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How Long Does It Take to Complete an Early Education Center?

Many times we have received calls from interested clients who are struggling to understand the time frame and steps needed in creating a new child care or early education center. We thought it would be useful to review the steps needed and possible time frames for completion.

Feasibility Study: up to 3 months
The first step toward creating a new child care center or an expansion of your existing program is to examine the issues that will make the project feasible. In some cases, our team may even give guidance against proceeding with the project. The following issues may be examined during the feasibility study or evaluation phase:

• Budget and scope of the project
• Market and financial feasibility
• Programming
• Site analysis
• Preparation of reports and documents that can be incorporated into a business plan or given to potential funders.

Programming: one week typical
The term "programming" has a different connotation in the field of design than it does in the field of education. In design, the program is a specific statement of the spaces needed, their uses, dimensions and functional relationships within a building. Although the architect or design staff writes the program, your early childhood staff provides the content. These design requirements will include specifics such as the ages and number of children to be served, teacher/child ratios in each room, square footage requirements, furnishing or equipment considerations and the overall desired qualities of the building. A good design program will reflect the philosophy, goals and standards of the early childhood program.

Schematic Design: 45 days from when the program is finished
During this phase, the architect or interior designer will translate the program it into building specifics, a preliminary layout, defining relationships and making sure that the spaces meet the required square footage and code requirements. At this time the team can generate different design solutions that meet the program requirements. Take your time to study the different design solutions. This is the point at which you should evaluate the building orientation on the site, study the relationship of the indoors to the outdoors and verify that the design does not compromise your program requirements. Codes and licensing issues should also be addressed at this time.

Our team's schematic phase usually ends with a complete design proposal that includes floor plans and a preliminary cost estimate. The floor plans should include a room layout of all child-related furniture, plumbing fixtures, etc. Some schematic plans even include a preliminary sketch of the exterior/building and choices of preliminary materials so a more accurate cost estimate can be determined.

Construction Documents: typically 3 months
These detailed drawings are prepared for the general contractor, electricians, plumbers, etc., to communicate how the building should be constructed. These plans will be very technical. However, it is important that the early childhood professional be aware of how to read the contents of these plans. Sometimes the details get lost in the process - and lost details can mean that the room ultimately just won't work for children. The margin of error is smaller when designing for young children, because they cannot adapt to an inappropriate environment, such as sinks and toilets that are too high. Directors need to know how to read dimensioned floor plans, elevation drawings, sections, construction details, engineering plans, and landscape and play garden plans.

Contract/Bid Documents and Value Engineering: time frame depends on project
The construction documents, along with the finishing schedules, will eventually be bid out to several potential contractors. Many projects come in over bid during this phase, so the project will need to be "value engineered." It is crucial that early childhood professionals be involved in this process, because they will have very different ideas from the architect of where costs can be cut. During this phase the documents are prepared for the invitation to bid, bids are advertised and each bidder's qualifications are checked.

Awarding the Bid: time frame depends on project
Construction can begin once the architect or owner has awarded the contract to a specific contractor. A contract should be prepared for the owner/contractor agreement.

Construction Administration: 9-12 months for new construction
During construction, the architect should monitor the process to make sure it follows the contract documents. Sometimes there are changes that need to be issued during construction, so it is important that the early childhood professional continue to communicate with the architect and the contractor to ensure that all decisions are made in the best interest of children and families. The general contractor could make substitutions and alterations based upon his collective experience, but these substitutions might not be appropriate for a center built for young children. Any changes to the construction documents should be submitted for review to the full design team.

Occupancy and Post-Occupancy Evaluation: 12 months
Once the building is completed, our team will make a walk-through and create a "punch list" of things that need to be corrected. Once the changes are made, the building inspectors can sign off on the building and it is ready for occupancy.

The time frame for the entire process is somewhat flexible and will depend upon your ability to provide input to keep the project moving forward, and how long it takes in your community for project approvals with city offices and local design review boards. We hope that the above approximations of time frames will be useful to you in your planning.

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