The old Horton Homes factory in Eatonton is back in business with a new owner, Legacy Housing.
Justin McDuffie takes us to the plant that has new homes rolling out the front door.
Louis Batty had been working at the plant in Eatonton for more than 30 years, but he had to leave when Horton homes closed last year. Now with a new owner, Legacy Housing, he's back.
"I was traveling 45 miles to a job every day, and this plant is 7 miles from my home," Batty said.
He oversees the wiring and siding for every home that rolls down the line
"I do a lot of walking back and forth, looking. I've got the entire plant and we begin wiring in floors," Batty said.
He's one of the more than 70 employees now working for Legacy.Their chief operating officer says they plan to hire more.
"For one side, we can employ 250 to 300 people. Opening the other line, we would just be duplicating that," Barker said.
He says the building's design is the best of any plant like it.
"With the flow of the production line, you pull a frame in the back and you pull a finished home out the front," Barker said.
When a home starts on its frame a quarter of a mile away, it takes about a day and a half to get here. That production rate could increase to 8-10 homes a day when they're at full production.
And Barker says what really sets the Eatonton plant apart from others is people like Batty
"They want to work. They just say, 'Tell us what you want us to do and we'll do it.' When we opened, we had over 400 applications to go to work here," Barker said.
And Batty's one of the few that already got to come back to the plant where he's worked at for so long.
"I get here about 6:15 in the morning and leave when the work gets done. Supposed to leave at 3:45, but sometimes it's 5:45," Batty said.
Legacy also operates two plants in Texas, one in Fort Worth and the other in Commerce.