Cohousing-L Mailing List: Managing Big construction/Remediation Projects

[Helen Spector (helen94611]

I live at Trillium Hollow cohousing in Portland OR.  We have had, over our 
20-year history, 7 water intrusion remediation "events" 3 BIG ONES and 4 of 
more limited scope and impact.  Other communities in Portland and other places 
have also faced major construction defect or building aging challenges and have 
shared generously with me some of their stories and learnings. As I talk with 
them, I find that every community has great stories of learning (sometimes the 
hard way) from these experiences. Putting all this together has been a real 
eye-opener for us all.

After reflecting on our communities' lessons learned over this time, I am 
offering an Intensive Program on Friday afternoon on "Managing THE BIG PROJECT! 
"   We have learned that as intimidating as the technical side of these crises 
can be, the impact on community cohesion requires significant attention to 
community connection processes, clear decision structures, great transparency 
in communication from beginning to end, and, many times, some creative 
financial approaches for paying for them.  And then, of course, there are 
maintenance and reserve considerations that come into play before, during and 
after...

In support of this program and in support of communities who have this kind of 
problem in the future, I would like to assemble a “directory” of BIG PROJECTS 
from cohousing communities.  I see three benefits to this:

1.     If your community develops the need to work through one of these BIG 
PROJECTS, this list (including a profile of the project and the location of the 
community) could provide you with a “Buddy community” to talk with and learn 
from, in real time.  Sort of a “Who You Gonna Call?” list

2.     For those adding their project profile to the directory before the 
National CoHo Conference in Portland (May 30-June 2), some of those stories and 
lessons learned could add depth to the presentation I will make as an Intensive 
program on Friday afternoon, and could also include them in any take-aways for 
participants.

3.     We could potentially use this anecdotal data to identify patterns in 
projects and the timing of them in the life of a community that could inform 
forming and early stage communities. 

I sincerely hope that your community has never had to face this kind of BIG 
PROJECT. But if you have, I encourage you to provide the information listed 
below to me, to form the beginning of a Buddy Community Directory of Big 
Construction Projects.

Many thanks. 

Helen Spector

Trillium Hollow Cohousing Neighborhood,   Portland Oregon

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.


Construction Project Buddy Profile:

For posting to a National CoHo list of construction defect or other remediation 
project, for the use of communities facing similar scale projects.

Community name and location

 

 

Formation timing

 

Organizing start date:

Move in date:

Construction type

 

New construction:

Modify existing structure:

Description of repair, remediation problem, focus of the project

 

 

 

 

Date of the project

Start:

Completion:

Total project cost and sources of funding

 

 

 

Key learnings: technical

 

 

 

Key learnings: community dynamics

 

 

 

Key Learnings: Other

 

 

 

 

Description of current community status: