Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Design-Build & Takoma Village

[cjsheehan (cjsheehan]

At Sonora Cohousing we worked with a developer (Wonderland Hill), our
homes are attached townhome style.  We had two "options" list; our A
option list consisted of upgrades that would be in ALL the houses (such
as cellulose insulation, thicker sheetrock, high efficiency AC and water
heaters, etc), our B list was upgrades that could be done on a house to
house basis (cabinets, flooring, lighting).  We had a project manager who
was also our site super and a future resident (too many hats, not
recommended).  But each unit type had a resident rep. who met each week
with the builder, project manager and all reps. who then reported back to
the community.  This was our CIT (construction interface team), and we
had a protocal for residents if they had an issue with their house during
construction.  First contact your unit rep, who would pass it on to the
project manager if the rep didn't know the answer.  Using this system the
contractor didnot get bothered with the miniutia and day to day
construction issues.

Jenny Sheehan
Sonora Cohousing
Tucson, Arizona

On Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:39:35 -0600 Berrins [at] aol.com writes:
> 
> In a message dated 12/19/00 2:46:07 PM, sharonvillines [at] prodigy.net 
> writes:
> 
> << ohousing is a multi-home project of single homes. The developer 
> has to deal
> with both the legal and physical complexity of multi-home design and
> construction AND the single home buyer's personal preferences and
> involvement. 
> 
> His comment was "I've never built 43 single family homes at the same 
> time."
> 
> In a nutshell, that is the task in cohousing.
> 
> Sharon
> -- 
> Sharon Villines
> In Washington, DC where all roads lead to Casablanca >>
> 
> Our contractor had done both before building ours but ran into the 
> same 
> issues.  Building a complex of apartments or condos is much cheaper 
> because 
> you have only a few different plans, can buy in bulk, the 
> subcontractors make 
> far fewer mistakes and they're easier to coordinate.  Individually 
> designed 
> homes are much more expensive but prevent that cookie-cutter, 
> "ticky-tacky" 
> look.
> 
> We compromised.  The contractor came up with several options that 
> would help 
> individualize homes without compromising bulk buying and that would 
> minimize 
> the complexity for the subs.  We then, as a group, narrowed down our 
> choices 
> (house color to 4 choices, trim 4 others, one type of siding, etc) 
> to 
> decrease complexity and cost.  
> 
> The biggest slow down occured when a few folks bugged the builder 
> with 
> frequent phone calls on various issues with their own homes.  Pick a 
> liason 
> or two (preferably someone with building or contract experience) and 
> ALWAYS 
> go through that person to communicate with the builder.  
> 
> Roger Berman
> Pathways
> Northampton, MA