Mifflinburg, PA | Hamlet, NC | Jonesville, MI | Phone: 800-326-9836 | Fax: 570-966-3022 | Email: info@ritz-craft.com

Volume 5 | Issue 2 | July 2015

A Friend Remembered

www.ritz-craft.com | www.legacycrafted.com | www.ritz-trans.com

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As many of you may already know, we recently said farewell to a patriarch, founder, mentor and close friend to Eric and I, and everyone that knew him here at Ritz-Craft and the local community. Don Ritzenthaler passed away on May 30th after a year-long battle against can-cer. I knew Don for nearly 40 years and he played many important roles in my life including boss, business partner, mentor, inspi-ration and close friend. He was always the strong silent type, approaching every situation as calm, cool and collected as any-one I have ever met. In the all

years I knew him, the only time I ever saw him raise his voice or lose his temper was with a horse. I had the privilege of working for Don during college summer break in the early 80s when he ran the purchasing department. I saw more than one vendor break out in a sweat, or stand up and suddenly leave his office because of his frightening pres-ence. With his strong silent composure, cowboy boots and belt buckle, 6 foot plus stature and blue-eyed gaze, he remind-ed me of Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" and I always thought I was the punk that he

wanted to "go ahead and make his day." But despite his intimi-dating facade, he had a heart of gold, the patience of a saint and he taught me many very valuable lessons. As I got to know Don better over the years he became a true inspiration and friend to me. He was a wonderful and patient father, a devoted nur-turing grandfather and a loving and supportive husband, as well as one of the hardest working people I've ever met. Don had a huge appetite for so many interesting hobbies and passions throughout his life. He contributed, built and accom-plished so many amazing things, but never once boasted about them or ever wore his emotions on his sleeve. Don, along with his partners Glenn Cunningham, Bob Roney, my father Paul John, Sr. and many dedicated Ritz-Craft em-ployees, built Ritz-Craft into a nationally respected, top 200 US home builder. But instead of

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A Friend Remembered People Who Care

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Focus & Accountability Spruce Up Your Model

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Ritz-Trans New Office Employees

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New GM in PA American Heritage

Marketing to All Bring the Outdoors In

Anniversaries New Team Members

House of the Month Upcoming Webinars

Pictured here, third from the left, Don Ritzenthaler poses with fellow members of the Ritz-Craft management team during the 10,000th home celebration for Plant 3 last year in Mifflinburg.

Last month, I had the opportunity to talk to one of our larger volume build-ers. I could tell as soon as he started talking that he was frustrated with some ongoing quality issues. Over and above these issues, we talked about how we were revamping some of our quality assurance systems and building in redundancies so that mis-takes would ultimately not leave through our company’s doors. Although this sounds pretty black and white - it’s not. The most important thing we talked about was creating a culture where people care and want to produce the

best quality they can, no matter what. I feel as though recently

here at Ritz-Craft we have lost some of that culture. Unfortunately, a few people who don’t care can have a negative effect on all the people who do. Home building is obviously a very quality and customer sensitive indus-try; even with great systems, we still need people who care. We need peo-ple who, no matter what it takes, their goal is to produce a defect-free product. I understand that there are sometimes circumstances which can affect this goal, but then that person needs to explain the issue to his or her supervisor and work together to find a solution. As competitive as our industry and

market continues to be, we must all pull together and help build back this culture of caring and quality which has helped keep us in business through the toughest of times. With-out it we, will not survive. And that is simply not an option. Thank you for your continued hard work and support! Sincerely, Eric John Vice-President

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People Who Care

taking early retirement and selling the company to a generous outside offer that they received in the early 90s, they graciously decided instead to give my brother Eric and I the op-portunity to purchase Ritz-Craft. They therefore selflessly committed them-selves to guide, advise, mentor and continue to work with us for nearly 20 more years to make sure the com-pany was in good hands. After his retirement several years ago, Don still continued to come into Ritz-Craft each week because he took great pride in the company and its accomplishments. He was always bringing up articles and tidbits of use-ful information for me to review be-cause he genuinely cared about Ritz-Craft and our continued success. One of my favorite memories of Don was last year when we celebrated the

