January 2018 – Page 3

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Berkshire Hathaway’s Clayton, one of the largest home builders in America, is unveiling the Saltbox floor plan, the second addition to its Designer Series by Clayton Tiny Homes.

Clayton first introduced the Low Country, the first tiny home floor plan in the Designer Series, in person at the annual 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders meeting. Designed by renowned architect Jeffrey Dungan, the Saltbox is designed to be a perfect year-round permanent residence, vacation home, guest home, or accessory dwelling unit.

“We continue to push ourselves to design and innovate with our customers’ unique lifestyles in mind,” Clayton CEO Kevin Clayton said. “The Saltbox is the perfect tiny home for those looking to live simply, but luxuriously.

Built indoors to International Residential Code (IRC) building standards, the Saltbox home is a “tiny” modular home constructed to be permanently affixed to the homeowner’s property. The Clayton Built® tiny home possesses all the latest in modern home design, both inside and out. Ply Gem® French doors; a white Summit Appliance® range and refrigerator; and tall, 9’5″ ceilings in the bedroom provide a roomy living space inside. On the outside, the premium standing seam metal roof, stylish vertical shiplap wood siding with horizontal board and batten are combined to provide a high-quality exterior that are both stylish and built to last.

“We’ve packed a lot into this well-appointed 452-square-foot home,” Jim Greer, Clayton Tiny Homes Brand Manager, said. “But we know that size doesn’t matter when it comes to designing smart and luxurious spaces. From the 270-degree views to the quartz countertops, this is the home for comfort and style.”

The Saltbox also utilizes several features that allow it to be an efficient home. Energy-efficient Ply Gem® aluminum clad windows and doors as well as a space-saving tankless water heater give Saltbox owners ways to minimize utility consumption.

Though the floor plan is compact, homeowners of the Saltbox won’t have to sacrifice having friends over or entertaining. The home is designed to fit a dining room table that seats six, and a covered porch with large overhang means homeowners can utilize outdoor living spaces during different weather conditions.

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Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s battery-maker Duracell, which it acquired from Procter & Gamble in 2016, is proving the continued value of tried and true alkaline batteries.

While much of the focus in the press these days is on lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride batteries, and the search for batteries with more exotic chemistries, the trusty alkaline battery, which was first patented by Union Carbide in 1960, has continued to be a big sales winner.

According to reports, Duracell’s third quarter sales rose 6 percent year-to-year from 2016, as the demand for alkaline batteries continues to grow.

Sales of Duracell batteries in the U.S. alone topped $1 billion in 2016, eclipsing its major competitor brands, Eveready and Rayovac, combined sales.

Alkaline Batteries Essential During Disasters

The 2017 hurricane season that devastated the Caribbean, Florida and Houston, Texas, showed that rechargeable batteries are of limited use when the power grid goes off-line for weeks or months. They also have the downside of energy loss when stored long term. Durable alkaline batteries, which have a storage life of over 10 years, have an important place in helping people prepare for and recover from disasters.

It was a point that Duracell was able to make through its own disaster relief teams.

In Puerto Rico, Duracell’s PowerForward teams have been on the ground across the island. Its emergency response teams have given out tens of thousands of batteries, and provide charging stations through their specially outfitted vehicles. The vehicles are delivering more than $1 million worth of batteries, making this the program’s largest deployment to date.

Duracell’s PowerForward fleet consists of five trucks, custom-designed to handle specific disasters, and strategically stationed to get to any U.S. location within 24 hours. Each one is equipped with mobile charging stations and stocked with thousands of Duracell batteries.

In Puerto Rico, Duracell deployed two of its highest capacity vehicles. The Heavy Haulers pull trailers that help them transport over 100,000 AA batteries – more than any other vehicle in the fleet. Normally, one is stationed in San Francisco, California while another is kept in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These trucks specialize in handling earthquakes, floods, landslides, wildfires, hurricanes and winter storms.

The Battery for Everyday Use

While natural disasters draw attention to the continued usefulness of alkaline batteries, for most of us it is their continued utility for more mundane needs, such as toys, electronic devices, and smoke detectors where their low cost, long storage life, and durability win out.

And Berkshire’s got the sales revenue to prove it.

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