How Much Is Church Stage Lighting?

STEP 3: Select Additional Options

Steps - Select this option  to include front-lighting zones for the area directly in front of the stage. In many church stage designs this will include the front steps. These areas are often used for invitations, children's choir, and baby dedications.

Baptistery - Select this option to include provisions for front-lighting a baptistery area.

Cross - Select this option to include provisions for highlighting a cross built into the architecture of the space.

Backlights - Select this option to include provisions for LED colored backlighting of the downstage zones of the stage for color contrast. This option is important for dynamic stage looks, as well as, broadcast applications.

House Controls - Select this option to include provisions for control of the house lighting system (not included). The system includes the addition of preset button stations by the entrances and the ability to interface the included lighting console with the house lighting system.

Step 4: Click "Email Me the Report"

You have the option to request a breakdown of the church lighting cost calculator. Click the blue "Email Me the Report" button located within the calculator and enter your contact information to receive a report that includes the calculator results and other valuable insights for churches considering investing in LED house lighting equipment.

DISCLAIMER: Once again, it's important to note that a wide range of factors can profoundly affect the price of a church lighting system. The figures provided are intended to provide a budgetary guideline to help your church begin the conversation. Do not use these estimates for establishing a final church lighting system cost.

Information Gathering

There’s a ton of information needed before an AVL company can even begin to talk intelligently about your specific church lighting needs including:

• Understanding of your vision including programming details related to intended use
• Inventories of existing church lighting equipment that might be used in the new system as a cost-saving measure
• Experience level of your tech team
• Architectural dimension data needed to select lighting equipment and determine where to locate light fixtures.
• Logistical information including cable pathways, lift/scaffold accessibility, power requirements, etc.
• Structural limitations
• Aesthetic impact of the lighting equipment components

Churches often approach AVL companies without detailed project scope documentation, and it can dramatically slow down the process of getting a quote. If each company at the table has to farm this information independently, it’s going to take significantly longer to complete the process.

Engineering Takes Time

Once the AVL company has the necessary information from you, the stage lighting system has to be engineered to an extent that reliable design recommendations can be made. This design process should include:

• Computer-based analysis (photometric studies, projector brightness calculations, etc.) which may be performed by in-house system designers or, in cases where the AVL company lacks the in-house engineering resources, it may be outsourced to the equipment manufacturers. 
• Conduit & electrical systems should be evaluated to determine cable pathways and service needs. 
• Structural requirements should be analyzed to ensure that the specified lighting system can be safely installed.
• Comparison of a range of products to ensure the best components are selected or recommended based on cost and features

The more time spent in pre-sales engineering, the more reliable your proposals will ultimately be. Proposals that are based solely on pre-packaged lighting systems, past experience or cost-per-seat formulas can be delivered quickly, however they should be considered carefully. Every project is different and you should expect your project to require some degree of custom engineering in order to be effective.

The Proposal Process Should Not Be “One and Done”

Unless your church lighting system has been fully designed by the end of the proposal phase, every quote you receive represents some degree of a guess at your needs. The first proposal you receive will rarely meet all of your requirements. In most cases refinement will be necessary, and in many cases some level of value engineering will be requested in order to meet the church’s budgetary limitations.

You should expect to require at least one revision in the proposal process. Three or four revisions is common, and we’ve seen it take as many as ten for the decision-makers in the church to finally arrive at a consensus. The revision process takes time and should not be rushed.

Efficiency & Market Demand

Like all industries, the AVL market is driven by demand. Most churches operate on a seasonal cycle with Christmas and Easter as major drivers for AVL upgrades. Some churches slow down in Summer, and many have year-end budget deadlines in October. These ebbs and flows can make it difficult for AVL companies to respond quickly to requests from churches, especially the last-minute requests that are common in our industry.

When AVL companies are swamped with a glut of proposal requests, they can often become bogged down. Many lack efficient systems for managing an onslaught of proposal requests, and the lack of efficiency can render exceptionally long lead times for proposal delivery. 

Conclusion

Waiting for church stage lighting quotes can be extremely frustrating. The process is long and complicated, but you don’t want to rush unnecessarily. These systems involve a significant investment of time and money and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Getting organized and understanding how the process works represents your best opportunity for speeding things along without sacrificing quality in the process.

