This post is for the DIYers who mostly lurk like I do. I just read the below article about a DIY club or cooperative to pool resources, expertise, and manpower together to get things done collectively. Anyone ever done this? What rules worked for you? I’d like to keep it simple and casual, but it also needs to be fair.
apiersma
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Do-it-yourself clubs offer help with home projects
By Melissa Kossler Dutton
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Lewis and Rebecca Taylor were confident when they recently bought a fixer-upper, even though they’re not particularly handy. They knew they would have plenty of help updating the kitchen, tearing out carpeting and redecorating the house, which was built in 1965.
The couple belongs to a do-it-yourself club whose members agree to spend one day a month helping each other with home-improvement tasks.
“I don’t think I would have bought this house if I weren’t involved in this group,” says Lewis Taylor, of Eugene, Ore.
Do-it-yourself clubs are forming around the country as homeowners try to make improvements on a budget. The clubs provide additional labor and know-how when homeowners tackle big projects.
“Using the talents of your friends and neighbors to assist with each others’ home DIY projects is becoming popular. Consider it an expertise barter,” says Abby Buford, spokeswoman for the home-improvement store Lowe’s.
“For instance, someone may have experience with minor plumbing repair and another may love to paint,” Buford said in an e-mail. “It can also be a social venue, giving friends time to be together while assisting with each others’ homes.”
The clubs — usually created by friends or neighbors — vary in how they are organized. Some have strict rules requiring attendance at every get-together. Others operate less formally and might only involve participants sending an e-mail requesting help with an upcoming job.
The Taylors’ group, dubbed the Monthly Improvement Collective of Eugene, consists of five couples who meet 10 times a year, twice at each home. The host couple plans projects, makes sure tools and supplies are at hand, and serves breakfast and lunch.
The group has built retaining walls, replaced flooring and installed a fence.
Working with friends makes home repair more enjoyable and less overwhelming, Lewis Taylor says. It also saves on money on tools, since you can borrow instead of buy.
“I’m somebody who doesn’t particularly enjoy improving my house,” says Taylor, 35. “But when you make it a party with friends, it’s really cool. You do things you never would have done by yourself.”
Amy Brendmoen of St. Paul, Minn., agrees. When it was her turn to put her club to work, she and her husband, Jeff Neske, asked them to tear out their backyard, till a vegetable garden and build a trellis.
“It was a daunting project,” she says. “There’s no way we could have gotten it done” without help.
Brendmoen started the club last year, because she and Neske were finding it too difficult to work around the house while keeping an eye on their three children.
“One of us would watch the kids while the other one did the project,” she says. “We used to enjoy doing projects together.”
With friends, they formed the Amish Envy Club, so named because it’s modeled after Amish barn raisings.
“We’re envious of the smarts of the Amish,” she adds. “They’re onto something.”
Their club includes four couples and meets four times a year. Members bring their children to the work days and take turns overseeing activities for them. Past projects have included roughing out a basement and painting.
The challenges of home repair have fostered strong bonds, says Brendmoen, 38.
“There’s a real fellowship,” she says. “There’s something about working together that adds a certain richness to the day.”
Will Engleby was overwhelmed when his neighbors in St. Petersburg, Fla., offered to hold a work day in his home four years ago. He and his wife, Laura Wilson, had just purchased the 1922 Craftsman-style house and were trying to get part of it remodeled before the birth of their child.
“Not only did it help me and my wife get into the house before our child was born, it meant so much,” says Engleby, 47. “It made us feel very much at home.”
He and his neighbors continue to help each other. They typically send out a mass e-mail when they have a need. Recent projects have included refinishing a wood floor, making minor plumbing fixes and cleaning a garage.
“You get to know people better,” adds Engleby’s neighbor Kai Warren. “It creates a better sense of community.”
