This document discusses different systems used by the Pioneer Valley Cohousing community to manage work and responsibilities after residents moved in. It begins by outlining the evolution of their systems from purely volunteer to mandatory work teams to affinity teams where residents choose the types of work they prefer. The current system uses affinity teams organized by interest area along with rotational work teams and seasonal work days to complete large projects. The document provides examples of the various affinity teams that cover areas like cooking, cleaning, gardening, construction and more.

1. Getting the
Work Done
A case study of Affinity Teams
at Pioneer Valley Cohousing
© Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc. 2006
Revised June 2009
KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
Home – Community

2. This slide show was developed by Kraus-Fitch Architects to
educate cohousing groups about getting the work done within
your community AFTER move-in. It is Part 6 in a series of
presentations, most of which are focused on programming and
design of cohousing communities BEFORE move-in. These slide
shows include:
KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
Home - Community - Planet
Part 1 – What is Cohousing?
Part 2 – Cohousing Site Design
Part 3 – Common House Design
Part 4 – Cohousing Unit Design
Part 5 – Cohousing & Sustainability
Part 6 – Getting the Work Done
The copyright of this slide show belongs to Kraus-Fitch Architects,
Inc. Please do not modify this slide show without the written
consent of Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc.
© Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc. 2006

3. Work is Love Made Visible
When we choose to live in a community there is an
underlying assumption that we will participate in the
care of each other and our common property.

4. Cohousing
communities are
usually self-managed
and maintained.
They are places where
people work together to
enrich their lives and
improve their
environment.

5. Children in cohousing have many adult mentors
from whom they can learn a variety of skills.
Adults can learn from each other as well. Some
people connect primarily through work – others
through process.

6. Working together since 1994
The residents at Pioneer Valley
Cohousing have been trying out
new work systems, tweaking them,
and aging together since 1994.
We’d like to share the systems that
work for us, and the reasons why
others did not.
We hope that you look to other
communities for their ideas as well!

7. History of Work Systems
at Pioneer Valley Cohousing:
Volunteer Sign-up
Mandatory Work Teams (with
rotational tasks)
Affinity Teams
Affinity Teams including Rotational
Work Teams
In addition to the everyday
work, seasonal work and large
one-time projects have always
been handled with Work Days.

8. Volunteer Sign-up
Pioneer Valley Cohousing operated strictly by a volunteer
system for the first year.
Most of the work got done, but some things fell through the
cracks. There was one particularly aggravating problem:
inevitably there were not enough dishwashers for each
community meal.
And so there would be an announcement at the beginning of
each meal and a moment of tension while we waited to see if
enough people would sign up. This spoiled the ability of
folks to just relax and enjoy the meal.

9. Rotational Work Teams - mandatory
To address an underlying issue about fairness of work
load, and the aggravation of having work fall through the
cracks, Pioneer Valley Cohousing decided to try out a
mandatory team system.
5 teams of 10 adults had a rotation of jobs, with a
different responsibility each week including: meal
preparation, dishwashing, table setting, cleaning the
Common House, special projects, quality of life items
(e.g. stocking fire wood), social event planning, and time
off.
It was the responsibility for the team to get the assigned
work done, but there was flexibility within the teams to
allow individuals to focus to some extent on the work
they liked to do. Occasionally the teams were reassigned
to increase the contact between different people.

10. Some problems with this mandatory system:
The small work teams provided accountability, and we managed to fill all of
the cooking and cleaning slots, but there were serious flaws in the system.
Not everyone enjoyed the type of work that was emphasized in the
rotations (primarily meals preparation and maintenance). In addition it
took their energy away from the type of work they did like to do.
Also, there were other jobs that individuals in the community were taking
on: publishing a newsletter, working on committees, and gardening.
These were not given “credit” in the work system. Those who took these
jobs on were not getting any reduction in other work load.
A number of folks envisioned something better. They believed that more
work would actually get done if members had more choice in the type of
work they would do, because it would give them “ownership” of the task.
They also believed that more socializing (and a stronger sense of
community) would develop between members doing work with others who
had the same affinity. They put forth a proposal for “affinity teams”

