Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Outsourcing Maintenance Project Management

[Patricia Lautner (lautnerp]

Jamaica Plain Cohousing is a multi-gen community and our buildings are
approaching age 17.  A couple of years ago we hired a management company to
help us with our maintenance needs.  We paid a flat rate of $18,000 per
year plus the cost of any work that was to be done.  Unfortunately, this
didn't work out well for us.  Our maintenance person would simply sub-out
anything needing repair (even small things like patching sheetrock and
painting, or replacing a mechanical door closer.).  The company's practice
was to set up the work and hide a key to give the subs access.  That didn't
work with our culture - we need someone to speak with the workers and
escort them to the problem areas.  But it would have been very expensive to
pay the company for someone to escort the sub-contractor.  So fine, our
volunteers met the subs.  But, in order to coordinate between the
volunteers and the workers, we needed to do the scheduling ourselves.  So
now: 1) we find the problem, 2) we schedule the sub-contractor to come fix,
3) we're on site to supervise, 4) we pay the bill.  We were back where we
started but paying the management company anyway.  So that ended.

Our solution was to reorganize our committees to sparse out the work
differently.  We have a Team of Teams (ToTs) and the different areas have a
leader.  We no longer have a huge "Interior Maintenance and Security"
committee but have broken the areas down to smaller sections.  If there's
work to be done in the great room for example, that ToT leader will make
the call and find a volunteer.

We do have a few 'handy' people as members who can fix and paint small
jobs.  But if we didn't have them, I would think hiring a general handy
person on a retainer would be a good idea.  Someone who can take on
non-emergency small jobs and help coordinate larger ones.  It could be a
great side-job for someone.

Good luck,
Patti
JPCohousing - Boston

On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 5:26 AM Lyn Deardorff <lynpeachtree [at] hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Related to this question is wondering how Communities are handling aging
> when the resident population is averaging into higher numbers.  Moving
> closer to 75 say, than the 55 starter number.  How to handle needed work,
> physical especially?  Are you relaxing work requirements?  Outsourcing
> more?  What to do as physical disabilities hamper some of the residents'
> participation in both work-related and social activities?
>
> Wondering if any community is trying to "recruit" younger (toward 55 age)
> in order to balance the aging issue?
>
> Thanks for any thoughts on this subject.  I would imagine older
> communities, especially, have faced this problem.
>
> Sand River Cohousing
> Santa Fe, NM
> lynpeachtree [at] hotmail.com
> ________________________________
> From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+lynpeachtree=
> hotmail.com [at] cohousing.org> on behalf of Karen Sheldon <
> karen.sheldon [at] gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, February 21, 2022 11:09 PM
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Outsourcing Maintenance Project Management
>
> I just sent a similar email to every senior cohousing. I've had one reply
> from one built in 2013 having similar issues, even tho so much younger. It
> will be interesting to get this thread started on the l-list. Great idea.
>
> On Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 10:04 PM Kelly Bachman <happyvalleykelly [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I’m in Bellingham (WA) cohousing which is now 22 years old.   Because our
> > buildings have aged, we have greater maintenance needs, and our
> maintenance
> > committee membership has aged as well.  We would like to hear from
> > cohousing communities that use outside facilities management and how that
> > is working for them.  If your community outsources this management, we
> > would appreciate knowing:
> >
> > · What type of company you use
> >
> > · What services they provide and how well it is meeting your needs
> >
> > · How it has affected the culture and finances of your community
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