CLPC Construction Program Update
Congregational Meeting – November 21, 2004

The CLC second floor build out project was completed on September 10 and dedicated by the church in a celebration the next weekend. While there are a couple of items still being worked out, this space is finished and in use, providing us with excellent space for our youth programs. The space includes two large activity rooms, one of which can be divided by a moveable wall to provide separate, isolated, classroom or meeting spaces. The build out also includes a new set of restrooms and a dedicated storage area for music and drama supplies and equipment.

The new CE building is showing great progress now after a painfully slow start due to City of Houston permit delays and then more delays caused by rainy weather. We largely lost the entire month of June due to almost constant rain that prevented the preparation of the site for pouring of the slab. To insure a trouble-free foundation and slab for the future, we had to remove unstable soil and bring in a particular soil that would be stable to meet specifications for a solid foundation. Therefore every rain that occurred in June and July held up this process. Once the rain relented, the base was finally prepared and then the plumbers could come in and place all the underground drain lines. Then, the building slab was poured on September 24th even as Hurricane Ivan skirted inland to our east. Once the slab was in place, construction could progress without being completely affected by the weather. The building steel framework started going up immediately after the slab and suddenly the new CE building became real.

Now, instead of having just one operation at a time in work, multiple trades are able to work in parallel. While the roof of the building is still in work, ducts are being installed for the air conditioning, plumbers are installing piping, fire sprinkler systems are going in, welders continue to finish out all the various bits and pieces of the steel structure, the outer wall studs are going up, and concrete workers prepared and poured the CE building 2nd floor as well as the new north parking lot and the west parking lot. In order to preclude later delays in having materials on hand, we have made selections on the colors and materials that will go into the building finishes.

The one good result of the June and July weather induced delays in construction is that supplies and materials that were originally ordered to be at the church just in time for installation are now available early. Many times, construction projects end up being held up waiting on supplies. We have not faced that problem. In fact, we are beginning to recover some of our lost schedule. Looking ahead, the current schedule calls for completion of the building in May 05 as compared to late February as we reported at the last congregational meeting. We expect to have a ribbon cutting celebration as soon as possible after completion and are beginning to plan a formal dedication of the building when school resumes in August.

Along the way we have continued our planning and design activities for our phase 3 projects. Originally, the items in phase 3 included a porte cochere (covered drive) for the sanctuary, a drive-through near the east door of the CLC building, remodeling of the current nursery/toddler area to construct a church library, remodeling of the current church offices into Jr. High classroom space, and a central cross tower to complete the campus design. These ideas and plans have continued to be refined and discussed in light of the expected costs for the new CE building, the schedule delays, and the needs and priorities of the entire congregation. Through this process, phase 3 has been rescoped to include the porte cochere, the sanctuary driveway, and a covered walkway between the sanctuary building and new CE building. The new playground installation, CLC library, and Jr. High classroom renovations will be completed in a fourth phase during the summer of 2005 after the CE building completion. The cross tower concept has been eliminated from the project plans partly out of concern over poor visibility from El Dorado, as well as to realize a large cost reduction needed to complete phase 3 within the financial limits authorized by the congregation. Instead, we are now looking at a much simpler design to place a prominent cross (or crosses) in the island in front of the sanctuary.

Financially, the project continues to perform well and has not seen any additional cost growth beyond that reported at the April Congregational Meeting before construction began. We have committed a little over 40% of the contingency budget planned within the phase 2 construction contract for required changes. As stated above, we are working hard to define phase 3 and phase 4 to stay within our available financial resources for the project. We should have phase 3 costs formalized in December and we will continue to report total project costs and budget projections each month to the Session.

And finally, we wish to express our appreciation for the leadership and fine work that our architect (Ambrose, McEnany and House) and general contractor (Sterling Structures) have been doing for us. Feel free to drop by the construction office and offer Mr. Rocky Mencke, our construction supervisor, encouraging words (or cookies!!) for the exceptional job he is doing in leading this work. Please pray for all the workers that they remain safe and focused on their labors and that they will be blessed by doing God’s work in this place.

Please contact any of us if you have any questions about the project.

Respectfully Submitted,

CLPC Construction Management Team (“The ABC Team”):
    Terry Keeler
    Lynne Kaley
    Paul Marshall
    Mike Jarrell – Finance Elder