10,000th house built out of Plant 3 in Mifflinburg. Donnie, Glenn, Paul Sr., and all our employees were together for a group photo shown here in this article. He didn’t like all the attention, but he took great pride in receiving and wearing the green Ritz-Craft t-shirt we handed out to every employ-ee for the photo that day. I saw him wear it many times around the office and town. Even then, despite the pain he was enduring with his health issues, he never complained or showed any sign of weakness. He still had a strong handshake, a steely blue eyed stare, a razor sharp smile and a few carefully chosen comments that always cap-tured your attention. In my eyes, Don was one of the most generous, hardworking, modest, pa-tient, quiet mannered, tough, suc-

cessful and loving people I have ever had the privilege to know or work with. He leaves behind two amazing daughters and four wonderful grand-children who all emulate his strength and best qualities. Don will truly be missed by his family, local communi-ty, and everyone at Ritz-Craft, but he will always be loved and appreciated for the wonderful and positive impact he's made on our company and so many people’s lives. Sincerely, Paul D. John President/CEO

A Friend Remembered (continued)

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Pennsylvania Welcomes New General Manager I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Gen-eral Manager for Ritz-Craft Custom Homes of Pennsylvania. My name is Michael Pesarchik and I am in my fifth year with Ritz-Craft and my thirtieth year within the modular housing in-dustry. Following a brief stint in accounting, the majority of my career has been in the sales and marketing arena. Throughout my career I have been exposed to different geographic mar-kets and have had the pleasure of

meeting, and working with, many home builders with diverse styles. I look forward to meeting each and every one of our valuable business partners and to getting to know you better. Through the second half of 2015, Ritz-Craft will continue to look for growth opportunities through exceeding our builder’s expectations! As Ritz-Craft continues to grow as a company through listening to and learning from our network of dedicat-

ed home builders, I will always have my phone on and will be available to take your calls. You may reach me directly at my desk at 800-467-6158, or on my cell phone at 570-279-8779. Sincerely,

Michael Pesarchik General Manager Ritz-Craft Custom Homes of PA

New American Heritage Series

Ritz-Craft will soon be introducing our latest plan book collection called the “American Heritage Series.” The in-side cover of this brochure best de-scribes the target market for this se-ries: “Our American Heritage Series is a collection of traditionally styled, ‘right-sized’ plans that embrace the solid and practical needs of hard working American families - those who want to build an efficient and value-designed home to meet both their present needs and long term expecta-tions.” This all new, lifestyle piece will fea-

ture eleven ranch plans, two Cape Cods and one two story plan. All will be professionally rendered with both 28’ and 30’ wide plans available. The exterior of the plans will be similar to the modest exterior appeal of our past Heritage and Harvest Gold Col-lections, which were well received by this market segment. The specifications for the American Heritage Series will follow the Bench-mark Standards already established for the balance of our literature col-lections. With the addition of Ameri-can Heritage, our literature portfolio which now will consist of the follow-ing series:

1. American Dream Collection - ranch and bonus ranch (Customization available)

2. American Dream Collection – story and a half and two story (Customization available)

3. Lake and Lodge Collection (Customization available)

4. Coastal Lifestyle Collection (Customization available)

5. American Heritage Collection (Plan modification only)

6. Advantage Plus Collection (Plan modification only)

The introduction of American Herit-age will allow Ritz-Craft and our build-er network the ability to address eve-ry lifestyle need, helping maximize our opportunities to grow market share for the balance of 2015 into 2016. Once this piece is complete, you will find it posted on our website and will be given hard copies to share with your customers. If you have any questions regarding this latest intro-duction, please contact any of our sales professionals. Thank you for your support in marketing and build-ing the American Dream of home ownership. Sincerely, Dave Lovell Director of Sales

A recent article posted in Builder Magazine really caught my eye. Its focus was on the Baby Boomer gener-ation and how they are continuing to spearhead the housing market. That’s a good thing right? They have discre-tionary money, they want what they want and they can afford it! Our Benchmark product offering fits that mold. Builders can design the retire-ment house or cottage that has been dreamt about for years. Features in-side the house focus around things like ease of cleaning, low-maintenance and splurge items such as solid surface countertops. What about the Millennials?

While we all want to continue build-ing for the Boomers, it may be their last purchase. If you were to poll most Millennials, I believe the majori-ty would say they want to own their own home, and a lot would say they would love to build; however, taking the plunge is a different story. Many are drowning in student loan debt which makes saving enough for a down payment next to impossi-ble. Furthermore, the younger por-tion of this generation could still be trying to land a ‘career, rather than a job.’ Now, I ask myself, “what can I do about this?” Nothing - when it comes to student debt and careers. But mak-ing sure our product speaks to their needs and wants is something we can control. For example, features such as USB outlet’s or “smart items” such as thermostats and locksets that can be controlled from a tablet or smartphone are not just cool, they

are functional. Smaller designs fo-cused around function and necessity rather than desire is also essential. The American Heritage product launch is our answer to their need. Again, while none of us can help them save money while paying off student debt or give them enough job security to feel comfortable with settling down, making sure we have-n’t turned our back on this emerging market sector is vital to our success now and especially in the future. Sincerely,

Paul Lindsley General Manager Ritz-Craft Custom Homes of Michigan

Are We Marketing to all the Buyers?

