MIDDLEBURY, Vt., May 5 /PRNewswire/ — In the midst of all the bad news
regarding the state of residential housing and the economic woes of home
builders, there is one home manufacturer that has more than held its own in
the housing downturn. In fact, sales have increased 300% in the past year.
The company is Connor Homes of Middlebury, Vermont. The company builds
exquisite — and affordable — colonial reproduction “kit” homes that can
be shipped anywhere in the world; and the world is beating a path to its
door.

   

For one home manufacturer to attain triple-digit growth while the
mainstream housing developers are issuing projections covered in red ink
suggests the malaise of the housing industry may have causes beyond the
collapse of the sub prime lending market alone. Michael Connor, founder and
CEO of the company, believes the failure to provide an appealing housing
stock to the buying public is partly to blame, noting that the predominant
residential architectural style in America has devolved to a level
derisively described as the “McMansion.” Connor points out that the
McMansion might be the only recognizable style in American architectural
history that is so universally panned by architects and consumers alike.

    By providing an alternative based on classical architectural forms,
Connor Homes has tapped into a market niche that appears to have been a
sleeping giant. Indeed, an entire movement known as the “New Old House
Movement” has sprung up as a backlash to the lack of distinction of
architectural design that permeates the American landscape today.

    The company specializes in historically accurate homes that it
manufactures in its state-of-the-art facility in Middlebury, Vermont.
Connor’s in-house designers work hand-in-hand with skilled craftsmen in the
shop to create elegant, architecturally rich homes that look as though they
have graced the landscape for generations. Each home is as individual as
the homebuyer who will live in it. The home “packages” are then erected
on-site by a builder selected by the homebuyer. This unique approach to
buying a new home offers a pathway to quality building that is unavailable
elsewhere, by methods the mainstream housing industry has largely ignored
or demeaned as less authentic than on-site stick building.

    While the company’s design style is firmly rooted in the past, its
progressive attitude toward the advantages of off-site manufacturing
extends to its approach to “Green’ building which the company believes is a
critical factor in its current success. The company eschews any structural
building products that cannot last indefinitely with normal routine
maintenance. Connor drives home the sustainability aspect of the company’s
building philosophy by stating that “If Monticello had been built with many
of the structural products found in most of today’s new homes, they would
be selling tickets to an archeological dig, not a museum.”

    Connor believes that by combining modern manufacturing efficiencies and
gracious, classically inspired architecture his company is redefining the
way “new old” homes can and should be built in America today, and judging
by the recent successes in the depressed housing economy, he may well be on
to something.

    FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

    Michael C. Connor, Connor Homes, 802-382-9082 x 101,
mconnor@connorbuilding.com

Bennington VT, Press Release

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