Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Professional Development vs. Self-Development

[Philip Proefrock (architect]

I think that the skill-set of the community can be an important element in
this question.  A couple more questions could be very enlightening in
evaluating the issue:

- For communities that did do development on their own, what was the
experience level of community members who worked on the development?  Were
there people who had participated in the development of other projects
(either building their own home or working on a project as part of their
work in some capacity) who had prior experience?

- How many communities used a professional developer who was a member of
the community?  I think there are more than a couple cases where the
developer either was a community member or chose to join the community at
some point during the development process.

Philip Proefrock

Joani wrote:
> So let me pose the question broadly:  In your experience, what are
> the advantages and disadvantages of co-developing with an experienced
> developer (who would of, course, be hiring a construction or project
> manager), in contrast to self-development, where the group finds and
> hires the construction or project manager themselves.