Bringing the Outdoors Inside

It’s that time of year - time to open your doors and windows and let

fresh air and the outdoors into

your home. Changes in the weather and spring cleaning also mean chang-es for your home; it’s time for “out with the old and in with the new!” One way to keep your home feeling “spring clean” all year round is to use color schemes inspired by nature. If you are looking for Maple cabinets, Svelte Sage is a great selection. If you are looking for Cherry cabinets, Mead-ow is the way to go. These two cabi-net finishes pair well with either warm or cool tones on walls and with other fixtures. In the picture to the left you will see a color palate full of many of our selections ranging from laminate countertops to laminate flooring. You will also notice how different shades

of white and cream really enhance that spring clean feeling! Give us a call at (570) 966 – 5128 and we can work with you to decide what finishes would work best with your market and in your model. Sincerely, Roxanne Kopelcheck & Chelsea Mohr Corporate Designers

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Spruce Up Your Existing Model Don’t miss out on a sale because your model has grown old and outdated. If you cannot afford an entirely new model, a great way to spruce up your current offerings is to feature updat-ed cabinetry styles. With some simple and relatively inexpensive changes, you can breathe new life into your existing model and showcase prod-ucts that will help you reach every market. Take bathrooms for example. An updated vanity design will bring new life to an outdated space. Try showcasing a different cabinet pro-file, color and hardware that isn’t al-ready featured in the model. This concept isn’t limited to just bath-rooms, you can try this in virtually any room – utility rooms, media centers or office space built-ins offer addi-tional opportunities to show fresh

designs. By including cabinet varia-tions throughout your model, you will give potential home buyers a better idea of the breadth of options they have to choose from. As you begin planning your updates, don’t be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone. Just because a specific design isn’t your particular taste, doesn’t mean it won’t appeal to a great target market. Work at thinking like your clientele. Here at Legacy Crafted Cabinets we are noticing a growing number of young, first-time home buyers enter-ing the marketplace. Without show-casing your range of cabinetry op-tions, you might be missing out on potential sales from this growing mar-ket.

From a business perspective, the beauty of cabinetry is that, with some relatively inexpensive changes, you can transform any single space or change the appearance of a whole house. In doing so, keep in mind to showcase product from traditional to contemporary – you never know who is going to walk into your model and you might be surprised at what new markets your cabinetry attracts! Jason Romig General Manager Legacy Crafted Cabinets

As we move through spring and into summer, we are finally starting to see the order activity increase after one of the coldest and snowiest winters ever. We are very fortunate to have had a busy start, and we are looking forward to seeing an increase in sales as we shift into the summer season. While working to improve quality as well as consistency in our product, there are many different words that describe what we as a company need to draw more attention to. The two main focal points that I am deter-mined to drill into our team are focus and accountability. All of our depart-ment managers are focusing on poli-cies and procedures that pertain to their departments and also looking at all areas for improvement. We have made changes to some of the proce-dures, and we have also made some

personnel adjustments. We are re-viewing all the changes with our team members and making sure everyone fully understands what is expected of each and every one of them. Every day we must strive to maintain the highest possible levels of focus and accountability with every single em-ployee within our company. We are extremely fortunate to have such hard working and highly talent-ed employees here at Ritz-Craft, and I know through maintaining a high lev-el of focus and accountability that we can continue to raise the bar in the modular housing industry. We are blessed to have such an amazing builder network that we continue to build relationships with on a daily ba-sis. It is extremely important that we as a company hold ourselves, as well as the others around us, accountable

and stay focused on the needs of our builders. By working together, we will continue to improve our products and strive to maintain a higher level of consistency in our overall quality. It’s hard to believe that our company picnic took place already! It seems to arrive faster and faster every year, and again had a great turn out. I would like to say thank you to our employees and our vendors for help-ing to make it all such a great success. It’s greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Steve Forcheskie Operations Manager Ritz-Craft Custom Homes of PA

Focus and Accountability

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April and May were busy months for Ritz-Trans. In addition to their normal house hauls, Ritz-Trans delivered nearly 200 modules to commercial project jobsites - all within two and half months. Beginning in April, Ritz-Trans was on the road delivering 130 units, plus 4 shiploose carriers, to Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. These 134 deliveries were complicated by the fact that 30 deliveries were coming from Michigan, with the remaining

104 deliveries coming from Pennsylvania. Balancing delivery times from both loca-tions was vital, since the project modules from both facilities were needed each day to construct the new dormitories. By using a “Just In Time” delivery technique, Ritz-Trans completed the haul without any incidents.

