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Friday’s visit to The Cottages at Back River Road by Senator Jeanne Shaheen not only shared some of the amazing partnerships that have allowed this project to come to light, but importantly shared who this project is serving, and how it is working as a part of our community. We are very proud to be creating homes for caregivers, teachers, first responders, and postal workers (to name a few), all of whom deserve to live in the communities they serve.

We are grateful for the support not only of Senator Shaheen, but Senator David Watters, Mayor Carrier, the City of Dover, the Dover Housing Authority, and to be working with Seacoast Family Promise.

We hope that these cottages can be an example of another option in the housing toolbox, so to speak. The housing crisis will not be solved by one typology alone, but by creating options so to be able to pick what works best for each individual or family. We need housing of all shapes and sizes, and we are proud for our Cottages to be a part of that! 💜🏡

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'This is everything to us': Cottage homes in Dover a solution for young family Kylani Bryant, 2, is living in her first home at Cottages at Back River Road with her parents in Dover. Will it be a model for housing solutions?

Grateful for a wonderful visit to The Cottages at Back River Road by Senator Jeanne Shaheen!

We were able to introduce her to some of our current residents (and team members!) and tour their homes, as well as show the progress that is continuing to happen on the rest of the site. A big discussion included Energy Star, a level that we were able to achieve thanks to NHSaves. We are very proud to be in the affordable housing fight, to provide housing options for our own staff at GSD Communities, Harmony Homes By the Bay, and Harmony Homes at Hickory Pond, but also to many others who work so hard in our community.

Thank you for the opportunity, and what a team!! 💜🏡💜

A winter wonderland at ❄️❄️❄️

Feeling a little cozy Magic as we get ready to welcome our first residents to The Cottages at Back River Road ✨

These true tiny homes have been a labor of love, and while we’re certainly not done, we are so grateful to be reaching this milestone! Each with a footprint of 384 square feet, our homes are set up in a cottage-court fashion, facing a common green with parking on the road behind. We can’t wait to see the community that grows here! 💙

Thank you to all involved on this project: our team at GSD Construction, Grant Power & Electric, Artigliere Plumbing, Burns Security, Foam Fellas, and now Olofson Landscaping and Wickson Construction, to name a few.

GSD Communities

Check out these cute housewarmings buckets for our first residents donated by - Store 3409 in Portsmouth! 🧡🧡

Filled with always-needed household supplies and even a little holiday spirit with twinkle lights! Hugh approved! 🐾

A few interior shots of our tiny homes; thanks Ricci Lumber!

Ready for a lovely day at The Cottages at Back River Road! 🌞

One of the most consistent things I hear when people walk into our tiny homes (and I love it) is, “wow, these are a lot bigger than I expected!”

Here’s why: these homes are built on slabs, so as long as the footprint is less than 400sf, they can be any dimension. We aren’t confined to the width of a trailer because these obviously aren’t going anywhere! We also went high, with an open loft that you can stand up in, and some high windows to keep it feeling airy and your eyes moving up. Cable railings around the stairs and loft also allow for that sense of openness as well.

In this particular picture, you can see the bathroom directly in front, the kitchen to the right, and access to the ground-floor bedroom off to the left. Our ‘tiny home’ stairs are hidden by a wall where you could mount a tv, or have large scale art like our team used here! And then the loft, which could be used as another bedroom, is up and above. They feel great to walk into, and I hope residents will enjoy living here!

On Thursday, John and I were so lucky to gather with our team, a few future residents, and so many supporters to celebrate the ribbon cutting of The Cottages at Back River Road!

We’re continuing to work hard to get them all open as soon as possible, and so appreciate everyone who has been involved. The City has been an amazing support, and this project would not have happened with our building and site teams, along with the team at GSD Communities. Thank you to all! 💙💚

Cottages in Dover open for tenants. Dream of small, affordable homes becomes a reality. Cottages at Back River Road, 44 small, affordable homes in Dover, NH, welcomed its first tenants Thursday.

State of Housing Breakfast | Friday, October 20th | 8am-10am
Register Link: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/7xnafev
Seats are filling fast-Register by October 16th!

Condensed Agenda
8am
Buffett Breakfast & Networking
8:30am-10am
Legislative Updates | NH State Senator Jeb Bradley
NH Housing Insights from | Ben Frost, Deputy Executive Director, NH Housing
Special Guest Speakers | John & Maggie Randolph ~ Housing Developers
10am-10:30am
Post Event Networking

Is this love? Hugh x Bag of Seemingly Food: the collaboration he knows he needs… constantly 😋

Happy weekend from , we keep on pushing! But with lots of treats, obviously 🙄 🧡

Good morning 🌞

Poured porches at - forms ready to be taken down and moved to the next!

