Clayton Homes

“During those tough times with 20% interest rates, Clayton grew sales by 25% each year while keeping factories open and sales centers staffed.”

“When the industry standard for double wides was to build them separately and hope they fit together at the site, often involving a sledgehammer, Jim insisted on building them as one unit, then sawing them apart.”

“In one weekend, they'd sold 26 homes. In one month, they sold 86 homes from a single location. They sold 700 homes in a year. A record that still stands.”

“The manufacturing plant lost money for six straight years.”

“Clayton Holmes and Berkshire Hathaway entered into a merger agreement for 1.7 billion dollars in cash.”

“My experience he reflected later indicates that over 80% of legal claims Originally, because of a failure to deliver customer satisfaction. Therefore, it has always been my conclusion that most of our claims can be eliminated if we simply meet or exceed custom…”

“Berkshire could do something that nobody else could do. They could hold the loans on their own balance sheet rather than sell them to other people.”

“For 30 years, Clayton Holmes operated with a legal department of one person, Jim himself.”

“I had dinner with Jim Clayton a few weeks ago, and he mentioned why they were so good at underwriting. They would Keep the very last payment, the most risky payments. This gave them every incentive to be very conservative with who they were lending money to.”

“Jim realized that 80% of legal claims weren't about the product. They were about a failure to deliver customer satisfaction.”