Cohousing-L Mailing List: management services vs self-management at the building stage

[Allison tom (allison.tom]

Hello all,

I would very much appreciate hearing from list members who can share their 
stories about buying land & building with and without a management company.  

I have tried to collate this information by reviewing the list archives, but as 
others have commented here, it's a difficult resource to mine, and this is 
especially difficult for those of use who aren't longtime members with memory 
of the discussions that have taken place over the years.

I have a strong sense that the accepted wisdom is that it's penny wise and 
pound foolish for a group to attempt to build without an experienced cohousing 
management company.  But I'm part of a forming group in Vancouver BC where some 
of our members feel strongly that we could save money by doing for ourselves 
some or all of the tasks a management company is proposing to do for us.

My own personality and experiences lead me to prefer going with a management 
services contract.  But I want to be sure to listen to the other side of the 
story.  I would really appreciate the chance to gather information from others 
on this list from both kinds of experiences so I can share them with my group.

I am more than happy to share with this list whatever summary I am able to 
cobble together from responses, so feel free to respond to me privately.  
(allison.tom [at] telus.net)

Thank you,

Allison Tom
Little Mountain Cohousing 
Vancouver BC