Closer and closer every day… construction is odd like that; sometimes we make leaps and bounds like Superman in a single day, and then sometimes progress seems to lag in certain areas. I promise we are always working hard, and the other clusters are growing fast! But we do love seeing the details coming to life here. 🧡🧡

I’m on the outside, looking in…. 💚

Cluster 2 is popping up! Slab No. 8 was poured yesterday, while framing on the other seven continues.

Finishes keep on coming in Cluster 1, and the site team is working hard on utilities!

Lots of movement in the past month, and we’re keeping it going! 🧡🏡🏗️

New slab, who dis? 🏡

I spy with my little eye… walls starting to stand up in Cluster Two! 👀

Lots of work continues on.. the site team goes home vibrating every night thanks to the amount of ledge they’re hammering through. 🏗️

Finishes keep on going - drywall, flooring, lighting fixtures, cabinets.. a lot of layers go into these! 🪞

And since the site team has literally laid the ground for it, framing has commenced in the next cluster, and we couldn’t be more excited! 🧡🧡

It’s been a very busy few weeks at

✅ Two new slabs were poured to start Cluster Two!
✅ Water/Sewer/Drainage work continues
✅ Last two cottages in Cluster One have been spray-foamed and are ready for drywall
✅ Lots of drywall and mudding going on inside!
✅ Flooring and cabinets moving into the first few cottages
✅ Details and finish work on the exterior of Cluster One cottages

Not to say anything about the background admin and planning work also going on. So apologies for not posting much, we’ve been busy! 🧡

Also, what do you think of our party tent?? 😆

👀 I spy cabinets starting to show up… 👀

We are so honored to receive the 2023 Project of the Year award from the NH Planners Association for The Cottages at Back River Road!

Great projects are the result of strong zoning, which creates the framework for what can be done. We ultimately chose to arrange the cottages in a cluster court arrangement, but none of it would have been allowed if not for the zoning ordinance in place. Our project is the result of an amazing group effort between the City of Dover (for their work and vision that preceded us and their support since), and ourselves; this award belongs to the entire team. 💙

Remembering those who gave their lives for our country on this Memorial Day. 🤍🇺🇸

Let’s be good to each other; their sacrifice will not be in vain.

Finally a picture with all the guys together! Site and construction, these are the guys they get. it. done. Every day! 🧡

Thank you to the New Hampshire Association of Regional Planning Commissions for having us at their conference today and letting us share our projects!

There is so much work that is done by so many to make changes, and it was an honor to engage this group of commissioners and planners in such a vibrant discussion.

It starts with disseminating ideas. Sharing. Identifying the vision we want for the communities we live in, who we need to include, and what we want them to feel like.

Growth, sustainability, inclusivity. Where do we want to be as a state? Because it’s not just ‘my town here’ and ‘your town there.’ Housing instability knows no boundary lines. While we can respect the unique character of each town, we can still look at the region and state as a whole.

Then translating that vision so that it is supported by zoning. It doesn’t have to be exclusionary anymore, we can be better. And the group we engaged with today is a huge part of that translation process, something we need more of, so we really appreciate the opportunity. 🏡

Evening shadows move in at The Cottages, as we really feel the space inside the cluster for the first time 🌅

Ending the week on a calm note, with walls waiting for trim… bright, warm, and peaceful 🤍 May you all have a lovely weekend!

‼️DESIGN CHANGE‼️ All cottages will now be surrounded by moats filled with alligators. That is all.

Just kidding 😁 Trenches continue to be dug for site utilities, but it sure makes it ✨interesting ✨ to navigate right now!

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Something there that (loves) a wall 🏡 💚

Definitely a busy site today at Back River Road! The cottages (which are mostly in vary states of drywall and paint) can’t open until all the utilities are in. Crazy to think, I know! 🤪 So while the building team started standing up walls on the last unit of Cluster One, the site guys made some major headway with running trenches for water lines and drainage. New catch basins going in, and carving out so much rock… I guess they really don’t call us the Granite State for nothing, but can’t we be known for really easy, buildable soil? I don’t think it’s too much to ask.. 🪨🗿

Love this shot of the long trench behind Cluster One. Also, the guys all wore neon yellow today. I have recommended pink tomorrow as it will be Wednesday (and ), but we’ll see! Stay tuned for site and fashion updates! 💛💗🧡

And that makes the last slab for Cluster One!

I think it was Orange vs Grey on site today, by the way… 🧡🩶🔩