Over the past 14 months I have been blessed to develop 2 new relationships with some pretty cool guys (pun intended).  They are both prolific writers and brain-iacs in the church world and I am honored to be associated with them.  They are Tim Stevens, Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church and Tony Morgan, Pastor of Ministries at West Ridge Church.

I follow both of their blogs (links on their names above) and suggest you do the same.  They have also written some great stuff…including a series published by Group publishing.  Of the series they wrote, I have really enjoyed “Simply Strategic Stuff!”.  Their insight and recommendations are excellent and easy to understand and apply.

Tim actually gave me the books a few years ago when I was touring the Granger Campus with a new employee and Kem Myers.  But I dug the books out the other day and started re-reading them and was blown away by how relevant this 6 year old book is today. So I reached out to Tony and Tim (by the way, Tim wrote the back cover endorsement of my new book, Successful Master Planning: More Than Pretty Pictures…thanks Tim) and asked their permission to share some of their insights from this book…for which they have graciously consented.  So…over the next several weeks, I am going to share with you some of their insights and add some of my own thoughts as well…let’s get started.

SIMPLY STRATEGIC STUFF: #54 – The Low Bid May Cost More

One Sunday Morning, everyone gathered in the auditorium, waiting for the service to begin. The pastor stood up for the normal announcement time. Typically, the announcements were too long and very boring. However, this time everyone tuned in as the pastor began, “I have something exciting to tell you today. Many of you have waited for this day for years.  The elders have approved hiring a youth pastor.” People applauded. He continued, “Here’s how we’ll do it; We will be accepting proposals from interested persons for the next thirty days. If you know someone who would like to be our youth pastor, please tell him or her to submit a proposal that includes exactly what he or she will accomplish and how much money he or she needs to do the job.  We will then review all of the proposals, and we will choose the person who has agreed to the terms of the job for the least amount of money.” The congregation wasstunned.

Sounds absurd, right? No church would hire a youth pastor based on “low bid.” Yet churches spend thousands, even million, of dollars on buildings by choosing the contractors with the lowest bid.  They assume that if the design documents are completely detailed, then anyone who submits a bid will give them the same exact end product as another bidder. So it comes down to money, right?

This is wrong. Very Wrong. Like the hiring of a youth pastor, the hiring of a contractor requires you to look at more than just the bottom line.

To the above…the only other thing I can really say is AMEN.  This does not just apply to your general contractor or construction manager, but also your design team, your AVL designer and integrator, the FFE suppliers…and the rest of the Project Team. Remember, the Project Team will be with you for a VERY long time…choose wisely…and do not base it solely on the low bid.

More Strategic Stuff next time.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.