Clayton Homes

We started looking online. When we went to see if they had any, the one that we had originally set on, no one had it for display. We had to go in for something and the rep said, "I don't think it means that it's gone," that took it off of the website. He said, "So until I figure out what's going on, go ahead and pick a backup." So, we started looking again. This one also, there weren't any displays of it. But as soon as I saw it, it became my first instead of a backup, and come to find out the original one, they were redoing the pictures. But we ended up going with the other one that I found.

We knew that it was delivered. And we asked from the get-go, “Do we have to be there when it's brought?” They said, "No, of course not. You don't have to. But you can be. We'll let you know." I ended up leaving work. When I started coming down the road, I noticed that there was half of the house there. They told me that they would let me know when they would deliver it so that we could be there. And I was, "Well, where's the other half?" And once I got inside, my mother-in-law was, "Oh, look." So, I got to see the second half delivered. And they thought I was crazy because I pulled over into the ditch to watch them do it. When I got back to work the next day, my manager was, "That's why you wanted to leave." I said, "No. They were supposed to tell me when they were bringing it."

The hot water heater was pulling water in the tin. I messaged the project manager, the one that does your walk through, like when it's ready and get your keys. He also gave me his number. I texted him and sent him a picture of it too, and I was, "I don't know if this is normal. But I wanted to let you guys know." And he said, "No, that's not normal. I'll be out there. I'll be in contact to see if somebody's there." So, he came out and took care of that.

And something happened with the fridge. We called. Whenever we would push the water dispenser, nothing would come out. And it just so happened, my husband opened the door to the refrigerator one day, and one of my kids pushed either the ice or the water on the fridge, and thankfully the door was open because it gushed inside of the refrigerator. That wasn't a them thing. But they pointed me in the right direction, and we got somebody out there to fix that. They told us, "Wait for it to settle in about six months. Call us or we'll call you so that we can come out and fix any kind of settling cracks." We have a few of those that I've got to get in contact with them. I'll do it once I'm better from surgery. Other than that, they have all been fantastic, "Call us if anything is going on."

When they finally did the dirt work and all the floors, we thought we were going to get our home. But then, they ran into a problem that we were across the state line and Cameron had not taken that into consideration. Tennessee movers were so backed up and they couldn't move the home. So, we went through July and on the first week of August, one of the guys that worked there contacted someone else. They finally got someone to deliver the home and they set it up. At that point, we had sold our house and closed out in June. So, we already made a commitment because of what Cameron told us. He gave me three different dates in June and the 1st of July, on when we could plan on having the movers. But I canceled and changed our movers three times because that didn't pan out.

Then, when they set the house, they didn't have the finishing on the sheetrock done on the inside. So, I called Cameron and told him that I was not going to change the moving date again. I told him that I was going to have them move the furniture in and I would take full responsibility, because we really didn't have that much. But he said that if I moved one stick of furniture in that house, he would come and put a padlock on it.

I lost it. I paid for that house in May and due to his lack of coordination to get things done, I couldn't move in. At that point, I called a dear friend who has been with Clayton Homes for many years and asked him what I needed to do. He gave me Jerry's name and number. I called him and I could not have asked for anyone to have been any nicer and any more cooperative. He said he would make sure that it was taken care of and within two weeks, they finally pulled somebody out of Paducah. They sent them over there to do the finishing up the sheetrock so we could actually move in. But we had to put our furniture in storage for a month waiting on that to happen.

All in all, I would highly highly recommend Clayton Homes because of the construction of the homes they make. Everybody did everything they could possibly do, except for that gentleman who I understand is no longer working for them. They have since called us and we are now setting up the one-year follow-up in August. It's a little early right now, but they said they will do it. There were a couple of places in the floors that were damaged and they sent a guy down who fixed it. It looks fantastic now. Also, there are some little stress cracks that they are going to come back and fix.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there was a lot of getting together with family ramping up for Christmas, so we didn't get back with Clayton until the first business day after Christmas. Then we went the following business day after New Year's Day. We told them, “Okay. We sorted through this, and there's only two things that we'd like to change.” The manager of the store came in with our sales lady, and quickly, he was right on it. He sent us out the door with the quote to buy the home.

