Maryville, Tenn. – October 29, 2026 -- Clayton, which built more than 59,000 homes nationwide in 2025, has released the teaser for "Built: A Story of Factory-Built Housing in America," a documentary short that makes the case for manufactured housing as an answer to the U.S. attainable housing shortage.
Film draws on Harvard, HUD and Oak Ridge experts
Barrett Burgin directed the film, and Big Slate Media produced it. Interviewees include representatives of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the Oak Ridge History Museum and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alongside historians, researchers, builders and housing advocates.
The film traces factory-built housing from the World War II era in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to the present. It examines how the sector has responded to supply constraints and opened new routes to homeownership.
Release coincides with two industry anniversaries
Production overlapped with the 50th anniversary of the HUD Code's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards and with Clayton's 70th anniversary. The company was founded in 1956. Clayton says the film aims to correct perceptions of a housing category it describes as often overlooked or misunderstood.
Harvard's Herbert backs factory construction as an affordability lever
Dr. Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, says the path to homeownership has become harder for many households. He argues that modern manufactured housing, with the efficiencies of factory construction, can widen that path and deserves a larger role in the national debate on housing supply and affordability.
Burgin frames the documentary as a challenge to assumptions about what a house is, and calls manufactured housing a forward-looking response to the current housing crisis. Clayton positions the film as a long-term educational resource on the topic.
Clayton's portfolio spans modern manufactured, Tiny, CrossMod and modular homes.