Episode 2: Everybody Knows Eric

Champion Homes of Tennessee has a long history dating back to 1968. After a fire at their previous plant, they relocated to Dresden, Tennessee and have been operating there since 2008. They focus on building high-quality, energy-efficient homes with advanced technology like PEX plumbing. They also offer stylish design trends such as electric fireplaces and real wood beams. Their construction techniques prioritize durability and longevity, with features like 2x6 outer walls, thick steel frames, and residential-sized doors. Good morning and thank you for tuning in to your home talk living your best life with your host Luke. Thank you for tuning in on this fine Thursday morning. We appreciate you and guys our podcast last week went so well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for so much support. It means a lot to me. So if you would continue to share this podcast and also send it to your friends, share it on your Facebook page that would be greatly appreciated. If you're on Apple podcasts you can subscribe to that as well. But today we are talking to the Champion Home representative Mr. Eric Wallace. He's an industry expert again from Champion Homes and it's good to have you here today. Glad to be here. So I want to go ahead and get started and talk about getting to know the company a little bit. So some of the basics, so can you tell me a little bit about the history of Champion Homes? How did it all begin and what milestones have shaped the company over the years? All that good stuff. Tell me what you got. Absolutely, so I represent Champion Homes of Tennessee. We're built currently in Dresden, Tennessee, so far west Tennessee. Our plant is actually one of the oldest in all of Champion. We started in 1968 in Henry, Tennessee about 30-ish minutes from where we're at now. Operated there all the way until 2008. There was a fire at the plant in February of 2008, so we had to look for a new plant. Found one in nearby Dresden, Tennessee. Got that retrofitted, got it set up. It was actually, we're at an old bookbinding plant. It is the actual facility that we use now. Pretty cool. So we got, fire happened late February of 2008. We got it retrofitted and ready for production. Opened mid-July, you know, reopened mid-July 2008. Never shut down. You know, we're there. It's just a pretty cool story. You know, we've been Champion our whole life as a plant and got a lot of history there. That's pretty cool. For those of you that don't know, you may have kept up with me on Facebook. Last week I went to Tennessee to Greenville, to our Greenville store, and Eric was there and spent some time with Eric and got to learn a little bit about Champion. I also did a walkthrough of the Champion pair, so you can see that on our Facebook page, Uri's Home Center of Greenville, Tennessee, or you can go on to our national page, which is just Uri's Home Center. So I just wanted to throw that in just a second. Okay, so manufactured homes have come a long way since they were created, I guess you could say. Absolutely. So what are some of the most significant technological advancements or design innovations that your company has implemented in these homes? So, you know, we've done a whole lot of things with how they're built. Of course, I build a very, very heavy product, you know, two by six outer walls, two by four inner walls, the thick floor joists, you know, six-tangible center, that kind of stuff. You know, we do a whole lot to make sure that we are very green, or as green as we can be. Right. You know, we have a lot of technology that cuts waste. You know, when we purchase our sidewalls or our studs, we buy them pre-cut to the right length. You know, we make sure that we, in our well- insulated homes, which they all are, you know, we make sure that we're doing it as efficiently as possible. Everything in the plant is designed to build a very high-quality home with as little waste as possible. As far as the industry as a whole, my personal favorite advancement in technology is actually PEX plumbing. Anybody that's had an older manufactured home, or even a mobile home, which is what they were, you know, pre-76. That's right. That's a cuss word now. Yeah, it is. It is. You know, they originally used CPVC, then they started using that old gray pipe that caused issues. Did it galvanize? Well, the gray pipe was actually polypropyl butylene. Okay. That's a long word there, but it's, it would have issues with, like, leaking and wasn't as good as what, you know, PEX is what they use in almost all residential construction now. So, and that's in our industry, too. It's really cool because it's, it doesn't bust like, you know, old CPVC or galvanized pipes did. Yeah. That's what just happened to my house. Okay. So, my house was built in 1960-something. Okay. And I was sitting in the living room one day. I just got out of the shower and was sitting