What is ChurchPlansForLess.com LLC? ChurchPlansForLess.com (CPFL) was born from 25 years of assisting God’s growing Church. In February 2001, CPFL inherited its parent company’s (A/E Technologies, Inc.) broad span of church architectural floor plans and designs. These custom, pre-designed plans were dramatically reduced in price for the sole purpose of assisting churches financially. The plans can be modified for local codes and congregational needs.

Why choose ChurchPlansForLess over your local architect? Why not? CPFL is a high tech, customer service oriented company. We, as a Christian company, work diligently to serve the Him and the Church with excellence. We do ask that you consider prayerfully the decision you make in this matter. The church can save many hours of time (time = $) in the design and architectural studio by using our plans. Click here to find out more.

Where do I begin with this web site? You are welcome to call us at 800-420-7022 or follow the suggestions below.

• If you are seeking information about a land purchase, finances, site or space evaluations, building types and other general information about how to build a church start with:
  • Facility and Site Planning sub web (many, many helpful web pages)
  • Planning Guidelines page (often printed for building committees)
  • Mistakes to avoid page (often printed for building committees)
  • A Needs Assessment Report may be helpful.
  • We now have representatives who would love to assist you.
• If you are seeking architectural church drawings and are ready to begin with a plan purchase:
  • 1st, visit the plan list page using the sort option. The search page is also helpful to narrow down your selection and makes looking for the right floor plan easier.
  • 2nd, request floor plan passwords. (This on- line form will send an e-mail to us. We will reply to you via e-mail or phone.)
  • 3rd, view the floor plans and let us know if we can send a sample, printable floor plan or two for you to share with the decision makers at your church.
  • 4th, visit the plan purchase page to find out how to work with ChurchPlansForLess. We offer Certified and Uncertified Plans.

What is the difference between Certified Construction Documents and Uncertified Construction Drawings? Cost is one large difference, one is ready for your project the other is not.

• Uncertified Construction Drawings These plans can be purchased very economically and received very quickly. They are full sets of AutoDesk Architectural Desktop 2004 documents provided in both electronic and hard copy format. These drawings are custom designed plans that will need to be updated, brought up to the standards of your local building codes, and certified prior to construction. This can be done by ChurchPlansForLess, your local architect, your design build firm, or any certified professional architect and/or engineer. The purchase of these documents also includes a "Single Use" license which will allow your architect or design build firm to modify and use these plans for your church construction.

• Certified Construction Documents are the plans we typically sell to churches. Every certified plan sold is customized/changed to meet the needs of your church, the building site and your local building codes. Structural and Foundation engineer reviews are included in our pricing. We also include Mechanical, Plumbing and Electrical Engineering Certifications as well as the state Architectural Certification. If your local building authorities require a structural and foundation engineer for "Certification," we can assist you in obtaining quotes or you may inquire with engineers in your area. Not every location needs these "certifications" so we include only a "review" by the Structural and Foundation Engineers.

Certified Drawings, what is included with this cost? The architectural certification is included in the cost of the certified drawings. We also include the Mechanical Plumbing and Electrical engineer's certifications as well as the Structural and Foundation engineer reviews. Structural and Foundation Certifications are not included but any coordinating needed to accomplish this task are. If you need a plan's certified price please send an E-mail to: plans@churchplansforless.com

When planning the construction of a building, do we count the amount we are able to spend, or pick a plan according to our desired seating? As in any project or purchase you make, you cannot afford to build something you cannot afford to pay for. (Luke 14:28) To get a general idea of the building cost, take the building square footage, your zip code and choose a building type, block, wood or steel. Take this info to the website called RSMeans.Com. This info is very helpful but does not reflect the CPFL architectural fees.

After you get an idea of square footage costs, we feel it is best to choose a plan by the seating needed. (You can use the sort option the plan list page.) If the plan you have chosen is too large, we can assist you in ways of trimming the building to better meet your financial capabilities. Many times this will get your building choice down to a manageable budget. If trimming the building to a small size doesn't meet the need, phasing is the next step. Many of our structures can be built in 2 or 3 phases, as money and church growth happens.

How do we get an idea of building costs? First of all educate yourself. The items and services included in the costs that someone shares with you is very important! You may want to visit the RS Means web site and "play" with their quick cost estimator. CPFL's certified design fees are much less than what you will see on their estimated cost. www.rsmeans.com

CPFL's Uncertified Construction Drawings can also help you see the building costs even more clearly. These drawings can be submitted to your financial institute, your church's conference, your builder or you can put the plans out to bid. Once you have the bids, in you can really see the costs.

