As of Wednesday, Excel Modular Homes has acquired KeiserHomes and is expected to expand the business and hire more people to meet a
growing demand throughout the Northeast.
“Due to our growth,
we needed additional capacity,” Excel Homes President Phil Hickman said.
“It just made sense for us to acquire Keiser Homes.”
The local business, which employs about 100, has been in
operation for more than 20 years.
Hickman declined to discuss the purchase price. Production
work began to shift from Excel Homes’
He said he expects to retain local managers and employees.
Excel was founded in 1984 and is owned by Innovative
Building Systems in
employees, a sustained growth of 5 percent to 10 percent per year and has built
more than 28,000 homes through its Excel, All American and Mod-U-Kraf manufacturing facilities.
The company bought Keiser’s machinery, trucks, trailers,
equipment and customer list, and has an option to buy the 24-acre site on Route
121 within the next five years.
Vlachos said additional people are expected to be brought in
to handle production that is just about double what Keiser Industries is doing
now. The move will allow them to stay open through the winter.
Excel Homes is no stranger to the
modular buildings at its
production centers for
customers over the years. In 2008, it came close to purchasing the former
Oxford Homes in
after that business ceased operations in April of that year.
Excel Homes officials had hoped to reopen the Oxford Homes
plant at that time under the Excel name and to bring 50 to 70 hourly and
salaried jobs to the area, but the modular-housing market slump forced Excel to
change plans.