there just watching TV, and I noticed that there was water coming from under my floor. Okay. So, this is just a story time. And come to find out, it was those galvanized pipes that had busted under the shower, and it flooded my house, long story short, and had to get renovated and all this. But they put the PEX lines throughout the whole house, put it, you know, they had to run it through the walls, under the ceiling, in the ceiling. I mean, they ran that stuff everywhere. And I could tell just about, and I picked up a piece of it just to look, and I could tell that the way it's made, it's, it ain't gonna have no leaks if you got a good plumber. But anyways, but yeah, those PEX lines, they're, that's a, that's a good advancement, especially for the manufactured home industry. And now I've heard, and since I've not been in the business long, that manufactured homes can be incredibly stylish. Okay. And I've seen some of your homes, and they, they are an eye-catcher. Can you share any recent design trends, like beams in the ceiling that people are wanting, or anything that's popular among your customers? Yeah. So, you know, electric fireplaces are a big thing in, in a lot of the market. We recently brought back wood fireplaces with stone for us. You know, in the southern state, that's a really popular asset that we brought back. If you look at any of our recent virtual walkthroughs that have been done at either of the shows, we have these new beams that are, they're much thicker. They're about twice the thickness of what they used to be. They're real wood. They're actually a real stained wood product. And what we do with those, that's different than a lot of other companies, we actually order them in 16-foot sections. And so, if it's a smaller home, we just, you know, we cut it down. But they actually come in those sections. So we're not, we don't have the little collars that you see a lot in the industry, where they're piecing together smaller pieces of wood. Right. And that really, that gives it a much more... It's not choppy. Right. It's a much more refined look. It's what you want to see in your residential home. It's what you want to see when you're living. And then from a cleaning perspective, just less places for cobwebs and stuff. That's right. That's right. And I have seen, in the Champion Parish that we looked at last week, shiplap was in that home in the foyer, and I think in some other places. I can't remember exactly. Yes. So that one had shiplap in the foyer, had shiplap on the entertainment wall, and it had shiplap on the coat rack in the hall between bedrooms two and three. So obviously, that is a popular demand, is the shiplap. And I've, shiplap is, I'm biased. I love it. So yeah, I think it gives a wall some character and things. But I will say that that is a trend that's up and coming. The next thing I want to talk about is the way that you guys craft quality homes. The quality of construction is very crucial for homeowners, and there may be listeners right now that they're on the fence. Should we get a stick-built home? Should we buy a manufactured home? Should we even buy a champion home? Why, you know, why should we do this? So what, if you know this part, I know you're not on the constructing side, but what materials and construction techniques does your company put to use to ensure the longevity and durability of your mobile homes? Absolutely. So our homes, you know, two by six outer walls is where we start. You know, our floor joists are 16 inches on center. We use thick steel made here in America for our frames. Of course, you know, we sell off-frame modular homes, too, where those come off. But on all, you know, all of our homes for their travel, you've got, you know, thick American steel frames. Our homes come wrapped in OSB. You know, before, outside of the walls, we put the OSB before we ever put the house wrap on, before we put your vinyl siding on. That adds a whole lot of stability to the homes. You know, and when these homes are going down the road at, you know, they say 55, but we all see them going down the road 70, 75 miles an hour. You know, you want your house as sturdy as it can be. So we do a lot of things with that. Something else that my facility does that is different than industry standard, which is really cool, most of the industry uses 1932nd OSB floor decking. We use 2332nd, which is what you see in residential housing. What does that mean? That means our houses are heavier than most. Right. So yeah, that, you know, that changes freight and some stuff like that. Yeah. But it's a true benefit to the end customer. Yeah. You know, your floors are level. You don't have issues. I'm a big guy. You know, our floors don't bounce. That's right. Like some of the things, especially, you know, in the past. You know, we use engineered truss systems on our standard roof pitch. We use the hinge roof systems with knee walls and keystones when we do our 612 roofs. You know, we are all about building a heavy, high-quality home. