Choir Loft Cost
  • kpoterack
    Posts: 27
    My church will be getting a new choir loft and pipe organ. (hurray!) I have done my homework on the cost of the organ, but I am trying to get answers on two other related questions: 1) the cost of the choir loft itself, and 2) any additional cost to reinforce the choir loft to bear the weight of the organ.

    I am thinking of a choir loft of about 30 feet across by 30 feet deep - holding maybe 50 singers, the organ console and pipe chests, and additional room for the occasional instrumentalists. I am coming across a price of a little under $100,000 online for several lofts, but I am not sure of the size of these - they might be smaller.

    I spoke to a retired builder about the cost of reinforcing the part of the choir loft holding a 12-15 ton organ (which is what we will have), and he said around $30,000 additional. This sounds suspiciously low, but someone else did indicate to me that he was correct, in the general ballpark.

    Is there anyone out there who has gone through this already and can give me ballpark figures? It will help me in putting together my budget.

    Thanks a million!
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    We're building a church right now. I can put you in touch with the builders who probably have a good idea what this would cost. Check your private messages.

    Congrats on the additions!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,390
    Let's all sing a Te Deum!
    Congratulations!
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    You need to contact a structural engineer posthaste. Any builder who claims to know this in an in-depth fashion is probably reaching.

    If you think they're not, ask them to cover it with their insurance! ;)

    It looks like we will have to reinforce our (fairly substantial) gallery with an I-beam: it has posts that go down to the foundation, but only wooden lateral support. The cost is mostly in the scaffold (and this gallery is 30 feet up), but it's still projected in the $30-50k range, I'd say.

    Another cathedral in Louisiana spent in the $100k's to get theirs up to spec for an organ the size of what you estimate...

    Anyhow, better safe than sorry: bonne chance!
  • kpoterack
    Posts: 27
    Bruce, thank you!

    Actually the church hasn't been built yet, so money may be saved by incorporating some of these things into the plan. I will talk to a structural engineer. So, you are saying that we should plan to have the posts go down to the foundation, maybe have an I-beam inserted: $30-$50 K isn't so bad. What is the size of your loft? Do you have measurements? How big is your pipe organ?
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Ah, I see! I was assuming you meant at Christendom: I thought I remembered that having a loft already!

    If it's wrapped into the cost of the project, I would expect it would be less of an issue. St. Paul's was built in 1890, so there are always "surprises". The loft is the breadth of the church (70 ft?) and about 25-30 ft deep. The organ is a large, 3m/45rks Moller from 1985 in need of a lot of work. Probably easier to just post a picture...

    As you can see, it was extended out at some point (note the four "skinny posts") but evidently not reinforced as robustly as we thought!

    St. Paul's Moller gallery.jpg
    700 x 635 - 610K
  • kpoterack
    Posts: 27

    BruceL, thanks again!

    Actually it is at Christendom. We are building a new chapel - and I got a donation for a pipe organ. However, the administration is making rumblings that 1) the structural reinforcement of the choir loft should be payed for out of this donation (arguable point), but also that 2) the choir loft itself should be payed for out of that donation (much less arguable since we were supposed to have a choir loft either way.)

    Anyway, I am trying to get as much info as possible.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Interesting. Are they implying that (absent a gallery) the organ would be located cathedral-style in the choir? The gallery is really an integral part of a traditionally designed church.

    You guys aren't going praise band on us, are you? ;)
  • kpoterack
    Posts: 27
    No, don't worry. Nothing like that. Just an argument by some that some of the amount of it should go to the choir loft. Even though that's not what the donor gave it for. I have a meeting this afternoon on this matter. Pray for me.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Will do. Hopefully they'll consider that a good organ nowadays is something like $27-35k a rank... It's one of the only things that combines a trade and art, and was the most complicated invention of the Western world until fairly recently! You might even use Taylor & Boody as a reference point (for cost) since they're there in the valley, too.

    Good luck: we're going through similar negotiations here!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • advocatusadvocatus
    Posts: 85
    Any choir loft of a church not built already ought to be designed to hold an organ of the size required by the dimensions and volume of the space, whether or not the organ will be commissioned right away. If it is a retrofitting situation, that might be another story, but there is no excuse not to plan the building with due foresight to and provide for the execution of those plans out of the general building fund.

    I hope you will be able to reserve the entire donation for the organ. Best wishes.

    Have you chosen an organ builder yet? It's important to assemble the team before going too far down the road: architect (who will contract structural engineer), organ builder (independently contracted by client), and - as important as the rest - an acoustical design consultant (contracted independently by the client rather than subcontracted by the architect). Architects will chafe on this last point, but the acoustical consultant needs to be an advocate for the client, not simply an advisor to the architect.

    Kevin Vogt, DMA
    Organ Consultant
    Thanked by 3M. Jackson Osborn CCooze CHGiffen
  • kpoterack
    Posts: 27
    Gentlemen,

    The meeting went extremely well. I basically won all of my points! Thanks for all of the advice. Now, I have to get down to work . . . : )
    Thanked by 7canadash CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn WGS advocatus BruceL NihilNominis
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