Price increases, sweat equity
From: ElanaKahn (ElanaKahnaol.com)
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 18:43:45 -0500
Hello all,
Originally we estimated our prices about a year ago, as best we could at the
time, warning that they were estimates only. Now we are approaching
construction and it is clear that our updated estimates will be higher now
for a variety of reasons. Soon we will have bids from contractors and
arrangements with lenders and we can give final prices. We have some sense of
how much increase people can handle and how much would mean losing people who
have worked hard and long for this; of course we don't want that to happen.
So we are looking carefully at how to keep our budget within bounds, what we
can cut without compromising important design elements, and what to do about
the inevitable increases in prices and their effect on a few people who might
be closer to the edge financially than others.

One idea from several members is to take on some fairly big projects as sweat
equity: fencing around the perimeter and for privacy between parking and some
dwellings; finishing parts of the common house that don't have to be finished
at first; a pedestrian bridge across a wooded ravine connecting some homes to
common house; of course a lot of landscaping including paths, plantings, etc.
Listening to CoHousing voices of experience, we are very leary of counting on
sweat equity for anything that has to be done for our Certificates of
Occupancy. Even beyond that, we are wondering how much is realistic given
jobs, families, moving-in exhaustion, and just general maintenance required
for a community like this. We try to have some idea how much time we each
will put in once we are all living here, and yet we know it will be so
different than what we are able to imagine now that it is hard to say with
any certainty.

I am wondering about other groups' experiences with price increases. How have
you handled them? Have you found ways to help members who can't manage the
increases on their own? And how much sweat equity is just right, how much is
overload? 

Please reply to me or to the CoHousing List, whichever you prefer. In
advance, I appreciate your ideas and suggestions.                 

-- Elana Kahn, for Westwood CoHousing Community

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