11. Affinity Teams
The Affinity Team System creates teams around a particular type of work –
including those tasks that had previously remained uncounted. Each team
monitors their type of work, and each community member is accountable to
their team(s) of choice.
How did we make the transformation?
By brainstorming all the types of tasks that needed doing and their approximate
monthly time requirement, we were able to estimate a recommended time
commitment for each adult member of the community - approximately 6.5
hours of work per person per month, plus 3-4 “work days” a year.
A big sign-up chart was then filled in to see if there was the right relationship of
personal affinities to the actual tasks. Everyone was surprised and delighted by
the results – nearly all of the works slots were filled in.
Each person was then required to actually sign up for one or more affinity
teams. A detailed list of these teams follows this general description.

12. Hub
After a relatively successful one year trial period we made a
few adjustments to this affinity system.
We added two “multi-task teams” to address the feedback
from some folks that they really like rotating through a variety
of jobs.
We structured the kitchen team with a set of master schedules
and menus. The kitchen affinity team was just too big, the jobs
too numerous and important to work without some serious
structure.
We created a “Hub” of 5 people to keep a general eye on the
work systems.

13. •The “Hub”
•Community Support
•Steering Committee
•Facilitators
•Buildings & Grounds
•Landscape
•Garden
•Common House
•Kitchen & Meals
•Kids
•Finance
•Membership
•Design Review
•Social
•Communication
•Workshop
•Ad-Hoc: Retreat
•Odd jobs
•Clubs
The Affinity Teams and Committees:

14. In the first year, some things were still falling through the cracks and
accountability of the 6.5 hour recommended commitment was questioned.
The Hub was created to address this without “policing” what was designed
to be a flexible system.
The “Hub” consists of one chair and four work team coordinators. Each
coordinator tracks about twenty community and associate members,
making sure they are part of an affinity team, and helping rearrange
schedules when empty slots need filling.
They also help in the coordination of the 3-4 seasonal work days each year.
Part of the success of this adjusted system comes from our yearly review.
The “hub” asks each community member to list his/her regular, seasonal,
and committee work and answer questions:
•Are things falling through the cracks?
•Are you having a hard time finding a way to contribute work to the
community?
•Do we need to bring the community together to readdress the work load?
The Hub

15. Community Support
The goal of our community
support team is to provide
the following “services” to
maintain a healthy
community environment:
• Support to members in crisis.
• On-going education on consensus,
non-violent communication, etc.
• Listenings – sitting down to hear
from members about their
struggles.
• Conflict resolution

16. The Steering Committee is our latest (since 2007) iteration of a team of
folks who help us make the “decisions” of the community. This was a very
active team when we first moved in as lots of decisions needed to be made.
Then we “cruised” on our successes for about 10 years, with fewer general
meetings. Rather suddenly we were confronted with a need to re-invigorate
our meetings as important and difficult decisions around aging and
maintenance were coming on line.
The goal of the Steering Committee is not to plan agendas for meetings nor
facilitate them. Rather, it is to help individuals, groups, and the community
as a whole decide the best process for making a decision. Here are some of
the options:
•Just go ahead and do that idea, it is not a “community issue”
•This issue/idea should be discussed in a “salon” and then go to decision
board
•This issue/idea is unlikely to be well received by the community, perhaps
you should not pursue it
•This issue/idea should be discussed in a series of “salons” and then brought
to general meeting for consensus
•This issue/idea is very complex, and we suggest the following process…
Steering Committee

17. Facilitators
The steering committee calls on
facilitators when the think a general
meeting or salon is needed.
The facilitator(s) are then
responsible for planning the meeting
agenda.
In the meetings facilitators are
responsible for keeping an eye on
the process and working towards
consensus in decision making.

18. Buildings & Grounds
The buildings & grounds committee takes care of the maintenance of the site and
exterior shell of the buildings.
It includes: garbage disposal, recycling, snow removal, grass mowing, painting the
exterior of buildings, repairing decks and roofs, recommending capital improvements,
etc.
This committee has a large annual budget, which includes materials and labor to get
small jobs done. When an unscheduled, big line item, or recommended
change/repair comes up, the buildings and grounds committee is responsible for
bringing the issue to meeting facilitators to address in a general meeting.
Most large ticket items are paid for from “replacement reserves” on a scheduled
basis.

