Does anyone out there have any experience with Clayton Modular houses? I am looking for feedback, both positive and negative. I was impressed with the model homes I saw. I certainly would appreciate any help or advice you can provide - especially from owners of these homes. Thanks

my husband and i recently purchased a clayton modular home. i believe it is a richfield design. i do know it is top of the line. while the home has not been delivered to the site yet, it is on the dealership's lot. i am quite impressed with the quality as well as the salesman. we have been able to go into part of the home and i have to say, it is actually nicer than the display model. the base price was 129,900. we asked for upgrades such as a stone fireplace, dream kitchen, whirlpool garden tub. not one cent did the salesman add to the bottom line price. unbelievable. not only did we get these extra features at no cost, but the salesman added a washer and dryer as a gift because he overheard us talking about having to purchase these items. wow-was i ever surprised. he also added nice drapes to the master suite area. they will be putting the house on site this coming week and i am really excited. we could be in the house in as little as 2 - 3 weeks. the house is 1854 sq feet. the master suite consists of bedroom, sitting room and large bathroom with garden whirlpool bath, double shower, double sinks, and a separate room for the toilet. there is a living room with large stone fireplace, dining room, 2 decent size bedrooms for our two teenagers, nice hall bath with huge closet for extra clothes. each bedroom has a half walk in closet and master bedroom has two walk in closets. the kitchen is considered a dream kitchen - flat surface electric stove with microwave above, side by side refrigerator with ice and water access from the outside. the house has 9 foot ceilings, plaster over drywall, 7/12 pitch room. did i mention the utility room - very nice also. we are having a front porch added at a minimal cost. i can hardly wait!!!!! will post back when house has been set up. by the way, house was bought at the clayton dealership in elizabeth city, nc. salesman was kevin.

I am getting ready to either build a house or buy a modular home and I am interested in your opinion on modulars, assuming you have moved into your new home now. I am so undecided as to what to do. I love the mods and can get more for my money so I will probably go with one. I have been looking at Richfield, Champion, R-Anell etc.. and I am really overwhelmed by them all. I did NOT want a double-wide but I fell in love with one by Champion, I think model 362, and I am thinking I might be able to do it in a modular. Do you have any insight or advice now that you are living in yours?

Thanks very much for the info. I really appreciate you taking the time to share with me. Please let me know when you have moved in and what your thoughts are at that time. Our plans are to final details in late December and build somtime in Spring of 2007. Thanks again and look forward to your next report.

Sorry, but we have not purchased yet. To be built in Spring of 2007. Will post again when completed.

My wife and I just bought an on-frame clayton/richfiled mod home, 2205 square feet, 3 BRs, 2 1/2 baths, separate dining room, morning room, stone fireplace, 9' ceilings with large crown moulding, 2 entrance fluted columns, dream kitchen, W/D, heat pump, 7/12 roof, "L" shaped (3 sections) from LUV Homes in Kingsport, TN. It was set-up in Mt City, TN. We have spent 3 nights in it so far. Some final touch up work is still going on. We are occupying one bedrrom. No complaints. All sub-contractors were very professional and competent. We will add a front porch landing and a detached garage/workshop later. Things to look out for: TN mod taxes was more than $8,000, building permit fee for the lot that we purchased was more than $1,300 (we are in the city limits and have city water and sewer). We have a land/home mortgage, regular house deed (not HUD titled). House looks great in the neighborhood among a numer of brick stick-built homes. At this time, we give 10 stars to both the retailer (LUV Homes) and Clayton/Richfield for manufacturing such a high quality house. Will update this post/reply after some time passes.

Congratulations on your new home!!! I was just at LUV Homes in Kingsport the week before Christmas and they have some very nice homes. They had one on the front with a huge master walk-in closet that I wanted to look at again but they had sold it and was in the process of erecting a new one in its place. Would that by any chance be the one you purchased? If you feel I am being nosey and do not want to answer, I understand. I am just generally intersted.

Indeed, that is the one we bought. A number of small corrections are now being made --crownmoulding, carpet, various touch up stuff. We love the large dressing room/closet. bjackm

Update on our Clayton mod. So far, the dealer has done everything needed to correct any damages/problems in setting up our home. Still have a little drywall correction in a few places -- apparently, the force needed to join the 3 sections required lots of jacking etc. and a few cracks resulted, but nothing devastating. We lived in the home about 2 weeks in Jan during some very cold weather--the heat pump kept the house in even temp -- very good ventilation, very comfortable. All appliances worked beautifully. We love the design -- large windows very nice to view the mountains. Now have about one third of our furniture. Since this is a second home, we are now going slower and enjoying every minute. Now have a gravel driveway (maybe asphalt later). Still no yard leveling/landscaping. Repainting the large crown moulding with American Tradition high gloss enamel (had a flat paint)--also painting two rooms (a contrasting red tone wall in the living room and a clay color in the morning room.) Evaluation at this time: Very well designed; excellent dealer support; poor quality flat paint on wood; fairly good quality carpeting; overall construction quality--about an A minus. We are still very satisfied. Will update later --if anything catastropic happens we will let you know-- (we'll be back in house for the later part of Feb--we will probably spend about 40% of our time in this home). bjackm

Maybe the following experience might help others: to ensure that your under home pipes don't freeze when the temp is in single digits or below, I did the following to our Clayton Richfield modular--first, the concrete block perimeter foundation provided fairly good protection from strong cold winds, however the automatic vents needed some adjustment to make a tighter fit. Second, the fresh water inlet pipe was wrapped with heat tape and insulation and plugged into an outlet that we had added under the house. Third, a 60 watt lamp bulb was mounted near where the line entered the floor but away from any flamable materials (note: we had to add the elect. outlet as it is not required in a state coded modular). Fourth, a remote temperature sensor was placed near the pipe entry so we can read the under-house temperature from our laundry room. The under house temp has never gone under 39 degrees (usually in the 40s) when the outside temp is in single digits. The light bulb seems to make a difference of about 2 or 3
degrees warmer. The most important: a tight perimeter - thin skirting would probably not work. Probably very important, the heat tape and wrapped pipe. So far, no freeze ups. The heat pump is working like a dream. bjackm