Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cost estimates

[Matt Lawrence (matt]

In case you haven't read it, I highly recommend "The Grow Home".  There 
are a lot of interesting ideas.

It's also important to remember that most architects are not focussed on 
reducing the cost to build.  Neither are most developers.  They are 
usually interested in marketability and profit margin, even with the same 
percentage margin, there's more money to be made building a $300K home 
than a $100K home and it's easier to build one expensive home than three 
inexpensive ones.

I also agree with you on the subject of sweat equity.  With all the 
overhead, it's easy for someone getting paid $15/hour to swing a hammer is 
costing the final customer closer to $50/hour.  Also, I have been very 
unimpressed with the quality of the work most of the building tradesmen do 
around where I live.

On the other hand, many (not all) of the communities I have visited are 
populated by people who don't have a passion for building things with 
their own hands.  Look at how few of them have workshop space that's even 
as large as my two car garage.  Not having a workshop is as absolute 
deal breaker for me, but it isn't for most of the cohousing folks I've 
met.

-- Matt
It's not what I know that counts.
It's what I can remember in time to use.