19. The seasonal work of mowing and plowing is coordinated by the
Buildings and Grounds committee. The work itself is done by a
list of willing members.

20. Landscape
Landscape committee overlaps in some areas with buildings and grounds, but is
primarily responsible for establishing and maintaining planted areas of the common
land: reseeding damaged lawns, maintaining the orchard, replacing dying trees, planting
new trees and shrubs, establishing and maintaining flower gardens.
This committee only meets a
few times per year, but is very
active in listing projects and
buying materials for the Spring
and Fall work days.

21. Garden
The garden committee is responsible
for the yearly planting and maintaining
of the vegetable garden beginning with
the ordering of seeds, followed by the
preparation of seedlings, the turning of
soil, and weeding.
Much of the preparation of the
garden beds is done on the
Spring Work Day, when many
neighbors chip in whether or not
they typically work on the
garden affiliation team.

22. Harvest is open to all community members, whether
or not they are members of the garden affinity team.

23. Common House
The common house committee is responsible for the maintenance of the interior of the
common house. Members of this committee do not necessarily do all of the cleaning, but
are responsible for keeping a cleaning schedule, listing the tasks for clean-up, getting
carpets cleaned, furniture replaced, and supplies stocked.
Some projects, such as wall painting, are coordinated with the HUB on Work Days or
hired out.

24. Rules around the scheduling of
private events were created by
the common house committee.
The actual scheduling of events
is done by simply reserving
time on a calendar hanging in
the common house.

25. Someone has to
book the use of
the guest room.
This is a perfect
job for someone
not wanting to
strain their back.

26. The laundry machines need periodic maintenance and repair.

27. Kitchen & Meals
The Kitchen & Meals
affinity team is big. The
work systems are complex
and are addressed in more
detail later in this
presentation.

28. Kids
The kids’ room needs cleaning,
and someone to keep an eye on
supplies: art materials, first aid
kit, and toys
Repairing the playground can
be scheduled on a Spring Work
Day.

29. Arranging child care for
meetings, work days, and
retreats is a job that
benefits the whole
community, not just
parents.

30. Finance
No community could survive without a finance
committee, but this is work that is usually done
alone and behind the scenes. It involves paying bills,
reimbursing expenses, accounting and taxes,
planning the yearly budget, and wisely investing the
vast funds collected for replacement reserves.
At Pioneer Valley Cohousing, the finance
committee relies on other committees to provide
some of the budget information. For example, the
garden committee provides a budget proposal for
the supplies they will need. Each year the process
gets refined and improved so that very little
meeting time is actually required to propose a new
budget.

31. Design Review
Most of the changes have included the addition of larger front porches and/or mudrooms.
At Pioneer Valley Cohousing, there have been many changes and additions to our homes
over time. The goal of the design review committee is to ensure that plans are
developed, shared, and discussed well in advance of their implementation, giving time for
neighborhood comment and suggested improvements. The culture is intentionally one of
allowing change while ensuring communication and feedback.

32. Membership
Membership committee members maintain a waiting list of prospective home buyers, and
a list of associate members. This committee helped the community define different levels
of membership, their privileges, and obligations. Membership is responsible for educating
prospective new members about our community, the consensus process, our work
systems, etc.
Associate membership is a category that was established for friends of members, and
people in the larger neighborhood who participate fully in community life. An associate
member can reserve the common house for private use. They can participate in meals
without an invitation or sponsorship. In exchange they participate in the work system
and pay a yearly fee – both of which are negotiated privately with the membership and
finance committees.
Membership also manages house sales.
Because the membership committee does the work of finding potential new home
buyers, Pioneer Valley has considered (but never approved) that the 6% realtor’s fee
(routinely paid in a house sale) be paid to the community itself. This money could be
put into an “affordability fund” which could be loaned to new buyers to help make the
initial down payment to secure a mortgage.