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, I said earlier, all of our interior walls are 2x4s, so you don't have any 2x3s. You don't have any of that. All of our doors, our exterior doors, are residential sized. Like you can, if you ever decide... Something happens, you go to Lowe's, you just get one. Something happens, you ever decide, you know what, I just want a different front door. Yeah. You don't have to cut out the wall. You don't have to order a custom door to fit. You know, our front doors, our rear doors, our patio doors, they are all residential sized. Now, you know, I'm not gonna say we're the only manufacturer or the only plant in the industry doing it, but there aren't many. Yeah. And that's just one of the benefits of buying from us. Yeah. So this is kind of how I explain this to customers who say, you know, well I'm just gonna build a stick built home. I want to, you know, have it on this land, whatever they may be saying. But some people tend to forget this important factor of these homes, guys, and that is they are built in a warehouse and they are not getting wet. They are not in, you know, in the line of a storm. They are inside where there's probably air condition and they're being built that way versus a stick built home that is outside in all weather conditions and things like that. So I think that is a huge, huge, huge benefit to owning a manufacturer or modular home because they're both built in the same factory, in the same vicinity. So that's something to always keep in mind as well. So one thing I want to ask is, well, in regard to like the quality of the homes and things, are there any like fun or surprising facts about the production process of the manufactured homes that most people may not be aware of? If you ever get the chance to do a factory tour, I can't recommend it enough. There are also... You guys offer factory tours? You know, for respective customers, if our dealers want to bring them out there, you know, more than happy to. You can even walk through with me. Okay, yeah. Eric Wallace, everybody. I probably set you up with our production manager because he knows everything, Josh Stenberg. But, you know, I'd be happy to do it as well. It's really cool to see them be built. You know, you've got, depending on the plant, you know, it's a production line so things are built in sections. You have anywhere, depending on the size of the plant, from a hundred to two hundred people working on your house at one time. You're not gonna get that. You can't do it in stick build. Yeah. You know, there's not enough space, but because of the way the production facility is built, you know, you're cutting the frame in one section, building your cabinets in another, building your entire roof system, you know, in that section. It's really cool. I always like being out there and seeing them put the roof into place. Yeah. You know, once the walls are raised. Yeah. It's really cool. It's cool to watch the electricians with what they're doing. You know, they go in. I like it. See, there's one thing that a lot of people don't know about the industry. There's inspections that have to be done at each step in our industry. We're way more highly regulated than the site built industry is. Right. There's a lot of codes you have to go by. Right. With things like that. You know, and the HUD code gets revised every like four or five years, and it gets stricter every year or every time it goes there. You know, it's never once gotten more lax. Yeah. But, you know, with all of those inspections, the cool thing is you can see it with this. Right. You know, so you you can rest assured that someone who has to report to the state, who has to report to the federal government, has made sure that when where a power line is ran through the wall, there's a strike plate. You know, you've got, it's just, it's so different than what you expect. Now, I'm never going to tell somebody don't site build a house. Right. There are some excellent site built absolutely, you know, builders out there. I just think that we aren't really, a lot of people view our industry as the alternative or what they're settling for. Mm-hmm. And when you really look at it, you're not settling. Yeah. You know, there are so many things in our industry that are advantages over site built. Yeah. There are just so many things that that we can do that if you haven't been in a manufactured home in even the last five years. You know, I've been in the industry since 2018 and I've seen huge changes just since then. Right. You know, so especially if you're somebody... Manufactured homes are really slip-on nowadays. Yeah. They are big. Some people are like, oh my lord, I'd never live in a manufactured. I would never do that. Guys, I'm telling you and we're telling you now in this and we can't tell you until we're blue in the face, but you know, they are built, some of them way stronger and more structurally sound than a stick built home. You know, one thing I always like to ask people, because I came from retail, right? I've only been a wholesale for about a year now. You know, when they ask, you know, why would I buy this over a site built home? How many site built homes do you know that you would, that would make it down the road at 70 miles an hour? Yeah. You know, when we do our modular homes, how many homes would you, that are site built, would you feel comfortable picking up with a crane? Yeah. We do it every day in this industry. