Maintenance Costs

The Times is running and article today about the increase in maintenance costs over the past five years. While the increase has been significant, they argue that real estate values have increased faster, and therefore maintenance is now a smaller proportion of monthly expenses than it once was.

This is all good and fine. What I find interesting is the claim that a co-op only controls ~15% of its expenses, and is dependent on outside forces for the other ~85% (ie fuel, water, etc). While these types of costs are much harder to have an impact on directly, there are easy steps which can be taken. Low flow shower heads, more water efficient toilets, or even gray water systems can be installed.

These might not be low cost up front investments, and it's interesting to consider how this could be implemented, but it does show that if a building pulls together and acts collectively, even these ~85% of costs can be influenced.