Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Participation/Maintenance questions

[Jim Snyder-Grant (jimsg]

Some answers from one resident of New View in Acton MA.

We use professionals for a variety of purposes. For the first time in 5
years, we are now experimenting with professional property management. We've
always had professional financial managers, who write checks, receive bills,
prepare statements, and give us some limited financial advice (who to hire
to do taxes, what can we do and not do with our reserve funds, etc.).  A
full-service property management firm usually manages both finances and
maintenance. We've been doing our own maintenence, but have decided that as
our buildings get older we need more help. We haven't hired a full-service
property-management firm yet, but we have hired a person to look after our
maintenance needs - inspect the property, suggest contractors for specific
tasks beyond his skills, propose priorities and strategies for keeping
things in shape. He is not doing landscaping - we have more skilled
volunteers for that, plus one very part-time landscape coordinator that we
pay who lives here.

I don't think self-management means accepting a lower standard of
cleanliness,
organization, and accountability. Our landscaping is excellent. We are able
to pay close attention to our group's desire to avoid intense chemical
intrusions, and to plant with native species. This is a matter of skill and
interest. The buildings, on the other hand, were beginning to show signs of
wear, and the committee was a bit overwhelmed by prioritizing all the work,
locating & pursuing contractors, and making sure everything got done.

We have approximately ZERO general time commitments. People make specific
agreements with the group or with a committee to take on specific tasks,
including both paid and unpaid labor. Our strategy, if such a grand word can
be used for our creative "muddling through" in the last few years,  seems to
be to identify the work that volunteers are able and willing to do, and to
get them to do it, with thanks & praise. Then, any other work gets in to two
categories - vital & optional. Vital work gets done by paid labor if free
labor can't be found. optional work gets dropped or delayed. We have some
folks in the group who are able to commit to some paid work who can't afford
to commit to vast amounts of volunteer work. Also, we hire outside the group
for lots of little and big things.

The joy we find in being together and growing as a community seems
undiminished by having some paid labor. In fact, usually the paid labor is a
help - it lets us focus instead on stuff that we can only uniquely do as
neighbors that we could not pay anyone to do - hang out with each other,
support each other through the minor & major crises of domestic life, cook,
eat, and play together.

For the people in your group that would like to pay in lieu of participating
in maintenance - why not? Let them make contributions of whatever kind they
feel they can. Something concrete might help them feel more connected than
just cash. Maybe some highly-needed-but-out-of-budget furniture or supplies
for the common house? Maybe they pay for some outdoor lighting & the
associated electric bill? I just don't think that in cohousing, where people
have their own varied financial lives, that you can make a decent equation
between time & money -- it varies so much for everyone. At a place like Twin
Oaks, where the shared economy is the dominant financial factor, you can
create elaborate and successful work systems, where time & contributions are
carefully tracked. But not in cohousing, I think.  You can make a
standardized money system (with some reasonable flex), but not a
standardized time system - some folks have lots of time, some have very
little, and they can all be valuable participants in cohousing. Incentives
like fun and a sense of meaning & purpose get people to do lots
of work in cohousing - not guilt or rules.

-Jim

New View, Acton MA. Where many of us are busy watering trees: we had a late
frost a couple of weeks ago that killed a surprisingly large portion of the
young leaves on many trees & bushes, and now we are watering to encourage
the releafing that is, miraculously and with our enthsiastic support, is
happening all over the place.

Jim Snyder-Grant
jimsg [at] newview.org
18 Half Moon Hill
Acton MA 01720
New View Cohousing
http://www.newview.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ksenia Barton" <kbarton [at] intergate.ca>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 4:08 PM
Subject: [C-L]_Participation/Maintenance questions


Hello cohousers,

I've looked through the archives but I still have some questions that have
arisen from controversies in our group. We haven't yet moved in and we hope
you
experienced cohousers can help.

Are there cohousing communities that use professional property management
services? Why/why not?

Does self-management mean accepting a lower standard of cleanliness,
organization, and accountability?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of assessing maintenance costs
*and*
time commitments based on "unit entitlement" (based on square footage)? For
example, unit owners with larger units would be expected to put in more
money
into maintenance and time into participation?

Would it work to calculate maintenance costs (including heating, etc.) based
on
unit entitlement, but have equal participation time requirements for each
adult?

There has been a lot of focus on how to calculate time requirement for
participation because at least two households want to pay in lieu of
participating in maintenance, therefore there has to be a way of calculating
their monetary contribution. Is there a different way of dealing with this?

Regards, Ksenia
Equity Member of Cranberry Commons

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