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's, they have to be able to withstand that. You know, most homes in America are still built with two-by-fours. Yeah. You know, all of the high-end builders in the industry like we are, you know, two-by-sixes is just standard. It's just, it's just what we do. Yeah. You know, we're very energy efficient. You know, we're Energy Star certified here at Champion Dresden. Okay. And a good fag, y'all. Yes, I mean, it's, there's just so many advantages. Yeah, yeah. So, and I want to throw this in there really quick. And this is on, on our side. If, and this, my aim for this podcast is not to be just for one sole company. This is for us as an industry, as a whole. But I want to, I want to do a little advert here. So, when you buy from Uree's Home Center, we, all of our new homes include a lifetime warranty. So, every single home at Uree's Home Center includes a lifetime home warranty from Cloversure. They're a warranty service provider that provides care and repair for your home for a lifetime. The following are covered under your warranty. That would be kitchen appliances, plumbing and water heater, electrical, air conditioning, and heating. So, just wanted to throw that in there so you can rest assured with Cloversure. And that is just an advert I wanted to add. And it's very important when buying these new homes. And that's, that's strictly for Uree's Home Center. Not sure about everyone else, but that is for us, the company that I work for. And that is one thing that is very important in our industry, is the lifetime warranty. So, so don't forget, don't forget that. But looking ahead, so some things I want to talk about are future visions and exciting projects for Champion Homes. Again, we're here with Mr. Eric Wallace with Champion Homes. So, looking ahead, on what you can tell me, as much as you can tell me, what exciting projects or innovations can we expect from you guys in the near future, if any? Yeah, so Champion Homes as a whole, the entire company, we are working with developers across the country. We are really trying to, we're doing a whole lot more with your spec houses, you know, your site developments, you know, where homes getting put in on a piece of property, getting finished, and then, you know, being sold on the real estate market. Yeah. So there's a whole lot of that. We have Genesis is one of our brands that's doing that. Doing a lot with, there's something out there called Cross Mods. Cross Mods are based on the manufactured home platform, but they have all these requirements that they have to meet. But they actually, they're all eligible for 30-year financing, even non-FHA 30-year financing. You know, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac programs. There's a lot of cool stuff with that because they have all of the requirements, but they're a lot less expensive than doing an off-frame modular home. Yeah. You know, there's no crane costs and stuff like that. You know, my plant in particular, we just started with our Energy Star certified. You know, it's almost time for the Louisville Home Show, you know, in January, coming up real quick. You're gonna see some really cool stuff from up there. Hey, I'm gonna be looking. I keep my eyes open. Yeah, unfortunately, they won't let me talk about that today. Okay, okay. But we got some cool stuff coming out. That's alright. So that just gives us something to look forward to. And so, really what I've noticed, being in the business, is that manufactured homes can offer a very unique living experience. So I didn't know if you had any stories or testimonials from satisfied homeowners who have had just a great experience in their home and in the Champion brand. Just if you know anybody off the top of your head, you don't have to say their name, just if there's any testimonials that you would like to share, you can do that. You know, I spent quite a few years in retail. Yeah. One of my favorite things, and something that this industry does very, very well, unfortunately, house fires still happen in America. Yeah. Yeah, they still happen in the United States. Across the world, I guess. Yeah. They still happen. And something that we really do, and this isn't just Champion, every factory I know of, when