Indiana Builder Opened at The Worst Time ‘Never Expected to Make It’
Adventure Homes in 2009 was an outlier, an experiment in what homebuilding might be, a lark, if you will. To put it plainly, Adventure Homes was expected to fail even before it was named.
No one told Wally Comer.
“Yes, they did…” Comer said. “Everyone did, but it was clear to me what I needed to do.”
The writing was on the wall but it was in a language Comer doesn’t speak. Skepticism is fine, but there is a way. Consumer financing was wobbly, homebuilding facilities were contracting and closing faster than in recent memory. And Wally Comer wanted to take over an old plant and build a new company?
Please.
“We were never expected to make it,” Comer said. But he talked to his wife Joanna, talked some more with people from the plant about sticking around, bought the place and kept on moving… and there it was, an adventure at hand in Garrett, Ind.
Adventure Homes is owned by Walt Fuller, Jerry Henry, and Wally Comer, who remains vital to central operations and is in the office and plant most days.
“Wally Comer and Adventure Homes have been the true pioneers of the manufactured housing business, creating opportunities for the American dream in both employment and family home ownership. Wally and Adventure Homes are a true example of how an organization should be run!”
— Nikki Elliott, Green Valley Homes
How Comer Came to Start Adventure
Comer came from LaCrescenta, Calif., and went to University of California for a marketing degree. He joined Redman with the RV division, moved to Oregon for a stint in the “mini-motor home” division before moving on to manufactured housing. After taking some turns with the industry, Comer was hired to run Fleetwood’s plant in Garrett.
“Our plant had a solid reputation with the dealers, a well trained workforce, and a seasoned management team in place,” Comer was quoted as saying at the time.
“The decision was really rather simple: Lose all that we had built together as a team or purchase the facility and save 80 jobs.”
The plant shut down on a Friday and re-opened on Monday under the new name, never to miss a step. Of the 230 current employees, 33 are from the original group of 80. Twenty-two of them have been there 10-plus years, and another 70 have been on the team for more than five years.
Comer confides that the company lost a little money the first year, stablized in the second year, and turned a decent profit by year three.
At the beginning, Adventure Homes couldn’t even hang a sign out front. There were no formal agreements for pay, or insurance or other benefits. In no time, all of the details would work out. The first year, Adventure Homes sold $13 million in homes. Ten years in it eclipsed $53.5 million.
“The thing I love about Adventure is Wally. He has the kindest heart. He treats everyone like family. He expects your best and that’s easy to do when you work for a guy who always gives his best. We are all one big family and that is the best work environment anyone could ask for” — Susan Kasinger, Adventure Homes Controller
Adventure Homes by the Numbers
17,275 homes built (HUD single section, multi section and modular)
8-time Manufacturer of the Year award winner (MHI – Three plants or fewer)
4-time Home Design Award winner (MHI)
2-time Interior Design Award winner (MHI)
230 person team (Up from 80 in 2009)
2,095 floors produced in 2023 (up from 689 in 2010 – 1st full year in business)
$91.7 million in sales in 2023 “built and sold” (up from $13.1 million in 2010 – 1st full year in business)
Honors for Wally
Class of 2019 RV/MH Hall of Fame Inductee
2020 MHInsider Leadership Award Winner
2024 Ohio Manufactured Homes Association Lifetime Board Member Award
Because Fuller and Henry had confidence in Comer, they gave their full support. The Adventure plan was simple; keep prices low, and put all the resources they are able into the homes they build. To this day, signs hang in the factory that say “Would You Buy the Home You Built Today?” and “Remember, The Next Inspector is The Customer” as well as “If We Don’t Do It Better – Our Competition Will”.
Comer reminds people that the homes Adventure builds cost a substantial amount of money, but the quality and care that goes into them is free. They don’t really care about the numbers, not as much as about the house, he has said.
Adventure builds what people want. The company is proud of its roots, “Luxury and Comfort for Less” and over time has evolved the motto to “Dream It. Design It. Build It. Love It.”
“I’m not a mass producer,” Wally Comer said. “I’m sort of a quasi-custom builder, and we’ve been very successful.”
How to Celebrate 15 Years
Shawn Carnahan, the sales manager at Adventure and a second-generation employee with the company, said the company celebrated during the week with a barbecue chicken dinner, and then tee-shirt and lawn chair giveaways.
“We continued the celebration on Saturday with a company picnic,” Carnahan said. “We rented out Fort Wayne’s largest indoor entertainment center, providing hours of fun and a buffet of food. It was a wonderful gathering! Everyone works so incredibly hard throughout the week, it’s awesome to meet everyone’s families and spend time outside of the work environment.”
“During my time as CEO at Zeman Homes I made the decision to take the ‘Adventure’ with Wally and his team. The partnership between our companies has been one of the best that Zeman has had. This partnership has provided us with a great product, at an affordable price and superb customer service, as well as a friendship with one of my favorite people in the world, Wally Comer.”
— Dee Pizer, Zeman Homes
Kirk Kacsor is the purchasing manager at Adventure Homes.
“Without a doubt, the success and growth of Adventure Homes in the past 15 years has to do with the culture and the people who make up the team,” he said. “ The family environment, a ‘can-do’ attitude. It starts at the top with our owners and filters down through the company.”
The ownership at Adventure Homes has created a stable work environment by offering incentive pay and other benefits, the company’s production manager Keith Carnahan said.
“That keeps the workforce intact. I have always believed that the success of our company starts out on the production floor. Our workforce has the ability to build a wide variety of high-quality, customized homes from a very budget friendly single section, all the way up to a high end modular home, all in one facility,” Carnahan said.
In conjunction with the drafting, administration staff, purchasing, sales and our service department, they all work together to produce a quality home that people are proud to live in. Our workforce is the heart and soul of our company.”
MHInsider is the leader in manufactured housing news and is a product of MHVillage, the top marketplace for manufactured homes.
