How a cohousing community gets built, and where we come in

Every community we’ve helped started somewhere different: an idea, a group, a piece of land. Here is every step from first meeting to move-in, what residents decide along the way, and how to start from wherever you are.

55+

communities designed

40 years

of participatory design

3-5 years

from first meeting to move-in

Where are you starting?

Pick the one that sounds most like you. We’ll show you the first step.

Your first step Getting-It-Built Workshop A weekend workshop that leaves your group with a month-by-month roadmap and working committees, with or without a site.

Plan a workshop with your group → Read how this step works

The whole process at a glance

Four phases. Residents are in the room at every design decision; we bring the expertise, the drawings and the project management. Phases don’t always run back to back: time for planning approval, financing and finding members usually adds up to 3–5 years from first meeting to move-in.

Phase 1

Public presentation on starting a cohousing community

Get started Typical length: 2–3 months

Feasibility & Development Consulting4–8 week study, then ongoing advice
Public PresentationEvening talk + follow-up meeting
Getting-It-Built Workshop2-day weekend workshop

You decide: whether to commit, your budget range, and whether a site is right.

Phase 2

Future residents at a site design workshop

Schematic Design Typical length: 4–5 months

Site Design Workshop2 days
Common House Workshop2 days · ~500 group decisions
Private Home Workshop3 days · 4–6 home plans
Schematic Design ClosureFinal review and approval

You decide: the site layout, what the common house is for, and home types and sizes.

Phase 3

Design development workshop with the group

Design Development Typical length: 3–4 months

Design Development Workshop5 hours · materials and systems
Design Prioritization Workshop5 hours · standards vs. options

You decide: standard materials and systems, and what’s standard, optional or custom.

Phase 4

Construction Typical length: varies, often 2–3 years

Construction Documents & PermitsPermit set, plan check, contractor pricing
Construction AdministrationThrough completion
Happily Ever Aftering Workshop1 day, 3 sessions, before move-in

You decide: the contractor, any changes during construction, and the agreements you’ll live by.

Phase 1 · Get started

How most projects begin

Usually in this order: test the idea and the site, find your people, then commit as a group. Click a step to see what happens.

Feasibility site plan for a cohousing community

Step 1 · Test the idea and the site

Feasibility & Development Consulting

Know whether a site is right for your community before you buy it.

Who it’s for

Anyone considering cohousing on a particular piece of land, whether you’re still looking, have a site in mind or already own one. If you hope to include affordable homes, we’ll help you find out what’s possible.

What happens

Before you buy land or invest in design, we look at the issues that will decide whether your project can work, and the best strategy for moving forward. A working feasibility site plan helps us test ideas as we go:

Market and strategy: is there a market, and what’s the best way to develop this site?
Homes and budget: the right home sizes and building types, the design possibilities that work, and whether the project is financially viable.
The site itself: zoning, utilities, drainage, sound, traffic, trees and grade, and any toxins or hazardous materials.
Soils and engineering: whether the site is structurally sound, what soils tests or seismic upgrades it may need, and early civil and structural questions.
Schedule and constraints: a preliminary schedule, plus any other cost, planning or design hurdles.

What you receive

A feasibility site plan showing how your community could fit on the land, which you can use to build a preliminary pro forma.
A written feasibility study that pulls our findings together, so you can decide with confidence whether to buy and how to move forward.
A guide for the road ahead: if the answer is yes, we can stay on as your development consultant, helping you assemble your team, map a path to financing and plan approvals, up to a design agreement.

How it works

It’s all one agreement, billed on time and materials, and we send a monthly summary of hours so there are no surprises. The study usually takes 4–8 weeks.

Talk to us about your site →

Public presentation about starting a cohousing community

Step 2 · Find your people

Public Presentation

No group yet? This is how you find one.

Who it’s for

Anyone who dreams of starting a cohousing community but hasn’t found their future neighbors yet, or who needs to show there’s real interest in a site. It’s also a great way to build early local support for affordable and mixed-income projects.

What happens

Most communities begin with a handful of people and an idea. The presentation is how that handful becomes a group:

Thursday evening talk: Charles Durrett, who has helped more than 55 communities go from concept to move-in, introduces cohousing to your town: its benefits and design principles, and how it creates more sustainable, connected and resilient communities by involving future residents in designing and managing their own homes. Then he answers questions.
Follow-up meeting: a day or two later, everyone who wants to go further comes back to explore next steps together, and the first “umbrella group” of future residents begins to form.

What you receive

A list of everyone who came, with contact information, so you can keep the momentum going.
Connections with local people who want to live in, support or help build the community.
Early local support: a chance to gather input, address concerns and rally interest, with neighbors and local officials hearing about the project from you first.
A recommended next step, usually the Getting-It-Built Workshop.

How it works

We plan the event together, from finding a venue to getting the word out locally. It’s a flat fee: a retainer reserves your date, and the balance is due on the day of the presentation.

Plan a presentation in your town →

Step 3 · Commit as a group

Getting-It-Built Workshop

Turn interested people into a committed group with a plan.

