Old home collective

[Lily left the valley]

I'm a bit confused, no hand tools, but larger stuff that someone will agree to purchase or the club overall does? I would think hand tools, such as Willa's suggestion of the tool library to be of great value as well.

So, say there are five members, and the mixer, scaff and maybe some structural jacks the organization agrees will be a third that isn't a smaller tool. Then one member of the org agrees to house each of those items? Am I understanding that better?

Would there be enough interest so the group saves more buying/maintaining/fixing than renting for those larger things? What happens if, say, someone moves out of the area? Do they get a percentage of their investment back?

[Olson185]

Folks, for the past few years I have been mulling over the thought of an old home informal collective for the mutual benefit of all members. My thoughts would be to Organize fellow century home owners in the area to acquire resources we would commonly all need. An example, at some point most of those in the collective will need scaffolding. If one large set of scaffolds could be shared amongst us all, it would cut the cost down considerably as opposed to renting as an individual.
Has any one else had the same thought or have been involved or even heard of such a collective. Thoughts?

Ron, I think it would be a great idea to look into to see if it's viable.

I have found that such things will get a certain amount of interest if there are safeguards to investment, rules to ensure fairness, and the likelihood of financial benefit. Such things are usually best achieved by creating a non-profit org. with a Board of Directors comprised of a variety of people with different but needed skills, education, connections.

If you intend to be the person to pursue this, be prepared to do all the preliminary work, recruit people to help you, and then step aside to let someone else take over. This will help ensure you don't take too much ownership of it and others don't think you're doing it primarily for yourself. I've seen where people create a railroad modeling club just to get dues and free labour, from members, for their own model railroad layout that the others thought belonged to everyone, without legal papers being drawn up.

A non-profit org. will weather the turnover of home ownership and reassure your neighbours you're not suggesting a home owner's assoc. (HOA) with fees and restrictions. Also, a non-profit would be able to get members from a wider area than just your neighbourhood, make clear who owns things, etc.

The first thing for you to do is consider the legal implications and "how to" of a collective vs non-profit. Second, create a list of questions others might have about your idea. Don't create this list yourself. Talk to someone else and see what questions they have. Then talk to someone else for theirs. Make sure one of these people is an attorney.

Or, you can do what I did when I considered creating a tenant advocacy organization: I went door to door, leaving behind a double-sided letter of what I was considering and why. I made it very general. I stated a few common problems and asked if they would be interested in getting together to see what, if anything, we might do to resolve them. In your case, I might discuss working together for common home maintenance issues (being an extra hand when needed), pooling resources and skills rather than purchasing duplicate things not often needed (a 30' ladder or scaffolding) or hiring people to do things we could do for each other (gutter cleaning, stump removal, someone with a truck delivering materials to his neighbour). That sort of thing.

[Gothichome]

Humph, maybe calling it a collective is making the idea far to complicated. Maybe the way to go would be just an informal list of who owns what and would be willing to loan out in the spirit of reciprocity.

[mjt]

Humph, maybe calling it a collective is making the idea far to complicated. Maybe the way to go would be just an informal list of who owns what and would be willing to loan out in the spirit of reciprocity.

My dad, my brother, and I do that among ourselves.

I currently have the miter saw, pole saw, chain saw, and compressor with nail guns. My dad has the table saw, band saw, and drill press. I don't remember what my brother has at the moment, but a quick phone call sorts it out.

[phil]

the tool library idea is a good one , especially for the tools you dont' use so often, pressure washers, maybe something like a biscuit joiner, cement mixer etc. It does require group cooperation. I think it works better on a local level. I see a lot of things like garden shears. How they keep them sharp and prevent people from wrecking them might be a challenge.
anyway here is our local library
http://vancouvertoollibrary.com/

I scanned through a lot of the tools and I think I have almost every one! I'm a tool junkie though.. but maybe a lot of what they have is by donation especially from people who downsize and retire.. They have things like pliers and files and many things that I wouldn't dream of borrowing. It makes sense for a lot of stuff that one might want for one job like an offset electric drill, Hilti drill for concrete, flooring nailer etc. Many are purchased for the job and spend most of their life on the shelf.

group buys make sense for locals. I'm too far from most in this group for that but you never know some things are little and special and could be shipped. Yea I'd like some Sarco too Willa, for example. but then there is transport. In some cases it might save that brokerage cost but then there is the cost of shipping twice. If the supplier were to send it in two shipments they might be cooperative but then there are two brokerage charges.
It doesn't hurt to ask on this forum to see if others need the same things as it can lead to price breaks. Many suppliers would probably give the price for quantity and break it into two orders for things like hardware and such.

[awomanwithahammer]

I'd love to participate in something like this, but there's not too many folks from my neck of the woods.

[Kashka-Kat]

I tried to organize something like this once- I called it an "old house support group" and there was actually a huge amt of interest, but some guy inserted himself into it - he didnt like the name "support group", thought it would attract too many neurotic losers or something. He also had plans for chopping up his beautiful pristine bungalow with cove ceilings and remuddling it which I found abhorrent.... still I went to the first 2 meetings (yeah, meetings) during which they were trying to figure out how to do record keeping of the labor exchanges so that god forbid someone should work 15 minutes more than someone else. For some reason the obvious solution -i.e. people just shouldnt contribute more labor for other people until they felt like they were getting enough help in return - just wasnt acceptable for some unknown reason. No everything had to be recorded down to the micro-millisecond and everyone held accountable for not slacking or not doing their share.

Needless to say, I didnt bother with subsequent meetings. What I envisioned was simply a loose network of people who would share tools and labor - people you could call and get someone to come over for 15 minutes to hold up some drywall or something. Those of us who are single and/or without family members living close by really are at a disadvantage when working on an old house, sure would have been nice had that worked out.

Instead, Ive gotten on to Next Door which seems like it could be a good way to meet neighbors and lend each other tools and/or ask for help. Not sure if Im going to be able to find scaffolding to borrow though - havent really tried it all that much.

Also we have a tool lending library http://sustainableatwood.org/tool-library/ gives you some idea how its set up No scaffolding though!

[Gothichome]

Kashka, yes, It seems it would get more complex and that I envision. Every thing tends to complexity unfortunately.
My vision is a simple informal set up amongs old home owners. I think most of us have almost every hand held tool available, but very few of us I,would think, would have a cement mixer and a set of scaffolds and a good forty foot ladder, and ect. I have a good forty foot ladder but no cement mixer or scaffolding. My ladder spends most of its life hanging on the back of my fence. Some one else may have a cement mixer that sits behind their shed for most of its life, or maybe a gas power tamper. Just seems such a waist of resources to me.

[awomanwithahammer]

I have a drywall lift that I have lent to several friends lately, but it ordinarily sits in my garage taking up space.

[Gothichome]

AWWH, I'll be right over. Need it for the upcoming winter project.