Clayton Homes

They kept saying I needed footers and I kept telling them I didn’t. I had a mobile home here and I just had new footers five years ago, and the person that was gonna do the footers is the one that did them. It was a reputable company ‘cause it’s the one they used to do the footers. I ended up not needing footers but my price never changed. I know there were a couple other things they did for me but I don’t know that it equaled the price of the footer. It left me with a feeling of getting ripped off. But sales consultation was good for the most part. After it was brought here, it took a while to get things fixed. I know they’re busy and were down a person, but the communication wasn’t there.

In my bedroom, the thing that goes to my vent was twisted. There was absolutely zero air getting through there. It’s middle of winter and it’s 10 degrees outside and my room was getting down to 54 degrees at night. There was a couple nights it got down to 50. I finally sent them an email and I’m like, “This has been two months. I’m freezing. Can I get somebody here to help?” Finally, they came and fixed it for me. They were always very nice. Never had a problem with any of that when they came out and fixed everything basically the same day with the exception of the ceiling. They did a good job.

With this pandemic though, I told the tech not to be in a hurry, but when the guy came home to fix the cracks in my tile in my bathroom, he kept telling me it was the color that he had, a tan, and I kept telling him it wasn’t. He said, “They’re telling me it is.” I said, “I’m telling you, I look at it every day and it’s not.” He put it on anyway and it’s way darker than what the normal is. It looks like it’s dirty when it’s not. I asked them to get the right color so I can go over top of that so it doesn’t look like my brand-new shower that I clean every time I’m in is dirty.

And Jay wasn't pushy at all. He said, "Take your time if you're not ready to put down your deposit or make sure that's the right house that you want." And we went to other places that were kinda like, "You gotta put $2,000 down right now or it's not gonna be here." We were looking for a certain mudroom laundry room. We didn't want something with just the washer and dryer fit in. We wanted something bigger. And everybody else aside from Clayton only had small laundry room. We weren't thinking about a porch until we saw the Clayton model one day when we were out there and Jay said, "Oh, yeah. You can add that on if you want." So we ended up adding a porch on the end where the laundry room is. The laundry room is just like a mini-kitchen. It's just wonderful because I got my washer, dryer and I got cabinets.

I also wanted a certain place to put a freezer because in my other house we had the freezer just sitting out in like a little deep area and I couldn't stand that. So we worked around that. Jay also helped us out with the colors. We had a couple little, minor things, but the guys set their appointments and they came out there and got everything done lickety-split.

I was worried about not having a place to stay in between the transition. But Jay said, "Don't worry. Don't worry. It's all gonna work out. You're gonna have electricity and water into it. We'll get everything where you can move in." I didn't wanna have to pay for a hotel and have extra expenses. Everything worked out perfect. I'm a worrywart to start with and Jay made me feel very confident that everything was gonna go great, and it did.

Dave and his crew, who set up our house that day, were awesome just as well because they were the cleanest. We walked in the house after they first set it up and they were doing stuff inside, and they swept and mopped. It was just awesome. They didn't have any trash outside. They were as pleasant as can be. We spent a lot of time with them out there, putting everything together. Dave came out and helped us with the sewer line. The guys worked really hard even when it was like 100-and-something degree weather. Clayton at Florence couldn't have made it any better or easier buying a house. All the people there were just wonderful. I'd recommend them to anybody and everybody.

The reps from Clayton were gonna come down last week so that I could set up an appointment for the boys to come down. I have a feeling that I have a crack in my ceiling but that has nothing to do with Clayton Homes. Then, in my closet, there is daylight that comes in in my bedroom. So, they're supposed to be fixing that. It sounds like an airplane in my house when my furnace is running. It is so loud and it's because of the door. They should put a better-quality door on it. You don't know about it and you don't think about it when somebody comes and sells you. You're looking at it but you're not hearing it because everything’s shut off. If I heard that, I wouldn't have bought the trailer. But I have a beautiful home and I'm slowly getting it to where I want although that door is so annoying.

