Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Who pays the maintenance costs of common washers and dryers?

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

At Nevada City Cohousing (moved in 2006), we made a deliberate decision that 
the common house washers and dryers (3 each for 34 homes) were available to all 
residents for free, we buy detergent (fragrance free) in bulk.  The costs are 
covered by our HOA dues, and we never track how many loads anyone does. Our 
logic was that we wanted to encourage people using the community laundry 
because it brings people thru the common house at all times of day and nite, 
which is good for encouraging community connections and security. 

If you want your private laundry, that is your additional costs, and about a 
third of our homes have their own laundry. 

This has served us well, and I do indeed run into my neighbors at all times of 
day and nite doing laundry. I remember it being very comforting when I ran into 
two fathers doing laundry the day after the 2016 Presidential Election, as they 
discussed how to explain that election to their young sons, and that it was 
still NOT okay to talk to or about people like our (now) president does. 

Katie 
Nevada City Cohousing
-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
Nevada City, CA 95959
www.cohousing-solutions.com
 



On 4/5/19, 9:59 AM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Philip Dowds via Cohousing-L" 
<cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on 
behalf of cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

    Cornerstone Cohousing maintains five washer/dryer pairs in five different 
location.  Some households use them, some do not.  All users are charged a 
pay-per-use fee per machine load; I think it’s around $2.00-2.50 per load, but 
I’m not up to date on this.  It’s done as an honor system: Make a mark when you 
run a load.  Loads are tallied and billed quarterly.  Fees collected are used 
for service calls, and occasionally, machine replacement.  Over the years, 
money in and money out have balanced pretty well.  We do not buy extended 
warranties.
    
    Thanks,
    Philip Dowds
    Cornerstone Village Cohousing
    Cambridge, MA
    
    mobile: 617.460.4549
    email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net
    
    > On Apr 5, 2019, at 12:18 PM, Susan Green <susan.mx [at] gmail.com> wrote:
    > 
    > Aria Cohousing is a 28 unit condominium development in Denver, Colorado.
    > All  28 units have washer and dryer hookups in each unit.  Over half of 
the
    > 28 units have purchased their own washers and dryers for their units.  The
    > balance of the units utilize a washer and dryer located in the garden 
level
    > common area of the building.  This washer and dryer was provided by the
    > developer of the building.  Currently the common washer and dryer are 
being
    > used by these residents at no charge.  The community is currently
    > considering purchase of extended warranties for the common washer and 
dryer
    > and discussing how to allocate the cost of these warranties to the units
    > that are exclusively using them.  Can you share how your community manages
    > the costs associated with the use and maintenance of common washers and
    > dryers.
    > 
    > Thanks for sharing how your community handles this.
    > Susan Green
    > _________________________________________________________________
    > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
    > http://L.cohousing.org/info
    > 
    > 
    > 
    
    _________________________________________________________________
    Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
    http://L.cohousing.org/info