Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: paying ourselves for work

[Ian Higginbottom (Ian.Higginbottom]

>Here is a question that keeps coming up in MoCoCo-Mpls:  should we
>hire ourselves to do work on the project?.
>Any experience or suggestions out there?
>
>Monika Stumpf, Monterey Co-Housing, Minneapolis, dept [at] math.umn.edu
>
Cascade Cohousing is also dealing with this issue at the moment so I will
relate my thoughts.  It seems to me that in the case that a job is well
defined and the member(s) who wish to do it have put in at least the agreed
quota of common work hours then it is reasonable to pay them.  A case for
payment might also be made where a job is done outside of usual working-bee
times, needs to be done quickly or the group really dosn't want to add it to
the common works schedule.  It would seem to me to be a strange twist if the
group could not agree to pay a member and then had to pay outside
contractors to do a job.
I also feel that only if there was some special skill or other special
reason should members who have not put in above the average number of common
works hours be paid.

Ian Higginbottom
Cascade Cohousing