Let’s be clear. This post is a simple comparison between the image-defending video Clayton Homes clearly invested several thousand dollars in for their ‘Have it Made’ campaign vs. a video by a purported Clayton Homes home owner, who is slamming their construction and quality.
The Clayton-slamming customer has had about five times the views, per YouTube.
Some facts about the Clayton image building video – plus the video itself – are found at by clicking on the linked box, below.
Clayton Homes “New” Image Campaign, Surprising Facts Behind Have it Made Stigma Attacking Video
We don’t know from his video what Ted Davis may or may not have been told. There are comments made by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) in some of their previously fisked advertorials that could be problematic for a consumer, if they saw them and took some of it literally.
“Pants on Fire” – Latest New Manufactured Housing Shipment Report
Why are so few manufactured homes being sold? There are many reasons, some noted in the report above, but this quick comparison reflects one of them.
Here’s the video by someone who indemnified himself Ted Davis, which follows the video. We’ll follow his comments with some screen captures from viewers of Davis’ post.
Again, for the record, we are NOT agreeing with some of the points that Davis has made, rather, we are showing what he’s said, in his own words, so that thousands of industry professionals can better understand what is going on in their profession.
Davis in his own words:
My Clayton Manufactured Home Features .. Fake Studs
We bought a Clayton Manufactured Home summer of 2015. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was what was available. It would appear that Warren Buffet owns Clayton, and they have bought up several lesser mobile home companies, removing a lot of competition.
If you listen to Clayton, they want you to think they have a quality product, and they say they will stand behind it. So far, they have fixed a few things for us. However, if they actually had a quality product, the repairs would NOT have been necessary.
They say their product is built to HUD standards. HUD must have way different standards for mobile homes vs. site built. Check my videos of things we have had problems with.
- Plumbing … bad faucets, leaking pipes, pipes that fell off at a touch. The master bath tub faucets weren’t even connected to any pipes.
- Wiring … I have never seen hardware like this before. Strange light fixtures, plugs, and switches.
- Doors … I have discovered that the interior doors seem to be made of cardboard, as well as the door frames. Also some don’t fit right.
- Interior studs … they are fake, little bits and pieces glued together.
- Sheetrock … less than a half inch
- Assembly is with tons of staples and some glue. I haven’t found any framing nails yet.
- The lids on the toilets were cheap plastic. One broke when I sat on it the first day in the house. I now have real, wood, lids.
- The house was supposed to have compact fluorescent lights installed. Didn’t have any. Not a single one.
- They DID get us really nice decks, front and back, including a wheelchair ramp on the front one.
Above and below are a few pages of the comments posted by those who presumably have seen the Ted Davis video. If there is any good news there, it is that a few people spoke up to at least try to explain some facts about what Davis is complaining about.
We paged through some, but not all, of the dozens and dozens of comments posted. None appeared to come from a source formally speaking for Clayton Homes. If that’s so, it’s arguably a mistake.
Reputation defense is supposedly something that Warren Buffett preaches at Berkshire Hathaway. There is no immediately evident reputation defense from Clayton Home visible in the first several groups of posted comments. Will they change that now that this fact-check is being posted?
This matters to manufactured housing because as the largest builder – rightly or wrongly – they will reflect on other producers of HUD Code homes. Certainly, numbers of HUD Code builders wouldn’t do what is shown in the Davis video.
There will be a more detailed upcoming report, not directly related to this video, but which examines in greater depth the issue of the industry’s image. As 2018 draws to a disappointing close, and 2019 looms, this is an appropriate time to consider how our industry’s image is being shaped.
Home owner/customer videos like Ted Davis’ are shaping the impressions of numbers of potential manufactured home shoppers.
We don’t know from this video what Ted Davis may or may not have been told during his purchasing process. But there are comments made by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) in some of their previously fisked advertorials that could be problematic for a consumer, if a buyer took them literally.
Conventional and modular housing can have their own challenges, as the two related reports in the linked boxes further below remind thinkers.
Why are so few manufactured homes being sold? There are many reasons, but this quick comparison reflects one of them. That’s “Industry News, Tips and Views Pros Can Use,” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” ©
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(Related Reports are further below. Third-party images and content are provided under fair use guidelines.)
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Related Reports: Click the Boxes Below to Read More…
Exposé! Heartbroken Conventional Housing Buyers? Dare to Compare Site Built with Modern Manufactured Homes – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com
ABC News did the following exposé about the host of problems found in the conventional “site-built” housing industry. The above is one of many such videos. See another example in a local news video, below. This isn’t to pick on what D.R. Horton, or any other conventional ‘site-builder.’
