Cohousing-L Mailing List: Affordability

[Chris ScottHanson (chris]

Jenny,

You said "I do wish we'd made better decisions when we built our  
cohousing."  I sure hear you, and I want to quote you...

When I am hired to make a project happen by a group of cohousers,  
they always (and understandably) listen to my recommendations  
selectively.  In principal, I try to work for the seven generations  
of residents that come after these first pioneers, but (also,  
understandably I guess) some pioneers are much more interested in  
looking out for themselves, first.  And of course, some pioneers just  
don't believe me.

The more info I can provide, the more effective my education process,  
the more powerful the stories I can tell, and the more real it all  
seems to them, the more successful I am at helping clients get what  
they really say the want up front.  This is of course instead of what  
they, in the end, agree to by committee through a long and arduous  
process of sequential decisions.

JP Cohousing was for me the first great success at getting a project  
through to completion, while keeping cost down (not as low as some  
had hoped, but MUCH lower then many predicted).  This allowed members  
to move in at below market rates, effectively moving in with equity  
in the homes, and values higher than their purchase prices.

Fundamentally, at JP Cohousing they did three very important things:
        1) they agreed to NO customizations, at all, ever
	2) they agreed to and did successfully stay off the job site during  
construction
        3) they were allowed to make NO changes after the start of construction

In hindsight, we could have created a more affordable project.  In my  
opinion, the architects played on the "we need more light" fanatics  
(who now need more air conditioning) designing an open, single loaded  
exterior corridor plan, instead of a more efficient double loaded  
corridor plan that would have saved a lot more land, at lot more  
energy, and a whole lot more money.

As it is, the project is wonderful.  But I still look at it and see  
what could have been.


Chris ScottHanson
NOTE:  new contact information for Cohousing Resources

Cohousing Resources LLC
Ecovillages, Cohousing & Sustainable Communities
Development and Consulting for a Sustainable Future
   based on the Natural Power of Community

PO Box 1288
Langley, WA 98260

(360) 321-7850 new office
(206) 260-2800 eFAX1

(617) 894-7661 Boston cell
(617) 344-8563 eFAX2


On Jul 12, 2006, at 4:45 PM, juniperjojo [at] aol.com wrote:

> I do wish we'd made better decisions when we built our cohousing; I  
> wish we'd spent more on some things and less on others, and I hope  
> you and other builder/developers can help future cohousers make  
> better decisions in the future.