The Secret to Getting Your Construction Project to Break Ground

How Catalyst’s Readiness Assessment helps churches, schools, and nonprofits build with clarity and confidence—before they ever break ground.

Starting a building project is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. For many churches, schools, and nonprofit organizations, the desire to expand or improve their space is clear, but the path forward is anything but.

Some teams begin a construction project and get stuck. Others don’t start at all because they’re unsure of what step comes first. Either way, time, trust, and resources can be lost before the first shovel even hits the ground.

At Catalyst Construction, we offer a complimentary Readiness Assessment to help organizations achieve alignment, clarity, and momentum before hiring an architect or signing a contract.

It’s not a sales pitch. It’s a strategic conversation that prioritizes your goals and helps you take your next step with confidence.

Why the Right Start Matters

When organizations feel ready to build, their natural first instinct is often to contact an architect. While architects play a vital role in shaping a project’s vision, engaging them too early—before fully understanding needs, budgets, and internal alignment—can unintentionally create challenges down the road.

We’ve seen it happen.

One church came to us after a failed start. Unfortunately, they got out in front of their skis, designing something they could not afford. They lost congregational trust, and the project stalled for 20 years.

Through our Readiness Assessment, we helped them align their goals, determine priorities, and identify a realistic path forward.

Within 16 months, they broke ground—ultimately making financially sound decisions, achieving lasting results that extended well beyond the construction phase, and building trust throughout their community.

What Is the Readiness Assessment?

The Readiness Assessment is a facilitated, no-pressure meeting that brings your key leadership into one room. Whether you’re a church board, a school leadership team, or a nonprofit board of directors, Catalyst guides a strategic conversation to uncover:

• Do you know what you’re building?
• Do you know why you’re building it?
• Do you know how to get there?

We don’t come in with answers—we listen first.

As a neutral third party, our role is to help identify where your team is misaligned, where gaps exist, and what your next steps should be.

No pressure. No commitments. Just clarity.

What You’ll Walk Away With

After your Readiness Assessment, you’ll leave with more than a good discussion. You’ll leave with:

• Alignment across your leadership team
• Clarity on where you are in the process
• Tangible next steps set in a timeline, tailored to your situation
• Confidence in determining whether it’s time to move forward, whether more preparation is needed, and what steps to take to achieve that

And best of all? It’s completely free.

Why It Works

The Readiness Assessment isn’t just a helpful tool—it’s born from experience. It was designed by a team of leaders who’ve been in your shoes:

• A former executive pastor who has led multiple church building projects
• A seasoned school fundraising executive with 20+ years of donor development experience
• A former nonprofit-focused attorney with real estate expertise in senior living and community development

This isn’t just a theory. It’s lived experience across multiple sectors, tailored to organizations that don’t build every day but still need to do it right.

The process works because it helps organizations avoid the classic “linear mistake:” designing something beautiful, launching a fundraising campaign, then realizing the project is financially out of reach—and having to start all over again. This reactive approach wastes time, creates confusion, and can damage trust among leadership, donors, and the community.

Catalyst flips the script. We help organizations think holistically, bringing together the architectural vision, financial reality, fundraising potential, and construction know-how from the very beginning. This integrated approach ensures that every decision is grounded in what’s both inspiring and achievable.

Just as important, it creates what we call “healthy tension” between architects, fundraisers, and construction professionals. Rather than working in silos, these key players collaborate from day one, balancing creativity with cost and mission with practicality.

The result? There are fewer surprises, more informed decisions, and a project that moves forward confidently.

What Makes Catalyst Different

Most construction companies won’t engage deeply this early, or for free. We partner with clients long before contracts are signed. From early conversations through groundbreaking (and even beyond), we see ourselves as strategic partners, not just builders.

Our team advises on everything from budgeting and project phasing to donor strategy and financing options. Our goal isn’t just to build a building—it’s to help you build momentum, trust, and long-term success.

Ready to Take the First Step?

Whether you’re in the dreaming phase or already feel stuck, the Readiness Assessment can help you move forward with clarity. There’s no cost. No obligation. Just the chance to get your team on the same page and your project moving in the right direction.

Schedule Your Free Readiness Assessment