Re: Who pays the maintenance costs of common washers and dryers?
From: Diana Carroll (dianaecarrollgmail.com)
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2019 10:51:10 -0700 (PDT)
Oh, I thought of one more reason.

7 - Our houses are smaller than equivalently prices houses people might buy
elsewhere.  That's part of the "deal" with leaving here: smaller house, but
access to extra shared goodies.  We even used the catch phrase "like having
an extra room in your house" during the sale process.  Laundry machines
take up a lot of precious space in our small homes, and part of the
explicit bargain on moving in was that you wouldn't need to have laundry in
your own home.  Following that up by adding a charge seems to violate the
spirit of the deal.

Diana

On Fri, Apr 5, 2019 at 1:46 PM Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Here at Mosaic Commons (Berlin, MA), like Nevada City, we opted to make
> our common laundry facilities free for all.  (This was after having
> initially instituted a per-wash/dry fee.)
>
> I think this makes sense for us because:
>
> 1 - Many features of the community are not used by ALL people.  Should
> people who don't use the hot tub, fitness room, bike room, workshop or
> guest rooms not have to pay for those?  Trying to tease out costs for one
> specific communal benefit seems like a slippery slope.  Part of living in
> cohousing, in my view, is sharing the cost of shared resources.
>
> 2 - What happens if household A contributes to paying for your warranty
> but then, before the warranty runs out, decides to buy their own laundry
> machines?  Conversely, what happens if household B has their own laundry
> machine, but they bite the dust at some point and they move to using common
> laundry?
>
> 3 - What about households who occasionally use common laundry machines?
> Example: I have a front-loading washer, but if I needed to do machine
> dying, I need a top-loader.  Or I have a top-loading washer, but I have a
> bulky item like a down comforter that needs to be washed in a
> front-loader.  Or what if my machines break down and I use the common
> laundry temporarily while I replace them?
>
> 4 - I have my own laundry but I feel I get benefit from the common laundry
> existing.  It's there for me if I need it, so it provides peace of mind.
> It makes my home more attractive to potential buyers, should I choose to
> sell?  I appreciate and am grateful for the environmental benefits of my
> neighbors' choice to share appliances instead of owning their own.  Laundry
> machines are just generally part of having the community be welcoming and
> supportive, and having a welcoming and supportive community is *why *I
> live here.
>
> 5 - Relatively speaking, the cost of the laundry takes up quite a small
> portion of our total budget.  Tracking that particular bit seems petty.
>
> 6 - (Speaking as the community bookkeeper) The bookkeeping can get mighty
> gnarly managing sub-aspects of the common resources separately.  (We
> already have this issue with meals.)
>
> Diana
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 5, 2019 at 1:16 PM Kathryn McCamant <
> kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> wrote:
>
>> At Nevada City Cohousing (moved in 2006), we made a deliberate decision
>> that the common house washers and dryers (3 each for 34 homes) were
>> available to all residents for free, we buy detergent (fragrance free) in
>> bulk.  The costs are covered by our HOA dues, and we never track how many
>> loads anyone does. Our logic was that we wanted to encourage people using
>> the community laundry because it brings people thru the common house at all
>> times of day and nite, which is good for encouraging community connections
>> and security.
>>
>> If you want your private laundry, that is your additional costs, and
>> about a third of our homes have their own laundry.
>>
>> This has served us well, and I do indeed run into my neighbors at all
>> times of day and nite doing laundry. I remember it being very comforting
>> when I ran into two fathers doing laundry the day after the 2016
>> Presidential Election, as they discussed how to explain that election to
>> their young sons, and that it was still NOT okay to talk to or about people
>> like our (now) president does.
>>
>> Katie
>> Nevada City Cohousing
>> --
>> Kathryn McCamant, President
>> CoHousing Solutions
>> Nevada City, CA 95959
>> www.cohousing-solutions.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/5/19, 9:59 AM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Philip Dowds via
>> Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=
>> cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on behalf of
>> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>>
>>     Cornerstone Cohousing maintains five washer/dryer pairs in five
>> different location.  Some households use them, some do not.  All users are
>> charged a pay-per-use fee per machine load; I think it’s around $2.00-2.50
>> per load, but I’m not up to date on this.  It’s done as an honor system:
>> Make a mark when you run a load.  Loads are tallied and billed quarterly.
>> Fees collected are used for service calls, and occasionally, machine
>> replacement.  Over the years, money in and money out have balanced pretty
>> well.  We do not buy extended warranties.
>>
>>     Thanks,
>>     Philip Dowds
>>     Cornerstone Village Cohousing
>>     Cambridge, MA
>>
>>     mobile: 617.460.4549
>>     email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net
>>
>>     > On Apr 5, 2019, at 12:18 PM, Susan Green <susan.mx [at] gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>     >
>>     > Aria Cohousing is a 28 unit condominium development in Denver,
>> Colorado.
>>     > All  28 units have washer and dryer hookups in each unit.  Over
>> half of the
>>     > 28 units have purchased their own washers and dryers for their
>> units.  The
>>     > balance of the units utilize a washer and dryer located in the
>> garden level
>>     > common area of the building.  This washer and dryer was provided by
>> the
>>     > developer of the building.  Currently the common washer and dryer
>> are being
>>     > used by these residents at no charge.  The community is currently
>>     > considering purchase of extended warranties for the common washer
>> and dryer
>>     > and discussing how to allocate the cost of these warranties to the
>> units
>>     > that are exclusively using them.  Can you share how your community
>> manages
>>     > the costs associated with the use and maintenance of common washers
>> and
>>     > dryers.
>>     >
>>     > Thanks for sharing how your community handles this.
>>     > Susan Green
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