Tennessee firm acquires assets of G&I Homes

SCHUYLER — A Tennessee–based company has completed an asset acquisition of a Herkimer County–based retailer of manufactured and modular homes.

G&I Homes, which has locations across upstate New York, is now part of Maryville, Tennessee–based Clayton Homes, which describes itself as one of America’s largest home builders.

In the transaction, G&I Homes becomes a Clayton Homes brand, the new parent company said in a news release issued Feb. 10.

The transaction closed in late January, says Joe Bushey, regional VP of the Northeast region for Clayton Homes. Bushey spoke with CNYBJ on Feb. 16.

Clayton Homes, a Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) company, didn’t release any terms of its asset-acquisition agreement.

Through its affiliates and family of brands, Clayton Homes builds, sells, finances, leases, and insures manufactured and modular homes, along with commercial and educational buildings. Clayton has built homes since 1956. 

G&I Homes will continue to operate as a family-run business, and the Bushey family will still manage all six locations in New York, according to the Clayton Homes release. G&I’s offices are in Cicero, Schuyler, Vernon, Oneonta, Whitney Point, and Ballston Spa. 

G&I Homes is now operating as “a Clayton company,” says Bushey, who previously owned G&I along with seven of his siblings. He formerly served as the VP of G&I Homes and was sales manager for its six offices, he says. 

All eight siblings remain with the company in roles similar to what they did prior to the sale, says Bushey. 

However, G&I Homes is eliminating an accounting office that employed four people, since Clayton Homes has its own accounting department in its corporate office, according to Bushey.

'Biggest player'
Bushey says Clayton Homes is the “biggest player” in the manufactured-housing industry.

He knew Clayton had opened some locations in Pennsylvania and had heard New York was on its radar.

G&I Homes started working with the Clayton Homes factory in Lewiston, Pennsylvania to sell its homes in its role as an independent retailer, says Bushey. 

He figured Clayton’s expansion north could represent either a big opportunity for G&I Homes, or a big challenge.

“Clayton’s going to be coming to New York sooner or later and I’d rather be working with them than against them,” he says, recalling how he shared his feeling on the matter with his siblings.

The discussions that resulted in the asset sale started in the spring of 2014, Bushey says.

“The biggest advantage they brought to us is the capital resources that they have available,” he says of Clayton Homes.

Bushey acknowledges that G&I Homes had struggled the last few years and was unable to grow and make capital investments.

Expanded firm
With the addition of G&I Homes, Clayton Homes now does business in 32 states, a spokesman for Clayton Homes said in response to a CNYBJ email inquiry.

G&I Homes currently has 40 employees, he said. 

They are now employees of CMH Homes, Inc., the corporate name for Clayton Homes, with the local company doing business as G&I Homes, the spokesman adds. 

CMH Homes employs more than 2,100 people total.

Clayton Homes will handle employee recruitment and hiring for G&I Homes. It will also offer its Energy Smart home option to the G&I Homes home series, the company said. It allows homebuyers to upgrade their homes with “extra thick” insulation and other “energy-saving” features.

Gerald and Irene Bushey, the “G” and the “I” in the company’s name, founded G&I Homes in 1965. The Busheys launched the business as Latham Trailer Sales, but incorporated as G&I Homes in 1975, according to the firm’s website. The company was “one of the first in the industry to drop the name of ‘trailers’ and started referring to them as ‘homes’ to be more in line with what they were providing: housing,” the G&I website says.

Bushey says his parents retired in 1998. Irene Bushey died in 2009 and Gerald Bushey passed away in 2011, he adds.