First, the statistics.

Over the last one hundred years, the size of the average new American home has more than tripled, from about 700 SF in 1900 to over 2,200 SF in 2000. This despite a dramatic demographic shift: American households are shrinking.

In 1940, the average U.S. household was 3.67 people. In 1970, that number was 3.14. Today, the average American home houses 2.57 people-- the lowest ever on record, with no signs of increase. In sixty years each American household has lost an entire person.

Today more than 30% of homebuyers are single, and the two fastest growing segments are young singles and empty-nesters. Home prices in Atlanta increasingly force those looking to buy their first or home to choose a condominium or attached town home. The need for a wider variety of housing types—especially smaller detached homes--is clear.

Some other startling facts.

Atlanta is growing. Quickly. The Atlanta Regional Commission forecasts that an additional 2.3 million people will move to our area in the next 25 years. That represents a 50% growth in the area's population.

They can't all move to Bartow and Henry Counties.

We are trying to create a pattern of development that can accommodate additional density without destroying the fabric of the existing single family neighborhood.

When's the last time you used your formal living room?

American homes are too big. How many times a year do you use your formal dining room? Does anyone actually sit in the sitting room? The fact is that very few of us need 3,000 or more square feet, yet that is all traditional homebuilders provide. Go look at the website of any large builder, and try to find a home under 2,000 square feet. You can't.

Good thing we're not a traditional homebuilder.

For those who don't need (or can't afford) all that the typical new home entails, the choices in Atlanta are limited. Flats or town homes are about all you can choose from. But not everybody wants their neighbor attached at the hip.

Good thing we came along.

We build classic cottages like they used to do in the 1910's and 1920's. We build them to the highest level, and we finish them with the details you'd expect in a $500,000 home: hardwood floors, fireplaces, stainless appliances, built-in cabinets and benches, expansive front porches, dining nooks, you name it.

We don't build less quality. We just build less quantity.

I don't know the name of the couple that moved in next door.

The cottages we build are barely the half of it; we build our cottages in the larger (really, smaller) context of their environment. We build pocket neighborhoods. We create cottage communities.

While these terms "neighborhood" and "community" are hollow marketing slogans to most developers, we believe that the words can have real meaning again. Our cottage communities are really just pre-World War II neighborhoods on a very small scale.

Front porches overlook common areas and provide opportunities for interactions among neighbors. Dining nooks and kitchens face out onto the public realm, increasing security through "eyes on the street." Private gardens intersect with the public commons. Old growth trees are surrounded by new plantings. Common buildings provide space for those who wish to entertain on a larger scale, or even for the occasional community dinner.

What we DON'T build:

• Attached town houses
• Cul de sacs
• Gated communities
• Subdivisions
• Detention ponds
• "Brick front" houses with vinyl siding
• Garages that face the street
• Fake stucco
• Tract housing
• "Cluster homes"
• Rental properties
• Three-car garages
• Five bedroom homes
• Dysfunctional porches
• Disposable homes in forgettable settings