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

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

We also went with the idea that it is a common cost despite the fact
that some folk have chosen to have laundry in their own homes.

For us the discussion at move-in was should we have charges for the
fitness room, charges for the hot tub, charges for the laundry,
charges for items from the garden. All things that only a subset of
the community use.
As that discussion flowed a few of us said, hey we all can *choose* to
use these resources whenever we want to. So now there are no charges
for any of these things.
Replacing washers and dryers also comes from community funds.

Interestingly many folk have *chosen* to use these items occasionally,
when a washer has died, when guests want to use the hot tub, etc. So
it is true that having everything accessible to all has worked well
for us.

The only subset that has gone differently is the chicken club which
pays the cost, does the work, and gets the benefit of the chickens.

Liz

On Fri, Apr 5, 2019 at 1:16 PM Kathryn McCamant
<kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> wrote:
>
> 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
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-- 
-Liz
(The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
www.mosaic-commons.org
508-450-0431