THE COMMITMENT
“Solitaire builds the finest manufactured homes to be found in the southwest. Our commitment to maintaining our hard-earned and well-respected position in the marketplace is unwavering. By visiting one of our factory direct outlets, you will discover the extraordinary value we diligently build into every model. If you should choose to buy a new home from us, you can count on our making every effort to make your home-owning experience a proud and pleasant one for many years to come.”
– D.J. Hogstad – President, Solitaire Inc.
THE START
Almost fifty years ago, Mr. Jerry Elliott and Mrs. Helen Elliott, the founders of Solitaire, took a hard look at the manufactured home industry and came to some profound conclusions regarding the quality of materials, workmanship, and pricing of factory-built homes. They believed that one should be able to find a home of the same quality as the site built, but at the lower manufactured home prices. This belief still holds true today.
- They found that most manufacturers used inferior quality materials that were designed to last eighteen to twenty years: products like particleboard flooring, vinyl-clad sheetrock, cheaply made faucets and fixtures, very low-quality tubs and showers, plastic trim, and fake wood molding, as well as many other products that simply were not designed for long-term use.
- They also realized that thousands of dollars were being spent each month in advertising to attract new buyers, and, while it is a fact that advertising attracts new business, it does nothing to add value to the product. Ideal for the seller, but eventually adds to the price of the product.
- Another area of loss that they discovered is in the realm of home production. Other manufacturers build multiple floor plans in a single series. For example, they will build one floor plan for a customer, then retool the assembly line, which takes approximately 400 worker-hours (or 400 workers, 1 hour), to build a different floor plan and then retool again for a different floor plan and so forth in an endless and wasteful cycle. As one can imagine, this adds seriously to the cost of the home. This is a cost without gaining any quality or value for the extra expense. To control pricing, the manufacturers are forced to utilize cheaper products to operate in this manner.
By operating in this endless and wasteful cycle, the manufacturers try to offer every conceivable change in the layout and structure of the floor plan to overcome the customer’s objections related to the actual quality (or lack thereof) of the home. This practice, while convenient, adds nothing to the quality or value of the home.
THE DIFFERENCE
Jerry and Helen decided to do things a little differently with Solitaire. When you choose Solitaire, you can ensure that your home is built with construction to last a lifetime, and with quality that matches or exceeds that of a site-built home.
- From Single Wide Floorplans to Double Wide Floorplans, Solitaire has a stellar reputation for exceptional quality of materials and workmanship including materials, such as, nailed siding and shingles, hand-painted interior and exterior, thermal pane windows, class A plywood floors, and so much more.
- Solitaire spends extraordinarily little, or no money at all, on advertising. Instead, we rely on our growing family of over 40,000 homeowners to provide testimonials of their positive experiences with Solitaire.
- Solitaire builds homes in runs of twenty-five to thirty homes for each model before retooling to build a different floor plan.
With Solitaire, Mr. and Mrs. Elliott created a way to minimize wasteful spending, thus saving thousands of dollars, and building a better product, which provides our customers long-term quality at a lower price.
THE LOCATIONS
Our locations in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico display some of the finest homes at a reasonable value. With a commitment to quality and excellence, we strive to provide you with a positive home-building experience. We are ready to get you a home you love and have a great experience doing so.