When we came back, he said, “Well, I'm sorry. It's not going to be that price anymore.” I said, “What do you mean? We're just taking your quote you gave us last week and we're going to take two things off of it.” He said, “That quote’s no good anymore.” I said, ‘What do you mean?” He said, “That's last year’s quote. It's past January 1st. Now the prices have gone up.” I told him, “Really. The way I see it, it was last week's quote. Is your quote not good for a week? Most quotes are good for 30 days.” He said. “Nope.” I said, “Well, maybe we need to reprice it then, and get an idea how much more it's going to be now that it’s January 1st." He told me that he already did it and it was $64,000 more. That didn't sit well with me.

It seemed very premeditated. A good businessman should have said, “Listen. I'm giving you this quote. And normally it's good for 30 days or whatever it is. Or two weeks. But I want to let you know we're getting ready to roll out into the next year. And on January 1st, the prices are going to go up. So keep that in mind in getting back to us and making your decision.” But he did not do that.

We started to walk out. We weren't going to do business with Clayton. But the sales lady stopped us and named this couple and she said, “They ordered this house. That house is being delivered tomorrow to us. They called yesterday and backed out of the sale and said they will relinquish their deposit and everything. But they decided to build a home instead. Perhaps the Ginns might be interested in that home, and it's already built and we know the price on it. And we can sell on that.” So we told them, “Okay.” But we had such a bad taste in our mouths. I said, “Well, let us know tomorrow when it comes. I'll let you know if we want to come look at it or not.” They contacted us the next day, and we settled down a little, and I told my wife, “Well, if you want to go take a look and at least leave it open, the price was a little less than what we were going to order.” But again, it was a lesser of a home. It was a three-bedroom home, not a four, and no baby grand piano was coming.

We looked at the home and bought it because for what it was, it was a good deal. There were a couple of things that weren't what we wanted. It was outfitted with stainless steel, and my wife isn't a stainless steel person and that's why the service guys are here right now. They're changing out the island with the stainless steel sink. It's a different size from the white things. So they're making good on that, but my wife didn't get to bring the baby grand piano and it had to be sold because of the way it was handled up front. Other than that, these guys have been great.

We walked in and paid cash on a Monday after a Friday closing on our home the week before. Then on a Tuesday, they were out here and brought the equipment and sized up the job. On Wednesday, they were here digging the footers, and everybody was right in line. The only thing we waited for was the bricklayer. We had to wait three weeks because he was very sought after. He's one of the best, and he did a super job. Other than what happened in the beginning, it has been a great experience. The dealership has supported everything and sent people.

My biggest downfall other than that initial dealing was Norris Homes. They quoted the white sink to change the stainless steel sink, but because it's a different size sink, we had to pay them to build an entirely new island to accommodate the white sink. They priced it for us and said, “We can build it.” We paid for it at closing last August 19th. But we have chased Norris Homes and I've gotten in my truck and driven out there to get materials because they quit answering the phones for my folks at Bristol Clayton Homes. They wouldn't even answer emails. They finally sent something in January. It was supposed to be stained. But they sent it white and naked. It had no doors. Then they ended up sending stained doors for the white cabinet that they gave us. Finally, we got the right thing this week and the guys are here to change it.

The home was ordered with white siding but we wanted red. They got it in stock, but we could not get them to send it to Bristol. They were sending homes and they wouldn't include the siding with it. So I had to get it. I lucked up and the first door I went to happened to be the plant manager’s office. So I knew where the main guy was. Then I got a call from a lady at Clayton Corporate and she said, “I'm going to see what I can do right now. But in the meantime, let me give you this Clayton customer advocacy phone number. In the event we can't get something shaken loose, you can call them. They will get things moving.”

