Sprung Buildings

Overview BGW has reviewed a number of items on the Sprung Building versus conventional steel construction. The following are some of the disadvantages of the sprung structure in the opinion of BGW:

1. The Sprung Building shell which includes the concrete, structure, skin, entry doors and small amount of glazing is more expensive than a steel shell which includes the concrete, steel and steel erection. If we use a steel roofing product you would generally find that the steel structure including all concrete, roofing etc. is less expensive than the Sprung building.

2. The useable square footage of the foot print is significantly higher in the steel structure since the walls are vertical to the slab and the ministry can use all of the space up to the inside edge of the wall.

3. Items such as electrical, mechanical, plumbing, interior partitions and interior finishes will be the same on both buildings and in some cases as much as 15% more expensive with the Sprung building due to the difficulty of attachment of some items like plumbing vents and fire sprinkler systems.

4. A Sprung building is not a temporary building which can be used for a few years and sold to someone else. When you go to sell it you cannot reclaim the costs of concrete, mechanical, plumbing, partitions, fire sprinkler system, electrical etc. This may run as much as $60 per square foot. Not only can you not reclaim the costs you have spent for these items you have the cost of disposal at a local landfill and environmental impact of some of the parts. Used Sprung structures have recently been purchased for $6 per square foot. This is less than the cost of demolishing the items left after selling the building which in effect means that the entire original cost of the Sprung structure will be lost during a new sale!

5. Vandalism is very simple with a sprung building and significantly harder with a steel shell. A school Sprung Building in Modesto had continual break in’s via the vandals literally cutting their way into the building with a razor knife.

6. Shrub and lawn watering system stain the sprung building which cannot be cleaned easily. 7. Glazing and windows are nearly impossible on the sides of sprung building which makes the use of the spaces inside

impossible for day cares and spaces requiring natural light and ventilation.

There are four significant items which must be taken into consideration in order to see what is best for the Ministry: • Life Cycle Cost • International Building Code Requirements • Ability to expand the structures • Aesthetics

Life Cycle Costs The most obvious long term cost with a Sprung building is the need to put a new skin on the building somewhere between year 15 and year 25. (Dependent on the severity of the climate) The cost of replacing the skin would be the present cost of the skin with some inflation factor applied for the next 15 – 25 years of inflation. This could easily be more than the original cost of the Sprung portion of the building.

International Building Code The Sprung buildings have not done well in meeting the international building code requirements for assembly area buildings like Ministries. Fire sprinkler systems are difficult to hang on the structure. Exit lights are also difficult to place where required by the code. Emergency lighting can also be a problem. The code requires significant amounts of air changes which generally

require rooftop units to economically change this air. While rooftop units can be placed on the ground, they are subject to substantially more damage and do not run as efficiently. Penetrations through the Sprung panels are difficult and eventually “leak.” A sprung building in Modesto, California took almost a year to go through the code review and then had substantial change orders to meet the codes during construction. The building ended up exceeding the cost of a conventional building by the time it was finished and yet it has a very short lifetime.

Ability to Expand the Structure A sprung building can only be expanded by adding additional sprung buildings. You end up with a village of these portable buildings which is just not good planning for a permanent Ministry building. Many times these buildings are sold on the basis that they can be moved or sold in the future. They do not ever tell the whole story to the clients. The total cost of a sprung building includes all of the earthwork, concrete, erection of the building, interior partitions, underground plumbing, above ground plumbing, electrical, mechanical, fire alarm and sprinkler systems.

If you elect to move the building in the future all of the “pieces” are not salvageable since the cost to take them apart and re-use them is more than starting from scratch in almost every instance. A recent Sprung building was purchased in South Carolina for $6 per square foot which was a significant loss to the owner over a very short period of time.

A conventional building does not need to be moved in the future and can easily be added onto with current technology that has been used for many years.

Aesthetics The aesthetics of a building are important both now and in the future. Most jurisdictions in California, Oregon and Washington will not allow these buildings in a non industrial area and will not make it through the planning commissions. In addition, it is difficult to grow a Ministry with temporary buildings. While I do not believe in the “glass cathedral” direction, the sprung building is at the other end of the spectrum where it is a “tent” building that has little appeal to the general population.

Conclusion If you were to compare a Sprung building to a conventional building it would be important to determine what items are going to be the same, which items are going to be more expensive and which items will be less expensive with the Sprung building.

For the purposes of discussion the following list should be reviewed closely by those that are putting together the cost estimates:

Common Costs no matter which building system is used: An overview of other construction costs is available in another document called “Count Your Costs”

• General Conditions such as superintendent and project manager costs • Site development costs including site work, grading, paving etc. • Utilities during construction • Builders Risk Insurance • Building permits • City connection fees • Civil Engineering • Doors and hardware assuming the use of the same products • Exterior windows and curtain wall assuming the use of the same size windows of the same quality • Flooring products assuming the same quality in both scenarios • Rest room partitions and accessories

Items which are more expensive with a Sprung structure: • Mechanical System – More tonnage of cooling, installation of ductwork and system attachment to the structure of the

building. Under the 2000 and later versions of the International Building Code (Code in force in all of the States) it must be seismically attached to the structure. Fresh air requirements are far more expensive to meet on a Sprung structure than from the rooftop of conventional construction.

• Electrical system – Additional costs of attachment to the structure. • Plumbing System – Additional costs of venting the system and attachment to the structure. • Fire Sprinkler System – Additional costs of attachment to the structure. • Fire walls – Very difficult to do with a Sprung building – most fire Marshall’s will not accept the fire wall design proposed

by Sprung since they do not meet the UL Label requirements for fire walls. • Fire Alarm System • Exit lighting Systems

Items which are less expensive with a Sprung structure: • Architectural fees • Painting – exterior walls do not need to be painted on the interior or exterior of the building • Roofing – there is no roofing per se on a Sprung building – long term maintenance is significantly more expensive

however.

In addition to all of the items I have listed above, we would certainly hope that the Ministry would look to the Building God’s Way program for direction in the following areas:

1. Ministry of Construction: The biblical approach to construction begins with the ministry of construction and allows a Ministry to significantly grow through the process of building. We now have over 100 programs that work well during the construction of a building.

2. Gift in Kind: The BGW program has brought more than 30 million dollars of savings to projects since its inception utilizing the biblically based gift in kind program.

3. BGW Supply: Many items will go into the building program that are purchased utilizing the national purchasing program that BGW supplies. This includes both building products and furnishings which can save this ministry hundreds of thousands of dollars and give them the right products for their ministry.

4. Economical design with our talented architects and engineers who design the right building to meet the needs of this ministry. This includes master planning as well as detailed building planning.

5. Financially Sustainable Design which allows your building to be used 7 days per week, generating income when the building is not being used by the ministry.

If you’d like to discuss any of this further, please contact Daniel Cook (dcook@bgwservices.com).