They key to speeding up the process is for you to get organized. In the previous section we explored the reasons that it takes so long to get a proposal in detail, and information gathering represents your best opportunity to help move things along. Below is a list of documentation you should prepare in order to make the process of getting quotes go as smoothly as possible:

Know Your Budget & Timeframe

Any reputable AVL company is going to need to understand your budgetary expectations and the timeframe for your project before they invest their resources into a proposal. In many cases you will be looking to the AVL company to help you figure out the budget, but if they understand the nature of sales at all, they will want to be sure you have realistic expectations before moving forward.  

We’re working to make this part easier for churches by developing groundbreaking tools like the Church Sound System Cost Calculator and the Church Lighting System Cost Calculator. These interactive calculators will provide you with unqualified ballpark budgets based on the information you provide.  

Additionally, you should be prepared to discuss your timeframe for the project including any time needed for committee meetings, approvals and fundraising campaigns. As we discussed in the previous section, there is an ebb and flow to working in the church world, and your selected AVL company will need a clear understanding of where your project might fall in their project schedule. 

Just so you know, our experience is that a church that can’t answer these two simple questions is not statistically likely to move forward with the project. By knowing your budget expectations and thinking through your timeline, you will help the AVL company move forward more quickly with your project.

Drawings/Pics

For new construction you will need to provide a current set of architectural drawings for the AVL company to work off of. These drawings are extremely important to the church lighting design process. You’ll need to provide a floorplan drawing at absolute minimum, but there are other drawings that are necessary to determine what lighting technology will be required. 

For a renovation project, the same drawings will be needed. While measurements can be taken manually in the facility, it requires a significant investment of time to travel to site to produce this documentation. In almost every case, providing an as-built set of drawings to the AVL company will substantially decrease the time required to produce a proposal. If the drawings can’t be located at the church, copies can typically be acquired at the local courthouse where the documents were originally filed for permits. In the case of extremely old structures, copies may not be available. 

The architectural drawings should include (at minimum):

• Floorplan drawing (shows the facility as viewed from above looking down)
• Side elevation drawing (shows the facility as viewed from the side)
• Front elevation drawing (shows the facility as viewed from the front)
• Reflected ceiling plan (RCP) drawing (shows a view of the room as if looking from above, through the ceiling, at a mirror installed one foot below the ceiling level, which shows the reflected image of the ceiling above)

Note: Many times it seems like the church is unwilling to take the time to procure copies of the architectural drawings. Ironically, the time lost by AVL companies trying to acquire the information contained in those drawings is a multiple of the time it would take for the church to track them down. This delay is then multiplied by the number of AVL companies from which you are seeking proposals.

In addition to the drawings, on renovation projects the church should provide extensive pictures of the site including:

• Pictures of the entire room taken from the rear center wall, side walls and platform respectively
• Pictures of the ceiling taken from different angles
• Pictures of equipment racks
• Pictures of operator booths
• Pictures showing any relevant equipment to be re-used
• Pictures of floor-boxes and input/output plates

Provide Detailed Specifications

Make a list of the specifics you require for the lighting system. Include the following information:

• What are the anticipated uses for the lighting system?
• What is the realistic target for the overall performance level of the lighting system?
• Do you need a flexible system or something that is easy to operate?
• How long do you expect the system to last?
• How much training does your team require
• Are there any specific areas that you want to light?
• Are there specific brands you prefer?
• Who have you worked with in the past?

Provide Lighting Equipment Inventories

Provide a detailed list of any lighting equipment the church currently owns that should be considered for the new system. The AVL company will review the list and make recommendations about what can be re-used and what should not be included in the new systems.

Include quantities, manufacturer and model number for each piece of lighting equipment. For incandescent light fixtures be sure to note the wattage and color temperature of the bulb.

Provide Input/Output Lists

Take the time to make a list of all anticipated system inputs and outputs. For lighting include control positions and output locations at all lighting positions.

Without these lists there is no way an AVL company can anticipate all of your church’s needs. 

Create a scope document that contains all of this information

Take the time to write out a short description of what you hope to accomplish with the project. Be sure to include your vision for the new system, any problems you have experienced with your current system, the internal decision-making/approval process for the church, and anything else that might be relevant to the successful completion of the project.

Once you’ve collected all of this information, combine it in a package that can be easily delivered to the AVL company. By completing this work up front, you will ensure your needs are communicated effectively while significantly reducing the amount of time required to deliver a reliable proposal.