Re: Painting Ourselves to Save Money: good idea or bad idea
From: Jock Coats (jock.coatsoxfordshirecommunitylandtrusts.org.uk)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:28:52 -0700 (PDT)
Interestingly we've had in the UK aTV house makeover series recently where a very bossy woman chartered surveyor on a mission to make whole streets nicer did get people to work together, on time, on jobs that would usually only be touched by professionals - such as rendering and painting a whole row of the outside of terraced homes, landscaping, fencing and so on.

But *very* hard work. If you can make it work though the clear message was that despite all the tears, tantrums and bickering they were a happier, more cohesive community afterwards! But they were not building their homes - they were trying to achieve six figure uplifts in their property values by sprucing up their neighbourhoods.

Jock

On 25 Oct 2006, at 20:34, Sharon Villines wrote:

In my person point of view, people are up for tasks for a limited
period of time. For a new group that had not done much work for the
community yet (big "yet"), there may be more energy. You need to make
decisions about where you want to use that energy.

But if a tasks takes several Saturdays, several weekends, etc., unless
they just love to paint, people will lose interest very quickly.

And there is the problem of incurring construction costs if it isn't
done on schedule so the other work can proceed. "Volunteering" under
the gun is not fun. Have a back up plan.

Sharon
-----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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--
Jock Coats - Chair, Oxfordshire Community Land Trusts
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