WORKS Accelerator visits Clayton for an glimpse into corporate innovation
The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center's WORKS Accelerator helps start-ups with high-growth potential better understand their place in the marketplace and prepare for scale.
For the second year in a row, the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center coordinated with Clayton to bring the participants in the WORKS Accelerator to the Clayton Headquarters in Blount County. Clayton is a long-time, billion-dollar private company focused on “opening doors to a better life.” Clayton and its affiliates were acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 and remain one of the leaders in the manufactured and modular home industries.
Ramsey Cohen, the Director of Industry and Community Affairs, and Matt Ewing, the Innovation Manager at Clayton, offered a tour of the facility to The WORKS participants. The ever-changing office space is flexible to accommodate employees working both in the office and remotely. It is packed with special meeting spaces, boardrooms, and private phone booths.
The space is complete with a full-service cafeteria, indoor wellness center, and outdoor seating next to the Blount County greenway system.
“It’s important to us that people enjoy their days here at Clayton. Happy people perform better,” Ewing said on the tour.
Since the company’s founding, Clayton has been pushing the limits of innovation in the modular and manufactured home industry. They are constantly exploring new ways to shave minutes off the production time, increase energy efficiency, and make housing more attainable for the everyday American.
“We like to use the word attainable, as opposed to affordable, because everyone’s version of affordability is different. We make home ownership more attainable and achievable than buying a traditional family home,” Ramsey said.
According to Zillow, the median cost of a home in the United States in the first quarter of 2025 was $416,900. Homes from Clayton typically range from $70,000 to a little over $200,000.
So, Clayton is able to offer a product and service at a price that is lower than the cost of buying a more traditional home option. But, there are several other modular and manufactured home production companies. So, what makes Clayton stand out?
Ramsey said it has to do with their progression of workplace value. Clayton executives are regularly working up the scale to offer better, more memorable experiences for customers. In essence, customers may come for the product, but they stay for the experience.
Ramsey and Ewing challenged founders at the WORKS Accelerator to consider they can apply the same mentality to their companies.
For more information about Clayton, visit the website.
For more information about The WORKS, visit the website.
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