Re: cost estimates
From: Marganne Meyer (margannemacnexus.org)
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:16:21 -0800 (PST)
At 12:59 PM -0800 2/14/10, Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah wrote:
Those of us in that phase learned more than we ever thought we'd need to know about city planning....

And still it cost more and took longer than we had hoped.

Thank you very much for this information. Yes, there always will be one thing or another that pops up unexpectedly. But it sounded like the members of your project had more control of how finances for the project would affect an individual person's budget.

All members of the project need to asses what is reasonable to spend on different aspects of the project. If a piece of property was identified and would be so extra-suitable for the project, but cost more than what members said they could afford, then the property isn't wonderful because it costs more than what members could afford. Or members could decide how to cover the extra expense by decreasing expenses elsewhere.

As long as everyone was agreed that the project needed to stay within certain financial limits (plus a contingency fund), that information would drive all choices made along the way. I know this is a very different concept from what many people are used to doing. But it's the only way some of us ever will be able to afford owning our own living arrangements.

If a project continues to escalate beyond cost estimates throughout the building process, I understand that members must drop out because it's too cost prohibitive. This means remaining members must take on more financial risk -- would that be right?

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