Clayton sells the homes but they're not the ones who build it. I cannot condemn or blame them. The dealings with them and the girls were fantastic but the crack in my ceiling has been the second or third time. My home is all in level and it’s a good-sized one. It's easy to maintain, well-insulated and comfortable. I have enough room to turn around. Some places were small and they jacked my lot rent up because they're doing some waterlines and adding people on to that. I can either sell the trailer or I'm gonna start looking for some land. If I can afford to pay for the lot rent, I can afford to buy a land. I am really upset because I'm on a limited income and this has been putting a hard burden on me and I'm debating what I wanna do because it's difficult. I was very upset with it. I got a letter in the mail and I sat down and thought that I couldn’t do this. I don't do anything and it's not like I have all kinds of stuff going on.

I have my trailer sitting here on the lot and the only thing that I get is that they pick up my garbage and I have my water and sewer but it's $376 a month. That's too much. I am really pissed off because I wouldn't have bought the trailer. I can handle $300 a month but when you add another almost 100 bucks on it, I'm not okay. But the ladies came in and I requested them to put a step-in shower in for me and I love it. I got the barn door on and I love that too. It's all been good.

After we looked at it, Tammie asked if I wanted to do an application. I explained to her what happened at the other place and she told me that she couldn't give me an exact figure that day, but she could give me a figure and she promised that it would only go down. She didn’t beat around the bush and she was exactly right. My payment is lower than what she had first quoted me, even with my insurance included. We discussed 20 or $25,000 down. I put 20,000 down and it was still almost $100 lower than what they told me in Shallotte for the same house.

The house was delivered and set up and we moved in on February the 12th. My other house got damaged during Florence, so I was displaced from September until February 12. Tammie did everything in her power to get things done quicker. She may have put me ahead of a few or pulled some strings and she got me in the new house. She had somebody come out and tear the other house down and haul it out. They wouldn’t pull it out because of the shape it was in and it would collapse on the road. Then they brought the new house in and had it set up. The day it was delivered, Tammie called me and said that the crew left with the first half and that they should be in my driveway within an hour. She also called me when the second half was leaving. She was on top of everything.

I like the openness of the house, which was what sold me on the house because my wife was in a wheelchair. I've also got an island in the kitchen. The kitchen is a good size and the dining is in with that. The living room and the master bedroom are huge. But I had a problem with the carpet in the master bedroom and the living room. There was something in the padding when the house was built and once we moved in, the traffic pulled whatever it was up into the carpet. There were 10 big, oval stains. I told Tammie about that and she had the guys come and replace the carpet in a day.

I haven't had a better experience of buying anything from anybody than I had with Tammie. She made it more personal than business. Then when my wife passed, Oakwood in Chadbourn sent flowers. This was after everything was said and done, the carpet had been replaced, and there were no more issues with the house. When I sent a close family friend up there, Tammie was the same way with her and my friend bought a house from her after I bought mine.

I wanted a non-split home, which I realized is very rare in manufactured homes. But I told Matt from Clayton that I’ve got four little kids, and I’m nervous about being on the other side of the house. I don’t even think he was looking at it. He knew down to the inch, how far it was from the master bedroom to the kids’ room. And he knew everything about the house. He knew all that different stuff.

I told him, “I can’t find a Realtor that knows how to look for lands that can do the well and a septic, make sure it can have a manufactured home.” And when I got in there, he handed me three business cards. He gave me my options, but he told me who they’ve had great experience with, which made me feel so much better. The realtor, Heather, and I are still very close friends. She was amazing and so helpful. And because she knew them and they knew her, questions were able to get answered. I could get to be an overly detailed person, so if Matt couldn't fill in all those details for me I called Heather and she would go, “Oh, yeah. This is what we do. It’s okay. This is what we’ve gotten.” There was always somebody that knew what was going on.