As a result of that lady having a conversation with us, a rep ended up from Bean Station over in Bristol, and he was a relatively new guy to the company. He was in shock at the non-response that had gone on since August. So he said, “I've got this for action.” Within about six days, we had an island and parts to put it together. But customers shouldn't have to go to Bean Station to get resolutions on things, and not from August till March.

Ross was our rep and he was good. But with the contractors, a lot of them suck. According to Ross, they already fired the contractors that did a bad job. Ross moved from a salesman to a manager and he got all brand-new people coming in. But at that time, the contractors they had was very **. They left stumps off of the yard they told us they removed. The ones that did the blocks into the house, I had to go out. They left the slurry off of the front yard. When I went over to the other one looking for sticks to pick up to mow the yard, they threw all cut blocks off of the yard over there. I got rid of them. Whatever company was doing the blocks, they did the back to the house. We sent a message to Ross about the color of blocks that we wanted put on the house. They put the back up. We went three weeks with nothing being done.

I drove one day and the guy was putting all the blocks back up onto the pallet. I go, "What's going on here? Are they bad blocks or something?" He no but they were the wrong blocks. They were gonna have to tear that down. He added, "They said they're supposed to be beige." I told him that they were supposed to be that gray because the house is gray. I asked him to put the blocks back. We lost three weeks on that.

The people doing landscaping on removing the stumps told us they were gonna be there. They didn't remove everything. The reasoning was they didn't realize that there were hills and stumps. The house had to be moved back because of the hill. We wanted it dug into the hill but we were told that it wasn't possible. We're happy to be on top of the hill.

Another thing is there is a little hallway that you go through the laundry room to go out the back. They only put a switch in the very back of the house and nothing toward the front. If you're going out to go outside, on the front hallway, you have to flip the light on in order to see to make it to the other light and to light up that hallway so you can see down it all the way. I let Clayton know all those stuff.

Also, there was the thing with the light switches. With the one that does the kitchen and the little hallway by the master bedroom, you would think the second one would be for the one in the kitchen. No, they put the one by the master bedroom. The last one is for the other light for the kitchen. That doesn't make any sense. When you're coming through the front door and you hit the light switch, what lights which should be the closest to the door? Or even when you're walking out, shouldn't the porch light be the closest one to the door that you can turn it on? But when you're going out, you can flip it off. The furthest one away from the door, the three switches, is the outside one. I can go in there and I can get the electric company to change that. The next one is for the fan and the closest to the door is the main lights to turn it on.

Another thing is the trim is coming off. If you barely bump it, the trim work will come off. I got ahold of Ross and when they did one of the pieces, the manufacturer left a piece off on the house. Overall, we had no problem with the personnel at Clayton Homes. They did everything they were supposed to do. Ross and the guys are working with the manufacturer about getting somebody out to fix an issue with a siding that buckled.

There are just some of that little stuff that if tweaked would make the home a lot better than what it is. The kitchen cabinets are beautiful but when you open up the door, instead of being two levels a shelf, there's not another shelf inside the cabinets. There should have been a shelf there. Right now, I'm working on trying to get the yard done because the guy left a lot of stumps out in the yard. He also dug out the ditch and flattened it. The agreement was that they would put in one pipe. The guy found 50 different ways not to put the culvert pipes in.

Now, we have coming off the street into the house instead of going into the ditch and around the back. It runs straight down the driveway at us. His words were, "I don't think there was one there." We can't go back. They told Ross and Martin, who was the manager at the time, that there was nothing they could do and they weren't gonna come out and do anything.