we have a retailer that has a customer that's had a house fire, we go above and beyond to meet their needs, get their home built as quickly as possible, you know, and get them back in a home. You know, a house fire or a flood is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a family. And one of the things I love about this industry is how well we take care of those people. I've had the honor of taking care of quite a few people who've had house fires. I was in Paducah, Kentucky, which is where I grew up, is where I was a retailer. A huge tornado in 2020 took out Mayfield, took out Dawson Springs. You know, we had the pleasure of being able to take care of those people and get them back into home and try and get them to some semblance of normalcy. Yeah. I've also been blessed to sell Champion product the entire time I've been in the industry. Paducah is a little over an hour away from Dresden, Tennessee, and so we always carried that product. And, you know, they were one of the manufacturers that worked with us the most to get people into homes, you know, when they were homeless, living in FEMA units or displaced in hotels. Yeah. That's one thing that I don't care if I'm in this industry or if I go do something else. I'll never forget what we were able to do for people in those situations. Absolutely. You know, honestly, everyone in the manufacturing home industry, they're all a family. You know, it doesn't matter if, you know, you're selling for this person selling for that person. I mean, we all work. We all come from, you know, similar backgrounds. We, you know, we've been in the industry for a while. So we try to accommodate everybody. But what I want to say, he mentioned that he was in retail. So I'm going to go ahead and put you on the spot here for a second. He likes to crack on me because I am from Albany, Georgia in the area. And Eric actually used to work in Albany, Georgia. So shout out to my Albany people if you're listening. But Albany has always been a great place to me and my family. Eric had a little bit of different experience in Albany. He would tell you to watch out. He would tell you to watch your back as you go through there. You might get shot or something. But how long were you in retail in Albany or, you know, what did you do there and things like that? Yeah. So I actually started in retail in 2018 in Paducah. Like I said earlier, I was a sales manager for a company called Family Dream Homes. They're the biggest independent dealer in Kentucky. I've got three locations there, two in Florida. Champion recruited me to go run a store in Albany, Georgia. So I was actually there for about seven months when Justin, my sales manager, Shout out to Justin. Yep. Justin's the man for it right there. That's right. That's right. You know, found out that I was there and that I wasn't particularly happy with Albany. Now, Champion's been real good to me. But I wasn't really happy living there in Albany. He's like, hey, you want to come to Dresden, come closer to home? Yes. Man, I tell you what, he gives me heck for being from Albany and being in the area. I mean, hey, I'm impressed you made it that far. You know what I mean? You're in your 20s, like that's got to be a great life expectancy for Albany. Well, yeah, yeah. And like I said in my last podcast, I worked for a funeral home in Albany, and that's what I did before I kind of switched over and came over to the manufacturer home business with Richie. But hey, I love Albany. That's just me. Shout out to my 229 folks over there, man. I love y'all. I met a lot of good people there. I just, I'm a lot closer to home now. That's right. And honestly, I get to do a lot of cool stuff. And you have a wife and kids. I do. You know, they get to see grandma, grandpa. Yep. That's right. You know, we're down there. We didn't know anybody. Yeah. Uh, the really cool thing, and one thing I'll always be thankful to Justin for, I've gotten a, I've gotten to do a lot of awesome stuff in the wholesale side, and I've only been in it about a year. Yeah. You know, I've got to meet a lot of cool people. Richie here, you know, at your ease, obviously yourself, uh, just all kinds of people. I have dealers in eight different states. Yeah. So I do a lot of traveling. I get to see a lot of people and we get to help a lot of people, uh, get into homes. Yeah. And that was, you know, that's the thing. This business is, whether you're wholesale, retail, it's about helping somebody, helping whatever process you're involved in throughout, uh, the home, the home buying process. The, the goal is to help customers no matter where, no matter where we're at. And that's from a retailer to a wholesale. We're here to help you guys. Um, but, uh, just some fun questions, just some things that, you know, uh, kind of close us out. If you could design a home for any famous historical figure, who would it be and what features would it