Cohousing-L Mailing List: paying ourselves for work

[School of Mathematics, U of MN (dept]

Here is a question that keeps coming up in MoCoCo-Mpls:  should we
hire ourselves to do work on the project?.  There is a lot of rehab-type 
work coming up in the existing building ('the Mansion') at MoCoCo-Mpls 
and some feel it would be cheaper if we hired some of our own group to do 
some of the work.  We have a chit system that requires so many hours per 
quarter per adult.  There are a few among us who would be willing to do 
rehab-work but they want to be paid for their time beyond the required chit 
hours.  On the surface this seems reasonable; we would pay less per hour 
for some of the labor (leaving aside for the moment the question of the 
quality and amount of work).  However, if you pay some members for hours 
beyond chits your are unfair to those who contribute way beyond.  We tried 
to come to a decision before, but such a mountain of bad feelings were
generated just by considering the question, we've dropped it in the past.

Any experience or suggestions out there?

Monika Stumpf, Monterey Co-Housing, Minneapolis, dept [at] math.umn.edu