Doug Gorman, owner of Home-Mart, 9516E. Admiral Pl., has done something no one in the manufactured home industry had done. He won the manufactured home industryís Retailer of the Year award three years in a row. Some have won the award three times, but not consecutively.

And to add to his list of honors, he just received the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamberís Small Business Person of the Year award.

Both awards were in the face of tough competition, Gorman said.

At the national level, there were dealers with multiple lots in the competition. Locally, Gorman said he was competing against some very fine businesses.

Gorman said Home-Martís 1999 sales topped $11 million. That contrasts to his first year in Tulsa - 1988 - when sales were slightly more than $1 million. The original location was on Highway 51 between Broken Arrow and Coweta. He moved to the site on Admiral in 1989.

Gorman said he borrowed $25,000 to open his business.

He also said considers himself "a salmon swimming upstreamî in the industry.

"My approach to business is different in the manufactured home industry," he said. "The industry, from the retail standpoint, tries to intimidate customers. Model homes are locked until a customer is qualified.

"We have a more relaxed atmosphere at Home-Mart," Gorman said. "Model homes are open to inspection, and, if a customer doesnít want a salesman, they are given a map of the various displays. There is no secret about prices. All are clearly posted on the refrigerator. The customer knows the sale price."

Gorman got his start in the manufactured housing industry in 1971 when he was attending college in Georgia.

"My wife and I bought a mobile home," he said. "I was so excited about our purchase that I brought friends to the dealer who also sold them homes. Finally, the dealer asked me why I didnít go to work for him. I did, but I figured I would get a real job when I got out of college."

From that start in Marietta, Ga., Gorman has seen the manufactured home industry improve level of professionalism both from within and the in the product.

Today, he said, manufactured homes are indistinguishable from site-built stick homes when installed and landscaped. One model on the Home-Mart lot includes a second story that is added once the home is moved to the site. The upper floor with 2,200 sq. ft., is stick built.

Entry-level homes - 16 ft. by 80 ft. - generally have 1,200 sq. ft., he said.

Manufactured housing provides a solution to the affordable housing problem in Tulsa, Gorman said.

"I can take a northern-built home, designed for Michigan, and place it on site in Tulsa for under $35,000," he said. "But there are protests against manufactured housing and the city wonít let it happen."

Gorman admitted there is a real issue with some of the mobile home parks in Tulsa. Many donít have covenants setting regulations for the addition, he said. Many stick-built additions also have problems with run-down structures, so the problem is not exclusive with the manufactured homes.

Some of the lots for homes in California command rents from $500 to $700 per month, Gorman said. Locally, the average rent varies from $150 to $200 per month. Those lower rents probably keep some of the larger lot developers from coming to Oklahoma.

Manufactured homes, if properly maintained, have an average life expectancy of 55.6 years, Gorman said. A stick-built house, properly maintained, has a life expectancy that is only slightly longer.

The future is bright for the manufactured home industry in the next decade, he said. This industry will see a merger with the stick building houses.

This merger will change the competition between the industries to participation, Gorman said. It will provide an opportunity to build on the skills of both industries to provide quality housing.

Looking at Tulsaís future, Gorman said "Tulsa is a nifty town, a great town and a great place to do business. I donít think we will see the economic crash like the one that we saw previously."