Who it’s for

Groups that have started meeting and are ready to get serious, and any project that wants its future residents as committed partners, including communities with affordable homes. You don’t need a site yet.

What happens

More cohousing communities in North America have launched through this workshop than any other way. It’s the first step in turning future residents from interested participants into active co-developers of their own community. Charles Durrett leads a hands-on workshop built around your project:

Budget and financing: what the project is likely to cost, and how you’ll pay for it.
Design and development: how key decisions get made, and when.
Community building and membership: how to grow your group and keep it working well together.
Commitment and buy-in: moving past feasibility to real commitment from future residents, investors, developers and other professionals.

What you receive

The complete Getting-It-Built binder, covering every aspect of developing a cohousing community.
A step-by-step, month-by-month roadmap from where you are today to construction.
Working committees, organized and ready to move the project forward, and a group that now sees itself as co-developers of its own community.

How it works

A two-day, in-person workshop held over a weekend in your community, billed on time and materials with a clear budget agreed on before we start.

Plan a workshop with your group →

Phase 2 · Schematic Design

Designing your community together

This is where the project is built, not brick by brick, but decision by decision. In four participatory workshops, future residents decide how they want to live, and we turn those decisions into drawings. Click a workshop to see what happens.

Workshop 1

Site Design

How the community sits on the land, and the life between the buildings.

What happens

Before anyone draws a building, we work together to understand the design problem. We build a shared vocabulary for the project and agree on what the site needs to do:

Goals and values: what you hope life in the community will feel like, along with your needs, wishes, limits and taste.
Life outdoors: where people will walk, play, garden, gather, sit and talk, or find a little privacy.
The site itself: sun, weather, noise, access, accessibility and a welcoming sense of arrival.
Codes, budget and parking: what the planning and building departments allow, a preliminary cost analysis, and where cars, bikes and electric carts will go.
Defining places: the specific qualities each place needs to support the group’s activities and goals.

You leave with

A preliminary site plan showing where the buildings, parking, gardens, play areas and gathering spaces go.
A written program recording the group’s goals and criteria, a reference for the rest of the design so you’re not backtracking later.

A resident takes notes beside a wall of sticky notes ranking common house activities, from dining and kitchen to laundry, play room and co-working

Group working on the common house design

Residents working together at a design workshop

Workshop 2

Common House

The heart of the community, and often its least understood part.

What happens

We work closely with the group to define the goals of the common house, the activities that will happen there, and the design criteria for each space. The aim isn’t to design the building yet, but to agree on the guidelines the design will grow from:

Activities: how many common dinners a week, cooking, music, dancing, guests, kids, and everything else you hope to do there.
Bringing people together: places to gather, and the ways people will naturally run into each other.
Everyone, every day: spaces for every age, sustainability, and beauty, so it’s a building people actually want to use.

Along the way, we share what we’ve seen work, and not work, in other communities, so the group can weigh the pros and cons of every option.

You leave with

A complete write-up of every decision the group reaches by consensus, often around 500 of them.
Schematic floor plans and elevations for the common house, revised once with the group’s input.

Reviewing private home plans with households

Workshop 3

Private Homes

Homes that fit your households and your budget.

What happens

We meet with the group to settle the homes’ sizes, types, budget, energy use and room-by-room needs, then work out preliminary floor plans and review them with each household. The goal is the highest-value home that meets the group’s goals and budget. We look at:

Layout: floor plans, sections and elevations, and how spaces connect and flow.
Indoors and out: front porches and “yards,” back decks and rear yards, natural light, views, storage and privacy.
Comfort and performance: quiet and good acoustics, solar design, passive heating and cooling, sustainability and low maintenance.
Accessibility: ADA and beyond, so people can age in place and easily visit their neighbors.
Character: affordability, timelessness, unique qualities, and a place to make memories.

You leave with

4–6 home plans, reviewed with households and revised.
Floor plans, sections and elevations for each home type, ready to be developed into construction documents.

Presenting the final schematic design to the group

Future residents reviewing site plans, floor plans and renderings pinned around the room

Workshop 4

Schematic Design Closure

One final review, so the group can move forward with confidence.

What happens

We present the complete schematic design: the buildings placed on the site, elevations with proposed materials, porches and color schemes, and key design details. Together we walk through:

Materials and landscape: preliminary material choices and landscape concepts, with a study model if it helps.
Codes and approvals: our code research and coordination with the building and planning departments.
Engineering: the preliminary structural, mechanical and civil approach.
What’s changed: most importantly, how any new information has shaped the final design.

You leave with

Group approval of the schematic design. From here, decisions stay closed unless an outside source, like the city, requires a change.
All the design drawings needed to go to the authorities for approvals, plus the base sheets for every consultant working on Design Development and construction documents.

You decide

How the community sits on the land, what the common house is for, the types and sizes of homes, and when the design is ready to move forward.

How it works

Each workshop takes place over a weekend in your community. We spend about a month preparing for each one, so the four workshops usually happen about a month apart. Every workshop has its own budget, agreed on up front, and is billed on time and materials.