have? Ooh, tough question. It is. It is. Um, I'm going to put him on the spot here. Oh, no worries. I'm going to go with Abraham Lincoln. Okay. That's exactly who I was thinking. All right. So I'm going to go with Abraham Lincoln. I put some bulletproof glass in that thing. I know that. Ooh, okay. All right. All right. Uh, I, I love being able to do rustic stuff. Yeah. Uh, we, we have some really cool homes that, that, you know, with our options that you can make really rustic. Uh, a home I would actually make for him is the Paris. There you go. Okay. We just did a tour on that by the way. So go check it out on Facebook. Yep. And then if, if you look online, we, we have some retailers that have stocked it in a more rustic style. Okay. You guys have our modern style, which is how we had it at our show. Yep. Uh, you know, with the dark cabinets and they use dark shiplap instead of the white shiplap that we used in years. Uh, I really liked that look too. It kind of just goes to the versatility of that home. And I can find that on your website that the rustic, I'm assuming wanted to look or ours, either one. We have it. Yeah. You know, and there's, so to answer your question, Abraham Lincoln, the Paris rustic style. Okay. Well, I also was going to pick Abraham Lincoln. I don't know why, but that's, that's what I was thinking. But you know, bless his heart. He, uh, I, I'm, I'm not very good in history, but I think he got shot, I think in the movie theater or something like that. Yeah. So I would put some bulletproof glass in that thing. I would actually just put a movie theater in his house. Okay. Um, you know, that's just some fun stuff right there to talk about, but, um, so someone's home can bring people together, can bring family together. Um, so you know, any stories involving a manufactured home from your company that, that brought people together that, um, Absolutely. I've got a, I'm glad you mentioned this cause I was going to find a way to work it in. Okay. So we have a house called the Sydney. Okay. Uh, the Sydney is our most popular big house. Uh, you know, it's 2,305 square feet. I mean, it's, it's a big one. I wouldn't want to claim that. Uh, and so in its standard version, it's a four bedroom, two bath, two living room. Uh, we have, we actually, our plant came up with a design for the Sydney, uh, for a family that mom, you know, dad had passed mom needed to move in with them. Their current house wasn't, wasn't going to work. So they wanted something, but they wanted mom to have her own space. Yeah. Uh, you know, they didn't want mom to feel like she was settling or anything like that. So we actually have designed a Sydney that has two primary suites. How about that? Uh, you know, one on each end of the house. So yeah, it shares a kitchen, but essentially, uh, each primary suite has its own separate living room. If they want, you know, other than the kitchen, they never have to see each other. Right. How about that? That's just some of the cool stuff you can do in the industry. Uh, and with us, we have other houses that we can do that too, but the Sydney is the only one that we like publicly offer that has the two primary suites. Uh, now I think it's really cool. I didn't even know that. So that's, that's good to know. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. So yeah. And as far as that goes, something else that we can do in Dresden that a lot of manufacturers won't do, we do offer a, on a case by case basis, a true role in handicap accessible shower. Uh, and we can do that in either your primary bath or the hall bath. So if you have someone who has become disabled or, or, you know, or is disabled or just even needs a little bit of help, you have some mobility issues, you can get a house from us that has that. You don't have to buy something. That's probably a good selling point. It is. And you don't have to buy something and then get a contractor to come in and change it. Right. It just, it comes that way. Uh, that's, that's good to know. I didn't know that. Yeah. Any retailer that carries Champion Dresden's product has that option. Okay. That's, that's good to know guys. Uh, so don't forget that, but Hey y'all, I thank you so much for tuning in, uh, this morning with us. I know it's early and I hope you enjoyed listening to this while you're getting ready or driving to work again. Thank you so much, Eric, for joining us and coming on the podcast there. Anything you want to add? Hey, come see your reason by Champion homes in Dresden, Tennessee. There you go. Built in Dresden, Tennessee guys. But again, thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate you all so much again, share, share, share. And I thank you so much. And I'll see you next week. You have again, watch to listen to another episode of your home talk, living your best life with your host, Luke. Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll see you next week.