CONCORD, N.H. – As part of a special partnership with the New Hampshire Home Builders Association (NHHBA), the New Hampshire Lottery recently launched a brand new $2 scratch game, “Tiny House, Big Money,” featuring the chance to win a $10,000 grand prize and a second-chance drawing opportunity to win a custom-made tiny house. The new game highlights Tiny House New Hampshire, a unique workforce development initiative in which students at four high schools across the state are designing and building “tiny houses.” The second-chance prize will be one of the student-built tiny houses. Tiny House, Big Money went on sale Monday, January 2.  

“The New Hampshire Lottery is proud to offer Tiny House, Big Money to our players,” said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. “This new game really showcases this important, hands-on initiative giving more than 100 students across the state the chance to develop critical skills as they work to overcome obstacles and challenges, just as they would in the real world. We know our players will love having the chance to win a tiny house and having the opportunity to support this exciting and valuable workforce development initiative.”

NHHBA is sourcing all materials for the program and is seeking financial and material donations. In particular from their local communities, schools are in need of siding and roofing materials, as well as RV-size appliances. NHHBA expects it to take about 550 hours for students to complete the homes, with a budget of $15,000 to $20,000 for each house. NHHBA members are serving as mentors to participating students.

“The New Hampshire Home Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders have had a long history of engaging our future home builders in unique projects. With skilled trade labor in shortage nationwide, there has never been a better time to engage in initiatives that stimulate workforce development," said Todd Mezzanotte, Associate National Director, New Hampshire Home Builders Association.  "A number of our local trade schools have embraced this project from their administrations right down to their students. It's exciting to see the progress, the sense of ownership in their work, and how the community has come together to ensure they have the guidance and support to be successful in their efforts. It's a great way to start off a career in construction and we are all looking forward to seeing their results displayed at the 2017 State Home Show."

As part of the partnership with NHHBA, the New Hampshire Lottery provided funding to purchase custom trailers to serve as foundations for the tiny houses. All student-built homes will be displayed during the 50th New Hampshire State Home Show from March 17 to March 19 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester. A panel of judges will choose the first-place tiny house, which will be awarded to the winner of the Tiny House, Big Money second-chance drawing. Four of the five homes will be raffled or auctioned during the Home Show, with proceeds benefiting participating schools and NHHBA.
Tiny houses, which typically span 100- to 400-square-feet, have become increasingly popular in recent years as people have sought to “downsize” living spaces, according to thetinylife.com.

Students from Alvirne High School in Hudson, the Huot Technical Center in Laconia, Kennett High School in North Conway, and the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter are building a total of five tiny houses.

“The experience has been great. Building the tiny house is more challenging than a part-time carpentry job,” said Brian Covey, a participating student from Alvirne High School. “You can’t always go off the plan. You have to be prepared to work around it.”

As of last month, students at Alvirne High School had nearly completed framing and are working on roof rafters.
“It’s going great. It has been a learning curve for me as well as the students,” said Matt Somers, building trades teacher at Alvirne High School. “I want to make sure that students have a clear understanding of the entire process from start to finish of a build.”

The pace of construction is picking up at the Seacoast School of Technology, said James Klingensmith, building construction technologies instructor at the Seacoast School of Technology, which is building two tiny houses with both first- and second-year building construction technologies students. All outer walls have been built, most interior walls are completed, and students are almost finished framing the roofs.

“The students are getting to see something more than a dog house or shed. These houses contain almost every component of a standard home,” Klingensmith said. “If there is one big advantage over doing a standard house is that students get to see the fruits of their labor much quicker since these do not take as long to build.”

John Ewing, a junior at the Seacoast School of Technology, said he is excited about building a tiny house because he wants to build one for himself when he graduates. 

“Students have been excited from the beginning,” Ewing said. “It’s been a great learning experience.”

Students at Huot Technical Center are currently working on rough electrical work, preparing the roof and getting ready to perform interior updates, including staining, wood finishing and preparation for wood floors.

“As a teacher, this project has been a phenomenal opportunity to address real world building situations,” said Matt Towle, building construction teacher at Huot Technical Center. “Typically we work on sheds which do not require wiring or rough plumbing as this tiny house project does. I’ve been able to see different students naturally finding their leadership comfort and reaching that ‘ah-ha’ moment at different stages throughout the project which I haven’t seen often with past projects. It’s been both challenging and rewarding and I hope I have the opportunity to work on a project like this again with classes to follow.”

At Kennett High School, students have completed all walls and are working on windows and shingling the roof. 
“This build has been enjoyable and it is great to see students taking ownership with something so big,” said Paul Cail, building trades teacher at Kennett High School. “Students are loving this project and I feel it has been a huge success. Students are learning everything one would use in building a house. There is pride in their work and I am very proud that they are stepping up to the plate with this project.”

In addition to the New Hampshire Lottery, partner organizations include Dead River Company, Harvey Building Products, Selectwood, and Builders Installed Products.

About New Hampshire Lottery
Since 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery has had a significant financial impact on the state. For the past 51 years, the New Hampshire Lottery has recorded almost $6.0 billion in lottery sales and other earnings, with over $3.8 billion being paid in prizes and other cost of sales. Net proceeds to education total more than $1.7 billion to date.  

The New Hampshire Lottery Commission, located at 14 Integra Drive in Concord, currently manages all lottery operations in the state, including instant games, New Hampshire Powerball®, New Hampshire Mega Millions®, New Hampshire Hot Lotto® Sizzler, Tri-State Megabucks℠ Plus, Tri-State Pick3®/Pick4® Daily Numbers games, Gimme 5, Fast Play games and Lucky For Life®.