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CUSTOM MODULAR HOMES
To a great extent, the company reflects the image of its fascinating founder. James L. Clayton was born in a tin-roofed home, with no pipe mendings or electricity, on a sharecropper’s farm in 1934. By the age of five, he was making cotton rows with a log pulled by a farm mule and getting paid 25 cents a day. He had his own cotton patch by age 12. After finishing high school, Clayton left for Memphis with his guitar. He went to school, sold vacuum cleaners, and played in honkytonks three nights a week.
After transferring to the University of Tennessee at Knox-ville, Clayton earned a degree in engineering and then a radio broadcast engineer’s license. He got a job with WATE-TV, and from 1960 to 1976 he was a part-time host on Star Time, a weekly variety show on Knoxville TV. While Clayton was singing duets with Dolly Parton and strumming guitar, he was also buying and selling cars. He first entered the car business in college, when he sold his own car through the classifieds and realized that it might be a good way to make some spending money. As an undergraduate, Clayton opened a small used-car lot in North Knox ville. Before long, he was joined in the business by his younger brother, Joe. By the time he earned his degree, Clayton was making more by selling cars as a hobby than he was by working at the TV station.
The Clayton brothers obtained a Volvo franchise in 1958, one of the first in the area. They bought other import franchises the following year, and in 1960 they purchased an American Motors franchise. After the variety show started, Clayton’s visibility and duets with Parton did not hurt business on his car lot. He even made his own commercials, with the guitar. The young businessman experienced a slight setback in 1961, however. A Knoxville bank called in a loan, and Clayton’s lot went into bankruptcy. After the bank dissolved the fledgling company, Clayton decided to pursue a law degree. He and his brother soon opened their second used-car business on the same lot.
Clayton Homes is the United States largest builder of manufactured housing and modular homes. Clayton Homes is a component company of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Clayton’s corporate headquarters are in Maryville, Tennessee. Its subsidiaries include Vanderbilt Mortgage, 21st Mortgage, the nation’s largest manufactured home lender, and insurance company HomeFirst Agency.
Clayton Homes was founded in 1956 by Jim Clayton. In 1974, Clayton Homes established its own mortgage company, and added a manufacturing division in 1975. The company went public in 1983, trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Each year from 1989 through 1992, Clayton Homes was named on the Forbes list of the best small companies in America. Kevin Clayton, Jim Clayton’s son, took over the company in 1999.
In 2002, Clayton earned a revenue of $1.2 billion. It was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2003 for $1.7 billion. Cerberus Capital Management also expressed interest in bidding for the company. The certificate of merger was filed in Delaware, and Clayton stock was removed from the New York Stock Exchange. In 2007, Clayton Homes’ revenue was $3.66 billion.
Clayton Homes sold its land-lease communities business to Denver-based Yes Companies LLC in 2008. The deal involved 65 properties in 11 states. The i-house brand was introduced in May 2008 as a green, energy efficient home. By 2009, Clayton Homes had sold over 1.5 million homes. In 2009, Clayton launched the eHome as a more affordable version of the i-house.
In 2015, Clayton worked with Oak Ridge National Library and architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to produce a 3D printed house and car which share a single energy unit. Clayton Homes expanded into the traditional home building market with the acquisition of Georgia-based homebuilder Chafin Communities in 2015, and Tennessee-based Goodall Homes in 2016.
Clayton acquired River Birch Homes, based in Maryville, Alabama, in April 2016. The following month, Clayton hosted its first Birmingham-based home show. The show had 492 attendees and featured 27 homes from 27 facilities. That same month, Clayton announced that it would partner with nonprofit Next Step to build a modular duplex in Waco, Texas on a lot owned by NeighborWorks Waco in order to create affordable housing in the Greater Waco area. In 2016, Clayton Homes was recognized as number 292 on Forbes’ list of America’s Best Employers. The company introduced a line of tiny homes during fall 2016 with the debut of its “Low Country” prototype in North Carolina. The designer series received media acclaim from USA Today, The Post and Courier, among others.
Clayton Homes produces homes under the brand names of Buccaneer Homes, Cavalier Homes, Clayton Homes, Crest Homes, Giles Industries, Golden West Homes, Karsten Company, Marlette Homes, Norris Homes, Schult Homes, and Southern Energy Homes. Clayton Homes also owns retail brands Oakwood Homes, TruValue Homes and Luv Homes. In 2016, Clayton acquired G&I Homes, a family-run company based in New York.
In 2015, Clayton Homes released the Patriot home model and partnered with the Hope for the Warriors veterans assistance group. Clayton gave a check for $33,600 to the organization in January. Hope For The Warriors works with veterans from all branches of the military as well as post 9/11 active duty, National Guard, and reserve service members. In May 2016, Clayton presented a $100,000 check to the organization.
Clayton Homes, one of the nation’s largest modular manufacturers, is actually made up of multiple smaller regional manufacturers. This allows each smaller company to give more focus to their particular area and develop specialized construction styles for each region while still giving the discounts their enormous collective buying power allows them. Since they have factories serving every state in the country, they offer every different style of home, each with dozens, if not hundreds, of standard plans. They offer customizations to those plans in addition to producing completely custom homes.
What Makes Them Unique?
Clayton Homes is one of the few manufacturers that offers both modern style steel frame housing as well as the more traditional style. They opened their first home center back in 1966 as a family business and within 20 years it had grown into a publicly traded company with 10 factories all building manufactured and modular homes. They went on to acquire 21st Century Mortgage to help finance their customer’s homes and become part of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc, the holding company founded by Warren Buffett. Through their subsidiaries and partner companies, Clayton homes can help you finance, insure, and construct your new modular home.
