Here is a scene we hear about almost every week. A church decides it is time to upgrade its sound, lighting or video. The executive pastor turns to the tech director or worship pastor and says, “Go get us three quotes.”
It sounds responsible. It is also one of the most common ways a good project goes sideways before it starts. In the video above, Luke Jackson and I talk through why, and who should really be in charge.
“Three quotes on what?”
Luke fields a lot of first calls from churches. Very often the person calling has been told to get quotes, and when he asks what the scope is, they can’t say. Not because they aren’t capable, but because nobody has defined the project yet.
That is the heart of the problem. You can’t get a meaningful quote on a system that hasn’t been designed.
You’re not shopping for a commodity
A commodity is the same wherever you buy it. An apple is an apple at Costco, Publix or Safeway, so getting three prices is easy and low risk.
A church AV system is not like that. It is a specialized construction project, and the right answer depends on your room, your ministry, your team and your budget. There are a thousand ways to build it. What you need first is expertise: someone to clarify the solutions, design and engineer them, and produce a full plan set. Only then can anyone give you a quote that means something.
Anybody can throw out a number. A number that isn’t attached to a plan tells you very little, and it puts both the church and the provider at risk.
Why the calls go quiet
Luke painted the picture that a lot of churches bring to us. The tech director calls several companies. They each walk the space. And then the church never hears back from some of them.
It usually isn’t bad manners. If a company doesn’t want the project, it has no reason to do expert design work for free, so it quietly doesn’t compete. Meanwhile your tech director becomes a sales chaser, sending “can you please send your quote?” emails for weeks. That is not a good use of your staff’s time.
It’s one reason we start with a paid pre-design phase. It produces a real deliverable you can bring to your leadership, whoever you end up working with.
The keys to a Ferrari you can only drive in first gear
The cost of choosing on price shows up later. We get calls from churches with a system installed six to twelve months ago that nobody knows how to run, with no documentation and an installer they can’t reach.
Luke put it well: it’s like having the keys to a Ferrari you can only drive in first or second gear. And when the pastor’s mic cuts out or the PA sounds muddy on a Sunday, it falls on whoever owns the tech systems. That isn’t fair to them. When we make these decisions based on who has the best number, not who is the best partner, we are shooting ourselves in the foot from step one.
Senior leaders belong in the room
Even a smaller upgrade can easily run over $100,000 to $200,000. That is reason enough for the senior or executive pastor to be part of the conversation from the start, not just at the signature.
AV is not a hobby for your church. It is part of the building your congregation gathers in week after week, and collectively there are millions of hours of ministry happening through that system. A long-term partner who knows your system beats a patchwork of different vendors every few years.
There is a stewardship side, too. When leaders skip the process, they are the ones who see the proposal land on their desk and ask, “Wait, what am I buying?” You will have to explain that investment to your board or trustees, so you want to understand it.
Questions worth asking any AV partner
When you are interviewing companies, I would ask:
- How long have you been in business, and can I see your portfolio?
- Can I talk to past clients? Do clients come back to you for more projects?
- Once it’s installed, what does support look like? Who answers the phone on a weekend, and how quickly? Can you remote into our system?
- Is house of worship your niche, or one of many markets you serve? AV is a big industry. If I had a heart condition, I wouldn’t go to a family doctor. I’d go to a heart specialist.
- How does your process work, from understanding what we need to installing it?
- What role does our tech director play, and how do you lead as the expert while bringing them along?
And the one I would press hardest: how close are you to the experience of a volunteer showing up on a Sunday morning to run this system? Church systems are complex, professional systems run by staff and volunteers. If an integrator has no experience with that, I’d keep looking.
Does location matter?
It can be a factor, but it shouldn’t decide it. Just as you would travel to see the right specialist, the premium for travel mostly applies to the design and install. After that, much of the support can happen remotely. We have five coaches on our support rotation and weekend coverage, and our install quality means most support calls are small ones these days.
Where to start
It is a team decision, and there is a lot more to it than numbers on a table. If you are in the middle of a project, or about to start one, the first step with us is a free strategy session. Tell us what you know about the project and our team will take it from there, starting with our consulting and pre-design process.