Start a design conversation →

Phase 3 · Design Development

Getting the details right

With the layout settled, it’s time for the details. In two focused workshops, the group chooses materials and systems and decides what fits the budget, before the more detailed, and more expensive, construction drawings begin.

Workshop 5

Design Development

Materials, systems and details, settled before the construction drawings start.

You leave with

A Design Development package, reviewed and approved with the group before the project moves forward.
A clear set of standards for every home and the common house, so the construction documents start from firm decisions.
A more detailed cost estimate, when the project calls for one.

What happens

Building on the approved schematic design, we refine the design and work out the details, including materials and engineering systems, before the more detailed construction documents begin. In a five-hour workshop, we walk through every proposed line item and explain why each one works best and fits your budget. Some examples:

Plumbing fixtures: sinks, faucets, toilets and showerheads.
Lighting and electrical: ceiling fixtures, sconces, fans and whole-house fans, and the heating system.
Kitchens: appliances, cabinets and countertops, with large-scale kitchen plans.
Inside and out: tile and flooring, doors and hardware, windows, insulation, roofing, siding, trim and decking.
Behind the walls: preliminary structural and mechanical systems, civil engineering, electrical plans for lights, outlets, fans and ventilation, and preliminary acoustics, coordinated with the building department.

We also explain how the group can change a standard if it wants to, and how each household can customize its own home.

Workshop 6

Design Prioritization

What’s standard, what’s an option, and what can wait for later.

You leave with

A priorities list that guides the construction drawings and the budget.
A first draft of the standards, options and later improvements for every home.

What happens

Every home comes with a set of standard amenities, and this five-hour workshop is where the group decides what those are. With cost estimates for the proposed materials and systems in front of you, the group keeps asking one question, “what is more important?”, and sorts each amenity into:

Standard: what comes in every home.
Options: upgrades a household can choose to add.
Private customizations: changes a household makes to its own home.
Later improvements: what can wait and be added down the road.

We prepare everything in detail beforehand and follow up with a priorities list, so the group can decide with confidence.

You decide

The standard materials, finishes and systems, and which amenities are standard, optional or a private customization.

How it works

Each is a five-hour workshop. Most of this phase is our team and consultants developing the drawings between the two workshops. Like the design workshops, each has its own budget, agreed on up front, and is billed on time and materials.

Ask about the design phase →

Phase 4 · Construction

From drawings to move-in

This is where a community’s vision becomes something a contractor can price, permit and build. We carry the design residents helped shape all the way through, so nothing gets lost between the ideas on the workshop wall and the building on the site.

Architectural drawings for a cohousing community

Drawings and permits

Construction Documents & Permits

A clear, buildable set that respects the budget, meets code, and stays true to the people who will live there.

You leave with

A complete permit and construction set, ready for plan check and for contractors to price.

We bring the same care to common houses, private homes, ADUs, additions, and affordable and land-trust housing.

What happens

We turn the approved design into a complete set of drawings and specifications, and see it through plan check:

A coordinated set: architectural drawings, details and schedules, with specifications organized in CSI format.
One design team: we coordinate the structural engineers, energy consultants and others, so everything fits together on paper before it meets the field, saving time, money and change orders.
Permits: we know California’s codes well (CBC, CRC, Title 24, CALGreen and wildland-urban interface rules) and have taken projects through plan check from rural counties to dense cities. We prepare submittals with the reviewer in mind and respond to comments promptly.

Through completion

Construction Administration

We stay involved, so what gets built is what the group approved.

You leave with

A punch list of items to finish or correct, and support through closeout.
A building that matches the design, so the community can move in with confidence.

What happens

Site visits at key milestones to observe progress and quality.
Answering the contractor’s questions and reviewing shop drawings, submittals and material samples.
Change orders: we evaluate proposed changes when they come up.
Pay requests: we check the contractor’s pay requests against the work completed, so the group pays only for what’s been built.
Keeping the group informed, and helping it make timely decisions when unexpected conditions arise.

Community work day at a cohousing community

1 day · 3 sessions · before move-in

Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing

If it doesn’t work socially, why bother?

You leave with

Clear, shared expectations before anyone moves in.
Pre-occupation agreements that set the community up for long-term success, socially as well as physically.

What happens

Too many cohousing communities have struggled socially because their early agreements weren’t in place well before move-in. This workshop draws on over 30 years of researching, designing and living in cohousing, and on the patterns of high-functioning communities. It can happen any time during construction, and each session covers one foundation of a community that runs smoothly:

Management: how the community will run.
Meals: how common meals will work.
Maintenance: how you’ll care for the place together.

You decide

Any changes during construction, with our advice on what each one does to cost and schedule, and the agreements your community will live by.

How it works

Construction documents and administration are scoped to each project. Outside our home region, we can partner with a local architect of record: they handle routine site visits and day-to-day questions, and we focus on milestones and the decisions that shape the design, keeping travel costs down. The Happily Ever Aftering workshop is one day, in three sessions.

Talk to us about your project →

Tell us where you’re starting

Not sure which step fits? That’s normal. Tell us a little about your group or your land and we’ll suggest the right first move.

We usually reply within 2 business days.