When doing a Master site for a church, we will need a civil engineered site plan showing the ground contours, and the location of existing facilities. We also will need for you to fill out a questionnaire to help us access what your desires are for the future. These two items would allow us to create a few different potential site plans for your church, and show you where your next step of growth should be.

Many churches proceed without any Master site planning at all, only to discover a few years down the road their present building is in the wrong place for their future needs. A Master Plan would help you to map out the future of your church, without any misplaced structures or parking demolition.

Why is the Civi Engineered site plan not included but a local Civil Engineer recommended? We offer assistance with this service! The church will want to contact a local civil engineering firm to provide an engineered site plan for the proposed building. The engineered site plan is needed to assure building will "work" on the site and show it placed exactly how you want it. This important document is also required by many local building authorities.

Are the plans designed for steel construction? The plan may be for steel or wood frame depending on which plan you are inquiring about. If the plan you desire is wood and you need it to be steel, we can accommodate that and vice versa. This is a major requested plan change and the cost can be considerablly more for our design services.

Do we lose service by using ChurchPlansForLess? No, because of today's high tech communication systems. We feel we can serve you even better. We do love to meet with you and get to meet many of our clients. The majority of our clients we do not get to meet. We do provide support you may need during construction and are always available to assist during the construction process. A representative from our firm would be available to visit your site should the need arise.

Does ChurchPlansForLess.Com work with metal building shell packages that the church is committed to? Yes, We also assist in finalizing plans for an existing metal building shell if that is your situation. See a testimonial at this link! You are welcome to contact our parent company for your original design also. www.ae-tech.com

What does it mean when a plan can be mirrored? The sanctuary and/or the building can be doubled in size without many construction changes to the existing structure, usually done as a second or third building phase.

Can we make changes to the plans? The economy factor is in buying the plan close to the original design and within the same foot print of the building. Changes can decrease the savings incurred as these changes can add cost and time to the project. Requested structural or excessive changes can be charged at the Standard Market Rate and possibly be turned over to our parent company to design and price for you.

What areas does Church Plans For Less serve? We offer certified drawings within the US. If you are out side of the US, please review our Uncertified Construction Drawings.

How can we pay for our plans? Is financing available?
Church Plans For Less will accept an initial down payment for your plan. We also have a payment plan available. We also offer a 5% discount when the order is paid in full at the time the drawings go into our design studio.

When will we receive the plans? Expect your plan shipment (UPS) in 7 to 9 weeks after church approval. If design changes are needed add 4 to 8 weeks.

What can cause delays in receiving the full set of drawings?

• If your site is not yet approved for a building. Local zoning must be in place for your church.
  • It may be helpful to have the 25% plan review set pre-approved by your local building authorities in order to speed your building processes along.
• Taking a lot of time to review and/or change your drawings.
  • Please return them as soon as possible to your assigned project manager.
• Taking a lot of time to return the Project Summary Check List.
  • Complete this form to the best of your knowledge and return as soon as possible. Also supply the name and phone number of your Civil Engineer to ChurchPlansForLess. We will need to communicate with your Engineer about your building site. Let us know if you need us to coordinate the Civil Engineer service for you.
• Making major changes to the drawings during reviews can add quite a bit of time to project.
  • Please make any major changes to your plan by the 25% review.
• Remember plan changes can add to the building and plan costs.

Is my information safe? Yes! If you have doubts about dealing with our company feel free to inquire with the churches on our testimonial page.

Can we speak and/or visit with churches that have purchased and/or built the plan we are considering? Most Likely! Most of the projects shown on our web site are designs that have been utilized by other churches. We would encourage you to visit, tour, and talk with the members of the church about their experience with our company, and how well the building has been utilized by the congregation. Give us a call! 1-800-420-7022.

How do I display the bottom and right sides of large floor plan?
If you are unable to view the right side of the floor plans, our suggestion is to follow the directions below. You can go back and change the monitor settings after you are finished viewing the floor plans.

• Minimize all open windows.
• Right click on your desk top.
• Click on properties.
• Click on the settings tab.
  Increase the screen resolution to more pixels. (usually a slide bar)
• Click apply.
• Your monitor will go black for a few seconds then come back up with a more compact viewing screen.
• Open the minimized windows.
  
  This will allow you to view the sample floor plans. You will have a scroll bar on the bottom and the right of the floor plan window. The screen will look different and the windows, text etc. a bit smaller.

If this information does not help please call (800-420-7022) and we can send up to three floor plans to you through the e-mail or US mail. You may also share the information with another person within your congregation and view it on another computer.