| Our Recent Tour with Clayton Homes |
| As part of our 2025 corporate meetings, our team had the opportunity to tour Clayton Homes’ manufacturing facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. Factory-built housing is the backbone of our mobile home community business plans: new supply and infill directly drive occupancy, NOI, and investor returns. Getting a firsthand look at the manufacturing process reinforced our confidence in what we’re delivering to our residents. While we work with multiple incredible manufacturers across different markets, Clayton remains one of our strongest partners. The Manufacturing ProcessWalking the floor, we followed the process a home takes as it moves from beginning to end. Homes are built in sections and move through the facility on overhead and floor track systems. Homes are completed in roughly 5–7 days, and Clayton produces tens of thousands of homes each year, depending on demand. The Frame Every manufactured home starts with a steel chassis. Once the frame is in place, layers of insulation are added before the flooring system and plumbing are installed. Flooring and Walls Flooring finishes are installed according to the home’s design. From there, interior walls are built, followed by cabinetry and appliances. |
| Exterior walls are then lifted into place using an overhead track system. Watch below as a home moves down the line on Clayton’s track system. |
| Timelapse courtesy of Claytonhomes.com |
| The Roof Pre-built roof trusses are secured to the home, with lighting and insulation added during this stage. The roof is lowered and joined to the exterior walls, then sealed, insulated, and finished with paint.Siding and Interior Finishes Once the structure is complete, exterior crews add shingles, siding, doors, and windows, while interior teams focus on painting, trim, and finishing details. Each home is customized according to its floor plan and buyer options. |
| Safety FirstOf course, process alone doesn’t tell the full story. The tour began with a clear emphasis on safety. Every visitor was required to follow strict protocols, and it was obvious that the same applies for employees on the floor. For an operation that produces an impressive amount of homes each week, the culture of safety was noticeable and reassuring. Cleanliness and ControlEqually striking was the level of organization. Even with raw materials and finished products staged throughout the building, everything was in its place and the facility was easy to navigate. Because Clayton builds fully indoors, the process is shielded from most weather-related delays, material exposure, and inefficiencies. Their controlled-facility approach also enables tighter oversight on waste, resource use, and quality. As a purchaser, this gives us added confidence in both deliverability timelines and quality, which are critical in executing business plans. Focus on PeopleBehind the systems and processes was a huge emphasis on the people who make it happen. Each team member works at a specialized station with tasks sequenced to maximize efficiency, and if one area falls behind, others step in to keep production moving. Supervisors consistently emphasized training, communication, and safety, creating not only a quality product but also a stable, long-tenured workforce with some employees having been at the facility for more than 30 years. Manufactured Homes at ODCFor our funds, factory-built homes are critical to driving occupancy, stabilizing NOI, and delivering long-term returns. Touring the Clayton Homes facility reinforced the advantages of the manufactured housing model: speed, consistency, and, above all, quality, affordable housing for our residents. |