33. Social
Even organizing social events is work that
should be recognized and included in your
overall work budget.

34. Some of these
events have
become a
regular part of
our
community
culture
Costume Parades & Pumpkin Carving
Games nights on New Year’s EveGinger Bread Houses near winter solstice

35. Communications
Our communications committee is responsible for:
• Maintaining a phone and email list (constantly updating)
• Maintaining connect@cohousing.com and the email connections for
all the committees
• Maintaining an up-to-date phone tree
• Putting together and distributing a newsletter and events calendar
(monthly)
• Maintaining the bulletin boards

36. Workshop
A community workshop needs a committee to look after it, or it can
rapidly fall into disorder. We typically have a workshop cleaning day
at least once a year. This committee is also responsible for setting
and enforcing policies around the safe and organized use of the shop,
as well as the renting of storage space.

37. The annual retreat at Pioneer Valley Cohousing is a big
deal and it takes a small committee a lot of work to pull it
off.
Adhoc: Retreat planning
In short the retreat includes:
A gathering ritual
A slide show of the year in review
featuring at least one picture of each
member, and music (slide show
subcommittee and photographers
required!)
Theme (e.g. conflict resolution skills,
celebrating 10 years in cohousing,
improving work systems)
Group building exercises
Food (breakfast, lunch and dinner
are served on both days to
encourage us to spend the whole
weekend together)
Talent Show
Great activities for kids
(not just childcare)

38. Weekly recycling is more
efficient if handled by one or
two people. More households
participate fully in recycling if
they can rely on someone else
to pick it up at their door.
Odd Jobs:
Some jobs just don’t lend themselves well to committee
work. They need one person with the right skills or
dedication to just take them on. These tasks include, but
are not limited to: Recycling, Repairing carts, stacking fire
wood, maintaining and organizing the library, lost and
found, and clothing exchange.

39. There are some tasks that may not interest the whole community. Why should
everyone take on extra work, if they already feel stretched and the project doesn’t
interest them. We found it was easier as a community to support “pet” projects such
as raising chickens and maple sugaring, if the work was handled by a “club”. The “club”
reaps all the harvest (or other rewards) while taking on all the work in addition to their
affinity team commitments.
Clubs:

40. Clubs add richness to community life. In the case of our chicken club, only club
members get a share of the eggs, but the community as a whole benefits by
supporting other members’ aspirations.. For instance, people enjoy seeing the
chickens, with no resentment about any work they might represent.

41. Work Days
A huge amount of work is accomplished in 3-4 annual
workdays, and full participation of the membership can
make this work a lot more fun, and a lot more
productive.

42. Not everybody can or wants to do heavy physical labor…providing childcare or
bringing hot cocoa to the work teams is just as valuable and appreciated

43. A typical Fall work day
and Spring clean up
Rural communities and winter climates
inherently have more site maintenance
Undoing all the winter preparation work
Fixing lawn areas
Pruning shrubs
Weeding flower gardens
Picking up trash along neighboring roadsides
Washing and installing screens in Common House windows
Placing and filling sand barrels
Attaching plow blade and sander to truck
Attaching snow blower to tractor
Installing snow stakes around driveways
Sending snow machines to shop for maintenance
Removing screens from and washing Common House windows

44. But thankfully, these taper off after the initial plantings take hold.
There are usually a lot
of landscaping tasks that
need doing in the first
years:
Planting and watering trees
and shrubs
Establishing flower gardens
Putting in patio areas (laying
bricks)

45. Composted manure to spread
Garden plots to turn
Compost to process
Irrigation systems to install
Seedlings to plant
Mulch to spread
A typical late Spring garden work day

46. •Taking inventory of kitchen supplies
•Cleaning the range hood
•Organizing the kitchen shelves
•Removing of accumulated stuff
•Cleaning furniture
•Painting walls
Yearly Common House and Kitchen Cleaning:

47. Dinner and drinks (and even play in the hay)
complete a work day, and keep the spirits up.

48. More on…
The Kitchen Team
Kitchen Committee
Set-up
Cooking
Clean-up

49. Kitchen Committee
For the coordination of so many tasks and
workers, we found that we needed a lot of
structure, with one or two people overseeing
everything:
•Coordination of all work slots (working with the HUB)
•Master menu planning and posting
•Meal sign up
•Payment for meals
•Stocking dry goods
•Replacing equipment and dishes
•Repair of appliances
•Sanitation training and review
•Periodic review of all meal-related systems

50. Rotation of kitchen work teams
Pioneer Valley Cohousing discovered
that it worked best to have a schedule
of work teams set up for a year or so
in advance.
After surveying availability and number
of meal related work slots each
member was willing or able to commit
to, a two month “permanent” rotation
schedule was developed.
For example, one member might head
cook the third Monday of every odd
month, and wash dishes the first
Wednesday of every month.

