Working the Budget

Just a status report, really. Design Development has progressed to the point that we can start getting more solid numbers regarding budgeting. Early on, design aimed at our target budget but necessarily vaguely. As design becomes more detailed, so can cost estimates.

As announced before, Poettker Construction of Breese, Illinois is helping us assess cost and constructability. As experienced contractors familiar with our area, they can not only provide good estimates but also recommend cost-reduction options where appropriate.

This Thursday a meeting was held with Msgr. Lawler and Fr. Beatty, Keith Poettker and Tom Arentsen of Poettker Construction, and Ethan Anthony and Kevin Hogan of Cram & Ferguson. We were joined at times by engineers and subcontractors. We put in a long, productive day and are a big step closer to finalizing design.

As this process unfolded, Cram and Ferguson presented a modification to design that will save a huge amount of money without unduly harming the beauty and integrity of our design. The building committee found this modification desirable and elegant. Before, the walls were very high, reaching as high as the vaulted ceiling. A peaked roof rose up from that level. The result was a magnificent upward extension to the building's exterior, but also a great deal of unused space in the attic. This was necessary to achieve the vaulted ceiling.

By moving to a peaked wood ceiling, we are able to eliminate that unused attic space. That means that without much change to the interior dimensions, we are lowering the exterior significantly. It also means a single row of windows rather than a large and small row. The eaves will still be about 24' high with the roof rising from there; I don't think anyone will call this a short building.

I think a finished wood ceiling with attractive beam work will be very beautiful. I look forward to sharing updated drawings with you as they become available.

We still have work to do and calculations are ongoing. Admittedly, this stage of our project has its frustrations, but overall I'm pleased with how it's going. Before we were looking at a stunning design and vaguely hoping we could achieve something like it on budget. Now, we've had to take some cost-reduction measures, but we're still looking at an amazing design. And now, we're much more certain that we're on track to achieve it.

Here's a very quickly produced sketch of the modification we've adopted. The walls are lower; the interior now extends up to the peak instead of being entirely within the height of the eaves. In this design the peak of the interior is actually several feet higher than with the vaults, but the outside height is reduced. This one change introduced a cascade of savings that were really needed to hit our budget.

Note: This sketch also reflects a look at a different transept window configuration. We've elected to stay with the rose window design there.