Church Building Project Safety
Common sense tips for project safety:
Contractors:
Investigate any contractors your church is considering hiring.
At minimum they should have adequate insurance/bonding and licensing for the work they are performing and good references.
Do not forget about sub-contractors! Make sure you know if your contractor will be using sub-contractors and how they qualify and hire those contractors. If you do not feel confident of the general contractors procedure for hiring subs find another general contractor.
One way to solve this problem is to require bidding be restricted to pre-approved sub-contractors only. This can raise costs but usually results in better results.
Money Saving Tip:
If the church buys all their furniture, pews, chairs and other furnishings direct from the manufacturer and does not put them in the bid they will usually save money.
Telltale signs of problems heading your way:
Contractor does not keep appointments or respond in a timely manner.
Contractor refuses or makes excuses when asked to see insurance/bonding or licensing documents.
Contractor is bidding for work outside his normal geographical work area.
Contractors that normally do residential or non-commercial work bidding on your church job.
Volunteer Labor:
In todays litigious society volunteer labor can sometimes become more costly than professional paid services and in some cases be disastrous.
If you plan on using volunteers, here are some tips to protect your church, yourself and your volunteers.
Volunteers need to be trained!
Make sure they are trained for the task they will be performing, give them a safety orientation and require a signed waiver releasing the church from liability for injuries. Make sure you have a responsible person, preferably a church employee, supervising them at all times.
Make sure you contact your insurance company and get detailed information about what will be covered if a volunteer gets injured and explore your options for getting temporary insurance to cover volunteer labor.