51. Occasional schedule conflicts are
handled by the individual worker,
usually “swap request” posted on
email. These are then noted on the
Master Schedule for that month.
The Hub helps with coordinating
more permanent changes that are
inevitable as people’s life
circumstances change.

52. Menu planning and Meal sign-up
Pioneer Valley Cohousing has developed a two month
rotational menu, ensuring that all meals are posted
well in advance, menus are appropriate for a crowd,
and cooks are well supported.
Since ingredients are posted under each menu, it is
easy to review if you have allergies.
Three versions of each meal are usually as follows: 1)
main meal, 2) vegetarian alternative if meat included
in main meal, and 3) child-friendly alternative (simple
foods with little spice).

53. Payment for meals
Payment for meals has evolved into a
really simple system that requires no
billing:
-Diners pre-pay: each box represents one
adult meal at current cost, each half box
is one meal for a child under 13.
-Cooks cross off the number of meals
each family signed up for (after the meal is
served).
-It is the diner’s responsibility to stay
ahead of the meals eaten, but the cooks
will occasionally remind folks who have
fallen behind.

54. Set-up
Pioneer Valley Cohousing eats family-style, which means that we set the tables ahead
of time and provide serving bowls to each table.
Set-up is a great job for including young children in the work of the meal.
It is also a way of staging a pleasant dining atmosphere; we use cloth napkins and
often have candles on the tables and a fire in the fireplace.

55. Cooking
A typical cook team is one head cook with two
assistants.

56. The head cook’s job is
made easier by the
rotational menu system.
Cooks and their help
prepare the same meal
every other month. If the
cooks have the inspiration
to try something new,
they can, but the default is
simple and familiar.
The recipes have been
typed out with
measurements already
calculated for 24, 36, and
48 diners.

57. Clean-up
A typical Clean-up Crew consists of
three people working at three
stations: dishwasher, pots & pans,
and general clean-up.

58. Is all this work daunting?
Well, yes! But it’s what built our community, and what
keeps us going!
Now, get to work!

59. Kraus-Fitch Architects is nationally recognized as one of the most
experienced firms working with cohousing.
Mary Kraus has been working with cohousing groups since 1990; Laura
Fitch discovered her interest in cohousing during a trip to Denmark in
1980. We are both residents of Pioneer Valley Cohousing in Amherst
Massachusetts. Our experience as members helps us to understand the
issues facing other cohousing groups, and gives us unique insight into the
underlying interpersonal and group dynamics that affect the design
process.
Our inside knowledge combined with our professional experience with cohousing
architecture creates an especially effective and comprehensive approach.
Cohousing is what we have chosen both personally and professionally and
we bring great enthusiasm and inspiration to our work with communities.
KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
Home – Community - Planet
This slide show was produced by:

60. KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
Home – Community - Planet
To purchase additional cohousing slide
presentations or find out about our cohousing
design workshops tailored to your community,
contact Kraus-Fitch Architects at:
110 Pulpit Hill Road Amherst, MA 01002
413-549-5799 www.krausfitch.com
Email- lfitch@krausfitch.com
This slide show was Part 6 in a series
including:
Part 1 – What is Cohousing?
Part 2 – Cohousing Site Design
Part 3 – Common House Design
Part 4 – Cohousing Unit Design
Part 5 – Cohousing & Sustainability
Part 6 – Getting the Work Done

61. Photo Credits:
Mike April
Janice Doyama
Rebecca Reid
Laura Fitch
Mary Kraus
John Fabel
Jen Luck
© Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc. 2002
With special thanks to the hard workers at Pioneer Valley
Cohousing who are featured throughout this show.