Tips for creating a DIY club
If you’d like to start a DIY club:
• To find members, put notices on bulletin boards at hardware stores, clubs, churches, etc., and on a DIY-related Web site, suggests Deborah Snoonian, senior editor at This Old Housemagazine. She also suggests e-mailing your neighborhood association, and contacting the local preservation society to see whether a club already exists.
• After it is created, determine what type of projects the group is willing to tackle. Establish a schedule for work days, and set rules for attendance.
• Create a list of tools owned by members.
• Develop a plan for child care if necessary.
• Hold annual meetings dedicated to to discussing ways to improve the club.
Images and text copyright © 2008 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from PghTrib.com
Replies
Kind of interesting. I know locally here, Oakland has a tool library with everything from shovels to power tools available for check out. There is also a Building Educatoin Center that provides many workshops for homeowners
http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Branches/temtll.htm
http://www.bldgeductr.org/
I am in the trades, but tend to do most home projects myself also. Mostly because I like to have control of what is happening. The idea of a bunch of people helping does not appeal to me, reminds me of the old painting parties where everything just got kind of slopped up.
Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Columbus, Ohio has a city-sponsored tool library also. A delivery truck will even take them out to your property, as long as it's within city limits. Floor sanders to chain saws, just about any hand or yard tool.
Floor sanders- now there's a good tool to put in a DIY's hands, unless it's a pad sander which would be somewhat idiot proof.
Edited 11/16/2008 6:00 pm by kenhill3
The big floor sanders are not for the faint of heart.
Probably am as DIY as anybody.
Problem with the club type thing is the socialist mentality.
Everytime I've become involved with anything similar it always ends up me bailing out as it is all give and about zero input, esp. in the 'tool loan' department. After 15 years of being a 'nice guy' and getting my tools trashed by incompetents, I DO NOT loan tools except to family and 2 other specific trusted individuals.
I do have one neighbor who is competent and about 50-50 on these aspects.
However, in a DIY group setting as described pretty soon all that is left in such a socialist type DIY group are the incompetents.
Sorry for the negative take, personal experience over 60+ years has shown too many in a group setting have tried to take advantage, and contribute almost nothing.
BTW, BT advice is worth exactly that many times, incredible the amount of poor information often proulgated as expertise. Ya gotta know a little bit to start with to be able to separate the gems from the pure BS.
And what happens when all the DIY'ers haven't a clue or have been otherwise misinformed about the correct technique or material choice for a particular job? Watch another episode of Bob Vila acting his way through a problem he can't even fathom?
>>>And what happens when all the DIY'ers haven't a clue or have been otherwise misinformed about the correct technique or material choice for a particular job?Hire a contractor. Experience, knowledge, skill, judgment. You either pay by developing these yourself (over much time and effort), or you pay someone who has traveled the path themselves.Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
If I was going to do this I'd make up some set of rules like.
No work can be done to your house until you've helped with a certain number of other projects. That'd seperate the slackers I'd think.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
I've given so many hours of my time to others. And from experience, I'm taking Junkhound's position.
Rarely is good intent returned. Somehow, somewhere it gets broken. And the provider of that good intent pays the price hisself.
That's my metaphor for today.
Yep, what makes me mad at myself it took over 20 years to figure it out.
You too, huh?
will have to remember that, if I move back to Pttsburgh.
Btw...... ben big has a new hambuger out.... but they only come in sacks
I'm a DIYer - more out of necessity than desire (would rather pay a pro to do many things, but they just don't show up in my neck o' the woods - literally!).
anyway
if you're interested in giving a club like this a go - then DO it.
Don't let anybody elses' fears or concerns or experience weigh you down.
Think positive - and make it so
of course, keep your eyes wide open
make sure your homeowners is up to date on liability coverage
make some rules re ladder usage (who gets on them, who inspects them, etc) and power tool usage, etc
and report back here on how it went!
<g>
"Be yourself...everyone else is
already taken." — Unknown author
I have to say I probably won't try this. I too would be unable to accept help that was not as meticulous as me. And since I have a lot of tools and knowledge (for a DIY'er) it might quickly turn into a one way street.