The electrical people held us up too because they were supposed to come and put the box on. They said they would have us all hooked up before the electrical company comes out. The electricity ran all the lines that had the poles up. They were waiting on the electrician to put the box up on the house. We got very irritated about the process. When we started last year, we were told that the contractors will have everything done by May. May came and Ross said, "The contractor says because of the weather," which some of it was a bunch of crap because they just didn't want to do it right. "We'll have you in by the 4th of July." The 4th of July came around and it wasn't done yet. It became by Halloween and that didn't happen either. It became by Thanksgiving then Christmas. But that didn't happen.

We signed the paper in January and we couldn't move in until February because the landscapers didn't put the stairs in for us. We're waiting for them to put that in. That messes up on trying to get grass to grow because they only do so many feet away from the house. Also, the grass they put in was crap and died. It didn't even grow.

On all four corners where the house sits on the block foundation, you can stick your hand up in there. This means that anything can get up under the house like little animals and rodents. Clayton was supposed to fix that. Someone came and all he did was walk around the house with some spray foam. He sprayed gobs of foam that's hanging out where it's exposed. It looks horrible. They only fixed the corners. If you walk around the house, you can see where the house is not sitting flush on the cement block foundation and there are still places where animals can get up under the house. We've already killed two mice in the house because they were getting in under the house.

I have pictures that I took over the weekend of where that spray foam was sprayed in one corner. Now, it's even got the corner piece of the siding bowing out because he just stuck that can up in there and sprayed away and an animal can eat through that spray foam. Clayton is not fixing the problem but putting a band-aid on it. They should just get it fixed and be done. It's to the point that my husband told me that when I send the picture to Ashley, the girl I've been dealing with at Clayton, I was to let her know that they need to contact my husband and their sub can come on my husband's schedule when he was going to be at home. My husband was done and he's to the point that if they don't get it fixed right, he's ready to go somewhere and see if there's any help that he can get.

When you call Clayton and tell them, they send somebody out. The people that they're sending just walk around scratching their heads like they're not quite sure how they need to fix something. They leave and you have to hope that they will come back within a few weeks. It's been that way the entire time. When we were trying to get in the house, they would come and work a day or two then they would disappear. My husband is the one that had to keep contacting the sub to get them to come back out and finish so that we could get moved in. It was a lot of stuff.

There's a crack in the wall that has come up and we told Clayton about that weeks ago. The rep said she would notify the guy that was coming out to complete that trim and fix the pantry door and all the places on the foundation. But the guy that came did not know anything about that and those were not on his list. He went out and he came back in. He said, "I have good news and bad news. I can fix it, but I can't fix it because I don't have any mud on my truck." But if he was driving that far, shouldn't he have everything he would need? That's the way it's been the whole entire time.

The project manager called me and said that he didn't know what his schedule was this week and asked if I would be home on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He said he'll call me first thing in the morning and let me know if he's going to be there that day. I told him that I'd make sure I'd be home those days and I've stayed home to accommodate him coming out. But here it is, Friday, and I still haven't heard from him. And the regular tech guy is on vacation. So I think he was just stalling me until the guy gets back from vacation.

This has been an ongoing thing for two years and we've had to pretty much call them almost weekly to come out and fix things. I talked to someone 10 days ago, but it's still not a whole lot better. The problem is more on getting someone out and of them following through with what they say. I would not recommend anybody to Clayton, at least in this location. The home is good because it's a modular, but it still has to travel and come from three hours away on the highway. So we've had some trim that has come loose. But we really can't complain about it. We get a lot of compliments on it and we're happy with the construction of it. The problem lies with the local people because they're not hiring quality people.

Once I started putting the home together, it was a good process. It took probably a total of two weeks because the crew had to pack some clay and to make a foundation for it. Then they had to have the water lines hooked up and the pole had to be set. An AC had to be brought in and hooked up as well and you couldn't do one thing until you got another thing out of the way. The quality of the home is very good, especially the insulation. My electric bill hasn't been over 115 since I moved in. We’ve had cold weather and heat. I expect the middle of the summer to see somewhere between 150 and 250 but maybe not if it keeps going like it is now.