The Most Successful Way to Plan, Present and Approve Major Clubhouse Projects
“The McMahon Way”
For over 40 years and closing in on almost $4 billion in approved club facility projects, McMahon has developed a planning process that gets the best projects identified, supported, presented and approved for clubs of all types, sizes and purposes.
The “McMahon Way” was developed based on the way major private, governmental, religious and corporate entities do their building programs. They internally approach their facility projects by understanding their internal and strategic needs with specialty operating consultants identifying their social/business goals, and then develop their concept plans and funding costs before hiring architects and contractors to build their facilities. This approach to adding and improving facilities makes sure new club projects meet the club’s requirements. It is important to develop operational concepts with managers and planners by identifying planning criteria, operations, budgets and funding plans before hiring final architects for construction. This approach to major construction projects is far more efficient, assures that the best internal operational design features are used, controls budgets and time far better, and saves money. It is a far more efficient design and construction process. It is what the best clubs use.
The McMahon Facility Way
Today’s facility projects are much more complex and costly, require clubs to stay operational during construction, have costs in the $5 to $100+ million range, and have significant financing requirements with significant financial risk for a club. When the borrowing cost required to fund a project is high, a club can’t afford to make a serious financial mistake with poor initial project preparation that causes cost overruns and design misses.
The Way to Avoid the Common Mistakes All Too Familiar in Club Projects
The best way to approach major project design and construction (like all major corporations and organizations do) is by using the best-practice methodology that is accepted in construction today.
And in the “McMahon Way” we organize and approach facility projects with finance, design and project timing parameters resolved before construction architects begin their valuable work. This is the most successful way to plan and build club projects.
About Christian Clerc, AIA
Christian has been in the construction, architecture, and planning fields for over 20 years and has been involved in all aspects of McMahon services during his 10 years with the firm. He has drafted Master Plans, written strategic plans, and presented improvement projects to memberships. In addition to training and supporting new staff across several departments, Christian works closely with Club planners and leadership to develop innovative services that help clients in a rapidly changing world. He developed the survey benchmark by analyzing years of membership surveys, which now serve as a backbone to McMahon’s membership analysis and industry-wide assessments.
A respected industry voice, Christian is a featured speaker for the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) and the National Club Association (NCA), as well as a featured author in industry publications. He holds AIA membership and LEED AP BD+C credentials, further demonstrating his commitment to sustainable and innovative design practices.
Christian graduated with honors from the University of Dallas in Texas with a bachelor’s degree in physics, where he served as treasurer and social chairman of the men’s rugby club. He participated in undergraduate astronomy research in Wooster Ohio, Pitkin Colorado and at MIT’s Haystack observatory. After working in construction, he returned to school and graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis, earning two graduate degrees in Architecture and Urban Design. As Graduate Architecture Council treasurer, he established the first funding mechanism for the annual Year End Show (YES), showcasing recent graduates’ work. He presented façade research on phase change materials in Hong Kong China and façade adaptive reuse in Delft Netherlands. He is a registered architect in several states, most proudly in his home ‘Show-Me’ state of Missouri.
Christian’s professional achievements are rooted in his core values. His faith, wife Lauren, and their five children are at the heart of his life, fueling his pursuit of excellence in all spheres. This foundation drives his passion to create positive change at home and in the wider world. Christian and Lauren contribute to their church’s Marriage Enrichment ministry, and he has served on parish councils. His community engagement has extended to various professional organizations.
