News & Notes Archive - February 2006
Rating the HUD-Code builders—notes from a year-long look into the heart of an industry and a culture
This month marks the debut of my second consumer guide to manufactured homes, The Grissim Ratings Guide to Manufactured Homes. I am very excited to see the book published at last. I truly believe it’s going to be very helpful to consumers. Having authored eight books previously, I can also safely say writing this book was the most demanding of them all.
I figured researching the Ratings Guide would involve at least a year of grinding, at times frustrating effort. It took all that and then some. Having learned that this can be a secretive industry, wary of outside inquiries, I anticipated resistance from some manufacturers.
To minimize the potential of a startle reaction, I adopted the following protocols: First, call the company and ask for the name and fax number of the person in charge of sales and marketing. Send that individual a 1-1/2 page fax on letterhead stationary that opens with a mention of my having written The Complete Buyer’s Guide, followed by a brief description of the work in progress, the questions to be asked and a request for 10-15 minutes of phone time with that person or anyone else they designate. Wait four or five business days and, if no response, call and leave messages every few days, taking care to be polite and cheerful.
Pretty straightforward, right? Wrong. Some of the builders behaved as if I was with 60 Minutes. Take Burlington Homes of Maine. Called and obtained the name and fax number of the marketing manager. Faxed the query, waited nearly a week. No response. Called. Was told he works out of another building with a different fax number. Faxed a second query. Waited five days. No response. Called back. Was informed he had left the company months earlier, that the receptionist who knew this must have been on her lunch break. When asked who was currently in charge of marketing, she refused to disclose a name, her voice rather chilly, instead agreeing only to pass on to that person my inquiry.
“Would it help if I faxed the person listed on your web site as the sales manager?” I asked cheerfully. A pause. Permission reluctantly granted. Faxed a third inquiry. Waited five days. No response. Called and left a voice message, again, and yet again. No response. I called the company’s receptionist and asked if a fax to the company’s president would be delivered. She said it would. I sent a fax that read in part:
“For the past 33 days (faxes and phone calls) I have tried without success to speak with anyone at Burlington Homes who can spare about 15 minutes to answer a few questions about your home brand....To be honest, I’m quite mystified why my requests have met with silence. At the very least such a conversation would be an opportunity for a company spokesperson to promote what by all accounts is a fine product.....A listing for Burlington will still be included in the guide with the best information we can obtain from other sources.....I sincerely regret if this fax, along with my previous fax and phone calls, has been in any way an annoyance.”
Silence. Finally, I approached a third party MH professional who said he would be seeing Burlington’s chief executive the next day and would personally convey my interest. He did so, later reporting he’d been told someone would get back to me. Silence.
Elapsed time: six weeks. I decided that under the comment section for Burlington and other unresponsive companies it would be fair to say “Home shoppers should not be blamed if they find this behavior troubling,” and leave it to the consumers to draw their own conclusions.
As it turned out, the average time before connecting with a knowledgeable spokesperson ended up being just under three weeks.
Now, you’d think that any company’s marketing department would be thrilled with a media inquiry asking them to sing the praises of their products. Some were, but I quickly got used to initial call-backs saying “Please remove us from your survey list—we’re not interested” or We’ve decided not to participate.” To which I would invoke my Please-don’t-throw-me-in-that-briar-patch reply, explaining ever so nicely that their full listing will be in the guide whether or not they participated. That usually resulted in my being put in touch with someone helpful.
But even then I ran into startle reactions. Here’s a couple of quotes reconstructed from my notes taken while interviewing company spokespeople:
He: “We used to be everywhere but we shut down a tremendous number of sales centers. but there’s no reason to mention that. You don’t want to get into that.”
Me: “Actually I do. It’s part of your company’s history.”
He: You’re going to publish this? That we used to have 300 stores, that we went into bankruptcy?
Me: Sure. It’s all part of the company’s background. It’s public knowledge.”
and:
He: “I really kinda hate for you to put out nationally that one of our best-selling models has 2”x3” interior walls and single pane windows.”
Me: “But that’s the truth, isn’t it?”
He: “Yeah, but that’s not getting us any business. Nobody wants to see that.”
As the months passed my inquiries led me further south of the Mason Dixon Line, into the very heartland of the Big Bubba builders. While the majority of producers were friendly and cooperative, a significant minority were variously unresponsive, prickly, suspicious, argumentative, and clearly reluctant to answer questions on the thickness of their wallboard, how their carpets are attached to the floor, and how their electrical outlet boxes are secured to the walls.
“We just want to say we build for all price ranges,” responded one spokesman when I asked for a rough price range. “We don’t want to print a number. Retailers will price what the market will bear. Start publishing numbers and customers will call me, not you guys.”
I believe he regarded his retailers as his customers, not the actual home buyers.
In the South I did a fair bit of phantom shopping over the phone. Talked with some nice well-intentioned sales people, but some were astonishingly uninformed and/or ethically challenged. At a sales center owned by a larger builder of low-end homes, the salesman there had no clue what OSB (Orientated Strand Board) or VOG (Vinyl or Gypsum) was, but went on at some length to explain how battens on wallboard are superior to tape and textured dry wall because during transport they allow for movement between wallboard sheets, thus preventing cracks forming.
He went on to boast that not only is every home installed absolutely level, but when it comes out of the factory it is taken and subjected to a wind test equal to a Category 3 hurricane.
Some of the interviews, particularly with builders whose construction ratings were below average, were stressful. “I don’t want you to publish a book that’s a weapon against me,” I recall one factory sales manager arguing. “I see here where you also have a book on how to find a reputable dealer and how to negotiate a fair price,” he continued.” I certainly do have a problem with someone, with some third party, doing the negotiating. I don’t think it’s up to you or I to write a book telling home buyers how to negotiate, because that’s gonna make the dealer mad with me, contributing to that.”
I replied I understood his point of view and our interview continued without further incident. I can appreciate the man’s candor. I felt he had voiced the unspoken attitude of many of his peers.
Looking back, I can safely say this ratings guide has been the most challenging book I have ever written. The writing was never easy, certainly not exciting. Putting a number on a company’s construction quality has never before been done. But I truly felt the time has finally come for some agency or entity or individual to take a considered look at this industry’s builders, to see how they stack up against each other, and share the result with both consumers who buy and live in their homes and the industry that builds them. I will be the first to say the guide isn’t perfect—but it’s a start.