We applaud your due diligence and understand this is a very important decision for your church. We would be glad to formally present the Aspen Group mission and process to your team. We would caution you, though, that a 60 – 90 minute presentation to a large group is not an effective way to select a builder. We encourage you to visit our past projects, talk to our past clients, and meet with our Project Developer in a more casual setting, where you can discover what sets Aspen apart – our passion for ministry!

Of course! They will need to follow our subcontractor approval process, though. To make sure only qualified, reliable companies build your church, we require every subcontractor we work with the fill out a questionnaire, provide financial information, and references. We have found some of our best, long term partners through the churches we worked with.

We have found that many churches look first to church members employed in trades such as carpentry, electrical, or other such fields. Another common area is the financial or business field. While these members are very knowledgeable in the construction world, without a passion for ministry they will make decisions based on dollars instead of what’s best for your ministry.

Our Project Developers can help you think through the best members of your “Vision Team,” but in general you cannot go wrong with a group of individuals sold out for Christ, your mission, and your project.

If there are qualified trades people in your church that want to donate labor or materials to your project we would love to partner with them as a subcontractor – in fact many of the companies on our current subcontractor list were discovered that way.

As for volunteers, it really is exciting to see your people stepping up to serve during a building project. Although it is very tempting to put them to work on the building, you have a much larger task at hand – one for which your congregants are actually more qualified! While the masons, carpenters, electricians and other trades people build your new facility, your members can be building your church. By helping your people discover their gifts and passions you can place them on an eternally rewarding, life long path of service to the Church.

Of course, if you’d prefer to have your people swing a hammer, we can find some carpenters to canvass your neighborhood, inviting people to come to your church. And when the project is done, it will be the carpenters, not your worn out volunteers, that will be most excited about the new facility!

Absolutely! Our passion for learning has put Aspen Group at the forefront of these issues. We share what we learn at periodic Pastors Luncheons and Cornerstone Conferences. Another excellent resource is edbahler.com. Ed is Aspen Group’s president and his blog explores the intersection of culture, leadership, ministry and facilities.

We believe strongly that the best construction projects are those where an integrated, collaborative team comes together up front to partner on behalf of the church. We have structured our total package of visioning, feasibility, architecture and construction to provide a seamless process. The end result is a church that is prepared for the process and a facility that truly fits your ministry. Merely building a facility without doing the essential upfront planning would be a disservice to your church. 

Now. Laying the groundwork for a successful project starts well in advance of drawing plans. Don’t wait until you are out of space to begin. Many times churches need to work through internal issues of leadership, vision and strategic planning before they are ready to build. That’s what our Visioning process is all about and the time it takes to go through that quadrant varies widely.

Aspen is at home in the Midwest with offices in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Our hearts are for the Church. Aspen Group has been blessed to assemble a fantastic team of people who strive to use their God-given gifts for planning, design and construction in service to the Church. Working with churches is our passion and our calling and we can be most effective when focused on that single vision.

We chose the name “Aspen Group” not because we spend a lot of time at the famous Colorado ski resort, but because we liked the symbolism of the name.

When we chose our name, we considered our vision for the company and asked ourselves several questions:

• We want to design facilities that will draw people and change lives. Where do people go for beauty? The mountains.
•  We want to build leadership confidence and congregational peace of mind. What things in nature do that? Streams, mountains, forests.
• What name would take people to that place in their mind? Aspen (one of the nicest resorts in Colorado)

After some research into aspen trees, we discovered they don’t spread seeds like most trees do. Instead aspen trees are one root system that provides strength for the entire system in addition to shelter, nourishment, and a firm foundation for new saplings. This metaphor related to every aspect of Aspen Group; our Firm Foundation Process, the relationship we desire with clients, and the internal culture of collaboration.

It’s about getting better at what we do, and making a difference for the Kingdom. The mission of CKN is to discover and disseminate meaningful knowledge that radically improves how church facilities impact ministry. CKN bases their recommendations on proven "best practice" methods and verifiable results. Each year, they fund new independent research on church building issues so they can provide valuable statistics and real-life case studies to empower church leaders across the country. Since Aspen Group is a principal member and founder of CKN, we stay at the cutting edge of cultural movements, architectural trends, ministry organizational issues and the best ministry responses to our changing world.

The overall shape of the logo is that of an aspen leaf. Embodied in that shape is a person raising hands in worship.

Aspen is at home in the Midwest with offices in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Aspen Group is a family owned company. Several brothers share ownership, one of whom is Ed Bahler, our company president. All are devoted Christians and active in their churches.

Our parent company, FBi Buildings, has been in business since 1958. The Aspen Group entity has been around since the early 1990s, but was not known by that name until 2003.

Aspenites, as we call ourselves, are a unique group of ministry-minded professionals who work hard and have (a lot of) fun. Take a trip to one of our offices and you’ll find most of our space is collaborative (in fact, we have very few offices or isolated cubicles). We sit next to the people we work with most so it’s easy to learn from one another and get to know each other better.

During your visit you’d see Aspenites on the phone with clients, preparing presentations, drawing (hopefully only in the design department), and gathering around conference tables filled with rolls of drawings. No doubt, at some point you would hear an eruption of laughter from somewhere in the office!

There are lots of ways. Request information. Call us at 1-888-241-9980. Email us at info@aspengroup.com. Talk to our clients. And be sure to visit our blog for a good behind-the-scenes look into our company.

Cornerstone Conferences are educational seminars that prepare church leaders for the challenges of a church construction project. Aspen Group started these in 1999 because experience had taught us that many churches didn't know what they were in for when they started the building process. As a result, too many churches experienced pain, conflict and wasting of resources. Our desire was to see churches succeed in this process, whether they built with us or not.

In 2002, Aspen Group founded what became known as Cornerstone Knowledge Network, a select group of church-focused firms developing innovative building and leadership solutions for ministry challenges. 

It’s about getting better at what we do, and making a difference for the Kingdom. The mission of CKN is to discover and disseminate meaningful knowledge that radically improves how church facilities impact ministry. CKN bases their recommendations on proven "best practice" methods and verifiable results. Each year, they fund new independent research on church building issues so they can provide valuable statistics and real-life case studies to empower church leaders across the country. Since Aspen Group is a principal member and founder of CKN, we stay at the cutting edge of cultural movements, architectural trends, ministry organizational issues and the best ministry responses to our changing world.

It has to be our passion for ministry! Our greatest goal is to enhance ministry, a mission that drives everything from our Firm Foundations process to our hiring process and sub-contractor selection. The result is a team spirit that can’t be replicated.

There are lots of ways. Request information. Call us at 1-888-241-9980. Email us at info@aspengroup.com. Talk to our clients. And be sure to visit our blog for a good behind-the-scenes look into our company.

Our Frankfort office frequently partners with Wildesign Group to design churches for our clients. While Aspen employs several architects directly, we’ve found it to be a blessing to sometimes partner with an outside architectural firm that shares our values and integrates well into our tight design/build process.