BGW Trinity Partnership

In the Trinity Partnership, the architect, builder and owner work together in a faith-based partnership to accomplish the God-given vision of the ministry.  This helps to prevent the pitfalls inherent with typical construction methods, resulting in better cost-controls, minimal conflicts and better accountability.  The results of this team approach are consistent high quality, timely delivery, Godly relationships and reduced costs on construction, operation and maintenance, better accountability, and minimal conflict on every project.

Trinity Partnership vs. Typical Construction Methods - So how does the Trinity Partnership differ from standard construction methods typically used in construction?  Here is a summary of some of the inherent problems with standard methods and an overview of how the Trinity Partnership addresses these problems.

Design | Bid | Build - In this approach, the owner contracts with an architect who designs a plan based on feedback from the ministry. The plan is then released for bid to a select group of builders.  This contains several inherent risks that can be detrimental to a ministry’s ability to actually complete the building project.  The plan is often designed without construction input and may not prove to be cost-effective to build when the final estimate is finally received.  These plans are many times designed without substantiated budget numbers and may be designed outside of funding capacity.  The ministry is forced to select a builder based on the lowest bid, which may result in ongoing conflict, excessive change orders, or lower quality workmanship.  The responsibility rests with the ministry if the final bid numbers are beyond budget.  The architect is not as accountable to support the ministry with creative cost saving measures to meet budget requirements.

Design | Build - In this approach, the owner contracts with a builder who contracts with an architect to design the project.  The Owner assumes the risk of a single contract with one organization and “all eggs are essentially in one basket”.  The ministry loses direct control over the design and architectural process - as the architect can be influenced by the builder.  The ministry loses direct control over product specifications and third-party accountability of building quality, ongoing operation and maintenance costs.  The ministry loses the objective review and accountability provided during construction when the architect is not directly under contract with the owner.

Trinity Partnership - In the BGW approach, the owner contracts separately with a faith-based BGW Builder and the BGW architect.  The architect and builder have a pre-established alignment and have a common corporate mission.  This unique trinity partnership approach is centered around God and His purpose for the expansion of ministry through a building. The advantages to this approach are numerous.  First, the ministry has direct control over the design process.  The builder is integral to the design process from the earliest stages and shares feedback with the architect on cost-effective elements and construction virtue of the design.  The builder provides budget info to the architect early on in the design process, so the overall design scope can be better defined.  The builder and architect partner together through construction, bringing solutions without conflict and minimizing change orders.  The builder and architect are each separately accountable to the ministry for building quality and ongoing maintenance and operation costs. The trinity partnership allows for the integrated BGW process that has been proven to bring consistent below-market costs to Christian ministries nationwide.