Budgeting for Future Projects: If you know the cost, you can get the money
It is almost certain that clubs will have to undertake major facility improvement programs in at least ten-year cycles. Irrigation systems, grill rooms, new recreation activities, etc. will need to be added or improved. Yet today there is seemingly no practical way to estimate the cost for most of these far-out projects, but there actually is. Now it is important to know this process is more an art than a science. McMahon has developed this art based on planning over 2,000 club projects with combined cost approaching $3 billion.
The McMahon’s programming and budgeting service works with a club’s leadership to identify future facility and program needs that we can then turn into capital cost estimates for managers to use in the future projects’ budgeting and capital reserve planning.
Based on our 39 years of extensive club facility planning, we have established ways to work with a club’s leadership, to tour facilities and to use our expertise in planning critical projects so we can conceptualize a club’s future facility needs and provide range of magnitude costs.
Our specialty is identifying facility space program projections and calculating cost estimates for construction. We can forecast project cost ranges for clubs to begin allocating funds for future projects. McMahon’s facility planning uses its cost estimating ability to forecast facility projects costs, and now we are offering this service as an inexpensive budgeting option to help clubs prepare for establishing long funding plans to help in assuring project funding is there when a club needs it.
About Bill McMahon, Sr. AIA, OAA
Bill is a strategic, financial and architectural planning consultant to clubs throughout North America. He established McMahon Group in 1983 as an affiliate of the family architectural firm his grandfather founded in 1906. Over the ensuing years, the firm has expanded its club consulting services beyond clubhouse improvement planning to a full range of services for all aspects of private club challenges. To date, the firm has assisted more than 2,000 private clubs across the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. McMahon Group provides a unique approach to developing club facility projects first establishing design and financial feasibility so membership approval is achieved. Thereafter final design and construction firms are selected to build the member approved project.
Mr. McMahon is unique among club consultants in providing an integrated strategic, financial and architectural approach to solving club problems. His personal involvement with his own clubs in St. Louis (serving in the roles of president, board member and committee member) has allowed him to bring unparalleled experience to each client. Mr. McMahon’s club memberships have included Bellerive Country Club (St. Louis), Racquet Club Ladue (St. Louis), University Club of St. Louis, Spring Lake Yacht Club (Michigan) and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
Mr. McMahon is a graduate of Washington University School of Architecture in St. Louis and holds architecture licenses in 44 U.S. states and in Ontario, Canada. He is a featured author in industry publications and a featured speaker at the annual conferences of the Club Managers Association of America, the Canadian Society of Club Managers, the National Club Association and the Hospitality, Financial and Technology Professionals. He serves as a visiting lecturer at continuing education sessions offered by regional CMAA chapters and at Michigan State University. Bill is a co-author of McMahon Club Trends®, the comprehensive research reports on strategic issues facing private clubs published with the National Club Association. He is also founder of the Excellence in Club Management Award.
Mr. McMahon is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and the National Club Association. He is a former president of the Missouri Council of Architects, AIA and has served on various charitable boards in the St. Louis area.
