builder who has immediate access to architects and engineers, we were just a matter of a week or two for most of these to turn them around, have them back in the project, new prints on the table and construction workers making the changes happen.”
Aspen Group’s quality impressed Pastor Evans. “The very detailed oversight that was given to the project, the day-to-day management, having the project superintendent here on the project practically every day that something was going on here just lent itself to a very high quality job being done.” The speed of the project was also noteworthy. “The trades were organized in such a way that the work happened very quickly… the project came together nicely from the standpoint of not only quality, but also timeliness.”
LaGrange Christian Assembly continues to grow and plans a phase two expansion in the future. They intend to use Aspen Group again.
If you are ready to experience the benefits of tightly integrated architecture and construction, call Aspen Group today at 888-241-9980.
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