Cohousing-L Mailing List: prebuilt or owner built

[Rod Lambert (rod]

Deryk,

It would probably be best if you could come and interview the EcoVillage 
residents and get a balanced view. It would be very useful if someone 
could take the time to analyze the results here since both the 
conventional method and the 'hybrid' method were used side by side. It's 
also important to differentiate between cost and value.

Muriel stated:
"I can still remember him standing in front of our group and telling us two
things. One was that we should totally standardize the houses both outside
and inside to keep costs as low as possible and for the reasons Maraiah
gave.  The second thing was, he knew we wouldn't do it."

The inference here is that the urge to "individualize" our home is some 
kind of vice, that every group should avoid it like the plague.
Customization does have its downside (including folks who need to be 
protected from their own misguided design ideas :-) but it depends on 
the goals expressed by the membership including budgets and design goals.
You would need to look over the pros and cons and see if it's a fit for 
your group.


Some initial thoughts about why costs where so reasonable compared to 
the "conventional" method:

Many worked with 4 or 5 models that I had already designed which helped 
keep my design costs low.

We used a construction manager as an employee of the coop. The careful 
selection of this person is pivotal. There was a flexible hourly paid 
site crew as well as subcontractors such as plumbers, concrete 
installers. Subs knew that they needed to be competitive but also that 
they could get even more work if they did a good job at a good price.
All costs flowed through to homeowner without mark up even though mass 
buying was done in most cases. eg windows, flooring, roofing, siding etc.
A general contractor, financially responsible for the entire project, 
has to pad his estimates to allow for unknowns especially with "unusual" 
projects. Subcontractors tend to know their specialties very well and 
can bid more closely to their actual costs.
Phasing actually helped reduce interest costs because the construction 
loan was constantly rolled over as houses were completed so that the 
full amount of the loan was never drawn at one time with the full build 
time being two years. Several people were able to build their houses 
with personal/family funds although they still contributed a minimum 
amount to the construction loan regardless as it enabled the project to 
go forward. "Sweat Equity" was allowed which contributed to several 
people's significantly reduced costs and overall satisfaction with their 
homes.

The two beautiful straw bale homes (difficult to do in the standard 
method) are the favorites to show people on tours at EcoVillage.

Much more could be said as I have used the hybrid system with another 
ecovillage nearby.
I also attach a letter I wrote to a similar inquiry a few years ago 
which expands things a little further.
Otherwise if you have specific questions let me know.

Rod

> Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:31:52 -0700
> From: Deryk Wenaus<derykw [at] gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ pre-built or owner- built
> To:cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Message-ID:<DC767FCD-9D95-4794-9F81-E0940E21F7C3 [at] gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Rod, I'd be very interested to hear more from you. Especially because you've 
> done both at EcoVillage. How many homes were owner built vs contractor built? 
> and the ones that were contractor built did they all have unique designs?
>
>
> Lynn, thank you for your thoughtful response. Our community is kind of in the 
> middle financially. We could pull together the finances to build it all, but it 
> would take more effort. Your idea about standardization and examples of people 
> getting attached to their 'dream home' are very insightful.
>
>
> Deryk Wenaus
> http://nelsonland.bluemandala.com