Price increases, sweat equity | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
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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Price increases, sweat equity ElanaKahn, July 1 1996
- Re: Price increases, sweat equity ian_hig, July 1 1996
- RE: Price increases, sweat equity Rob Sandelin (Exchange), July 2 1996
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