The beginning of May started phase two of Ritz-Trans commercial project hauls. This time, the project was lo-cated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - a four story housing complex over park-ing located on the Southside of Pitts-burgh. What made these deliveries tricky was the urban setting of Pitts-burgh. Not only did the deliveries have to be timed just right to avoid rush hour traffic, the jobsite was only large enough to accommodate 16 modules at a time. Creative logistics were used to time deliveries so that

modules were rolling in as modules were being set. I would like to send a special “thanks” out to Kenny David and Lester Geiswite for their help with the En-dicott College project. In addition, a special “thanks” goes out to Frank Roadarmel for his help with the pro-ject in Pittsburgh. Without your dedi-cation and time spent on the road, these projects would not have been such a huge success. Thank you! Construction season is upon us. Please be advised that some deliver-ies may be arriving to your jobsite later in the day as detours and slow-moving traffic patterns delay deliver-ies. It is in our best efforts to deliver your units in the timeliest fashion while remaining safe and undam-aged. We thank you for your coopera-tion and understanding. Ron Weaver General Manager Ritz-Trans

Ritz-Trans Hauls Hundreds

New Office Employees

Greg Formsma Purchasing

Ritz-Craft of MI

Greg RadFord Sales

Ritz-Craft of NC

Happy Anniversary 1 Year

Kent Jenkins - Ritz-Craft of PA Scott Kline - Ritz-Craft of PA Ronald Zechman, Jr. - Ritz-Craft of PA Colton Wendt - Ritz-Craft of PA Adam Parker - Ritz-Craft of PA Zachery Adams - Ritz-Craft of PA Bradley Whitmer - Ritz-Craft of PA James Long - Ritz-Craft of PA John Meeth - Ritz-Craft of PA Wesley Bassler - Ritz-Craft of PA Frank Stahl - Ritz-Craft of PA Claudia Goss - Ritz-Craft of PA Shane Cooper - Ritz-Craft of PA Jody Barnes - Ritz-Craft of PA Jacob John - Ritz-Craft of PA William Maxfield - Legacy George Connell, Jr. - Ritz-Craft of NC Bonnie Cravener - Ritz-Craft of NC Michael Ferguson - Ritz-Craft of NC Quentin Maynor - Ritz-Craft of NC Pam Doherty - Ritz-Craft of MI Nicholas Spahr - Ritz-Craft of MI Joshua Snyder - Ritz-Craft of MI Charles Melton - Ritz-Craft of MI

Scott Peterson - Ritz-Craft of MI Timothy Smith - Ritz-Craft of MI David Taylor - Ritz-Craft of MI Sonja Drews - Ritz-Craft of MI Ryan Fitton - Ritz-Craft of MI Meredith Weber - Ritz-Craft of MI Darren Hauer - Ritz-Craft of MI William Yinger - Ritz-Craft of MI Randy Mapes - Ritz-Craft of MI

5 Years Jon Forcheskie - Ritz-Craft of PA Janet Moyer - Legacy Timothy Kerstetter - Legacy Carl Leitzel - Legacy Rickie Nelson - Ritz-Craft of MI

10 Years Tracey Delp - Ritz-Craft of PA David Liddington - Ritz-Craft of PA David Hughes - Ritz-Craft of PA Sean Reidy - Ritz-Craft of PA John Kellogg - Ritz-Craft of PA Virginia Vonneida - Legacy Robert Johnson - Ritz-Craft of NC Julius Johnson - Ritz-Craft of NC Timothy Lassiter - Ritz-Craft of NC

Randy McGee - Ritz-Craft of NC Thomas Faircloth - Ritz-Craft of NC Gary Weigman - Ritz-Craft of NC Randy Chance - - Ritz-Craft of NC Larry Dick, Jr. - Ritz-Craft of NC Clinton Murray - Ritz-Craft of NC

