Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Size

[Larry Miller (larry.miller]

How big is yours and how many households do you have?

Our common house is about 4,000 square feet and we have 36 households.

Having said that, I would suggest that it might be better to look at the common 
house
differently than "how big"? For example, what do you want to do in the common 
house? In addition
to the great room and a kitchen to support the size meals we need, we also have 
2 guest
bedrooms, bathrooms and shower, a library, a community laundry, a large kid's 
playroom, and a
small office. There were many other ideas such as a workshop, exercise room, 
etc. When you sit
down with an architect, many of the desires may come into conflict with the 
desire to be
affordable. 

When we first sold our units, we frequently had to explain to prospective 
buyers that part of
the price they paid was for the common house and that's why the price was 
higher that comparably
sized condominiums. On the other hand, the guest rooms made it possible for 
some people to get
by without a "built in" spare bedroom.

Larry Miller
Oak Creek Commons