And they really fought for us. We had issues with the land where our first land was in a flood zone. I felt horrible -- things kept getting delayed and different engineering stuff had to be done. At the very end of it, we got everything taken care of. And the Realtor that was running that land came back and said, “Hey, this land is in a trust, and we can’t sell it until the trust is figured out. It could be a couple more months.” And by this point, the house had been sitting on the property at Clayton up here for a few months. So, they were paying the interest and everything on it. They kept doing it until we found more land, and they totally took care of us, Matt and Dave who is the manager. Even if they were frustrated, you never knew they were frustrated. I knew it had to be hard on them, and it’s taking so long, but both of them just went over and beyond.

When we came in, they never shared their frustrations with us about how long it was taking or anything. They were always smiles and, “How’s it going guys? Good to see you.” They’re so patient with us. We had to bring all the in-laws to come see the house and they would always say, “Yup. Come on over, let’s go see it.” I remember too, the day that the house rolled off their land on the truck to come to our land, Matt videotaped it for me and sent it to me. It was great. It was just so personal. It was like we all sat there. He’s like, “We’re all crying here at Clayton.” And I’m like, “We’re crying here watching the video.” It wasn’t like dealing with a business, it was like dealing with a friend that’s just as excited for us as we were excited for ourselves. I’m so happy it was such a wonderful and personal experience for everyone involved. I have two people coming to Clayton for houses soon.

We didn't know for sure what kind of coach we wanted because we had to pick something very specific for our unique circumstances. But he said we could do whatever we wanted. I come from a place where custom home is very realistic. So, when he said he could custom make my coach, that interested me a lot also. I could design it the way I wanted it.

Customizations that I made is cut the floorplan so that the door was on the driver's side. Because of my unique situation, I had to put the kitchen over here and the bedroom was in the back but I made it a little bit larger because it didn't seem large enough. And then the other things, I added ceiling fans, plugs all around the place. I put a gas stove in and other electrical. Clayton gave us a choice, a selection of carpets and linoleum. When we got all done, when we put in more custom things, we had electric readjusted some more, we did some other stuff. Everything worked out very well.

One of the things I did not like is that I learned when I built my custom home is when I wanted to change something, it was not a problem to change it. All it takes is money. It doesn't cost a lot of money because they were still at the building stage. But once I signed the paperwork, this is what I'm stuck with. One is n that I should have put some plugs up in the eaves because Christmas lights go up there. However, they can't do that now since I already signed off on it. I was able to change the porch from 6 feet to 10 feet. And the reason that's important is because 6 feet isn't big enough, and I had the room for 10 feet. But it was 6 feet on the original plan and the very next day I changed it.

When we did a tour through the place, it still had a 6-foot porch on it, instead of a 10-foot porch. I was able to make the change that the same day but if it had been two days later, it would have been a problem. So, in that respect, I don't like the non-flexibility. Their sales rep was not very good. Once I signed the paperwork, getting him to return phone calls, getting him to do anything, is like he moved on with life He gave me to a customer service girl named Julie. She did anything and everything as soon as I asked for it. She returned my calls and did what she could do.

We dealt with a lot of water freezing this winter but thank goodness, the pipes didn’t burst, but that was a real concern. We also have issues with the maintenance of things that got broken when the home was delivered. We’re having issues finding the right parts to fix it correctly. It's been a nightmare. Everything inside the home is great. But when the home was moved, some of the light fixtures fell out of the kitchen ceiling. It took them a few months to put one back. It’s a different kind. It’s not like I could go to Walmart and buy one and we had to deal with that.

When they cam back to replace the bulb it doesn’t match the rest, and we’re still trying to get some to match. The guy that comes to the home to do their maintenance said he will just bring four that will match. But when he came back he said he tried to order. Another issue is that we had to have the door replaced on the front door. We had to wait until for about two weeks ago before that got put on. We’re still trying to have several pieces of the siding replaced. Some of it was busted up pretty good. There was also a hole in the ceiling over the shower. They fixed that. We have been in this home since November. But anything that we need to do outside, we can’t do because the concrete underpinning is not completed. It’s putting a hold on our landscaping and on our sidewalks.