15 Years Mark Hartman - Ritz-Craft of PA Ricky Kline - Ritz-Craft of PA Keith Strauser - Ritz-Craft of PA Christopher Mugridge - Ritz-Craft of PA Michael O’Grady - Ritz-Craft of PA Scott Young - Ritz-Craft of PA Robert Rubley - Ritz-Craft of MI

30+ Years Robin Smith (31) - Ritz-Craft of PA Lynn Solomon (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA Raymond Young, Jr. (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA Steven Diffenderfer (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA Steven Forcheskie (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA Delbert Keister (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA Rodney Brittain (32) - Ritz-Craft of PA James Reilly (37) - Ritz-Craft of PA Curtis Boob (38) - Ritz-Craft of PA Herbert Herman (39) - Ritz-Craft of PA

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Welcome Newest Production Team Members Ritz-Craft of Pennsylvania: 1. Donald Kline 2. Lynden Nogler 3. Gary Young 4. Titus Baker 5. Alexander Bassett 6. James Reinard, Jr. 7. Galen Shrawder, Jr. 8. James Taylor 9. Jeremy Shuttlesworth 10. Jorden Krall 11. Joshua Ewing 12. William Moran 13. Prenden Heintzelman 14. Logan Reber 15. Colby Woolsey 16. Jeremy Reich 17. Nikk Smith 18. Walter McAuley IV 19. Logan Cook 20. Brock Earnest 21. Nathan Smith 22. Cord Knouse 23. Michael Pesarchik, Jr. 24. Glenn Weaver

Ritz-Craft of North Carolina: 1. Tosha Moore 2. William Hill II 3. Clifton House 4. Matthew Ashworth 5. Michael Potter 6. Aaron Conley 7. Ricky Nunn 8. Johnny Cowick III 9. Tommy Faircloth 10. Johnnie Cowick, Jr. 11. Jerry Hunt 12. Norman Saylor 13. Burl Cox 14. James Baldwin 15. Scottie Tyler 16. Tasca Carter 17. Timothy Baldwin

Ritz-Craft of Michigan: 1. Aaron Benson 2. Howard Wraight 3. Sondra Riske 4. Caleb Huff 5. Stephen Short

6. Tracy Dearman 7. Robert Foster III 8. Alan Tessanne 9. Brian Bell 10. Jarin Kratzer 11. Phillip Rumler 12. Rachael Huff 13. Nathaniel Gillett 14. Shawn Plummer 15. Michael Wilson 16. Timothy Rocheleau 17. Michael May 18. Timothy Estel 19. Damien Nickles 20. Chance Chapman 21. Eric Harris

Legacy: 1. Austin Bowersox 2. Jamie Gessner 3. Robert Heimbach 4. Cathleen Wagner 5. Emily Weeder 6. Shelva Cherry 7. Daniel Crossgrove

Mifflinburg, PA | Hamlet, NC | Jonesville, MI Phone: 800-326-9836 | Fax: 570-966-3022 | E-mail: info@ritz-craft.com

Upcoming Web Conferences

Scan this Quick Reference (QR) Code to view the Ritz-Craft Blog.

WIP - Dave Hughes, Ritz-

Craft’s Systems Programmer,

now offers monthly training

webinars on the fourth Tues-

day of every month at 1:30

PM. These are great opportu-

nities to train additional office

personnel or to simply refresh

your own knowledge! Email

Dave at dhughes@ritz-

craft.com for more details.

CHIEF ARCHITECT

Do you have a specific question

about this program?

Dru Starook, Ritz-Craft’s Chief

Architect Specialist, will now hold

web conference training on a one

-on-one basis.

To schedule your one-on-one

training session, contact Dru at

dstarook@ritz-craft.com.

TMS - Ritz-Craft will be hold-

ing web conference training

sessions to explore the

unique aspects of our TMS

program. Each webinar be-

gins at 10 AM and take place

on the following dates:

Wednesday, July 22nd

Wednesday, August 26th

Wednesday, September 23rd

Our House of the Month for July 2015 is the “Junction Pointe.” This ranch design offers four bed-rooms, two bathrooms and 1,792 total square feet of living space. The Junction Pointe is a beautiful Ranch home with a generous open floor plan that is great for entertaining. A large, split Master Suite and a galley style utility room with access to a proposed garage are just some of the other great features of this home. As part of our House of the Month promotional package, the exterior and interior of this home features numerous upgrade options as standard. For more details on this House of the Month, please visit www.ritz-craft.com.