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The iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, all familiar names, courtesy of Apple Computer. Clayton Homes has embarked on a venture to establish the ultimate household brand name — the i-house.

The i-house is being unveiled to the public Friday at the 34th annual Clayton Showcase of Homes at the Knoxville Convention Center.

It is appropriate that the introduction is on Halloween because the new i-house might put a scare into other home-building companies. Not that they aren't wary of Clayton Homes already, given the Alcoa-based company's steady march to the top of the industry and its affiliation with Berkshire Hathaway, the company built by iconic investor Warren Buffett.

It could prove to be a pioneering leap into the future not only for Clayton Homes but for the entire U.S. housing market.

"All of housing is in dire straits right now. Here we are creating a whole other type and form of home that will appeal to, I think, a large audience," said Kevin Clayton, CEO and president.

Just how different and how appealing? The 1,000-square-foot prototype model on display at the Showcase of Homes is projected to have energy costs of $68 per month -- $26 when equipped with solar panels.

"There's unbelievable energy efficiency numbers on this house," Clayton said. "People love that."

And Clayton loves the "i" as a symbol. It's associated with intelligent, intuitive, inspired, innovative and integrated.

"We just like being associated with Apple in any way we can," Clayton said as he slipped an iPhone from his pocket.

Tripled R&D spending

"I was listening to Steve Jobs recently, talking about his company, Apple Computer, and he was talking about the last two times his company was losing massive amounts of money. He fixed the company the same way both times, he tripled R&D spending.

"The guts that took -- so we built one home and we tripled our R&D spending," Clayton said, chuckling at the audacity of spending money to move forward when others are pulling back.

"Now that we're the leader in housing, you'll see a lot more of this from us, because we've got to be on the "i" -- innovation."

There is a significant difference between the Clayton Homes research-and-development model and Apple's, noted Chris Nicely, vice president of marketing for Clayton Homes: "Unlike Apple, we didn't wait (for the company to falter), and we're not losing money to innovate. We're making money and innovating at the same time."

Not only is the i-house designed to be energy efficient, it also is environmentally friendly. Clayton said that virtually all of the home's building materials are recyclable. Green features dominate the i-house's construction:

— Energy Star appliances;

— Bamboo floors (a sustainable source that grows at a pace three times faster than other woods);

— Low-emission paint (cleaner air);

— Compact fluorescent lighting;

— Water-saving features including a tankless water heater, dual-flush toilet and low-flow faucets;

— Solar panels;

— Energy efficient windows with low-E glazing;

— Sustainable/low-maintenance siding and roofing (cement board and metal siding and investment-grade metal roof);

— Rainwater catchment system;

— Composite decking made from recycled materials.

Family inspiration

Clayton credits the home front for his green inspiration. About a year ago, his wife, Chelly, and their 5-year-old daughter, Ella, got on his case for putting plastic in the wrong recycling bin. An environmentalist entrepreneur was born.

"It took off from there," he said. "It's the right thing to do."

So Clayton Homes team members started kicking around ideas. And then another revelation. Ideas are fine, but there would be no progress unless the company committed to building a prototype home. He handed the project to two "amazing" architects at Clayton Homes, Wes Boyd and Andy Hutsell.

"So they started lobbing out these ideas to me, and quite frankly at first I thought, this is crazy. What are we getting ourselves into?

"Then the more I started listening to them and getting some others' input, it occurred to me I need to get out of their way, turn 'em loose, free reign, and ultimately no budget constraint -- and let them push the envelope on design and energy efficiency and they were rollin'."

Then it was a matter of which manufacturing facility would step up to build the i-house. The Bean Station plant committed to the project about eight months ago, and over the past 90 days they constructed it using top-of-the line materials and state-of-the-art appliances.

"There's nothing I see that they could have done better. The fit and finish, I would put it up against any custom-home builder at five times the pricing," Clayton said.

No price yet

Price of the i-house is yet to be determined.

"If you asked how much the first iPhone cost that (Apple) built, it'd be pretty expensive. But what they recognized is that, if they could do it at $199, they could capture a lot of the audience, and that's what we're doing," Clayton said.

So he is listening to the hundreds of retailers and suppliers who are previewing i-house this week to get ideas on how to make it affordable. He is convinced Clayton Homes can get it done.

"We're now building over 25,000 homes annually, the largest home builder. We can do this efficiently. No one has the ability to build it on a large scale and to get it as affordable as we do. There's no more efficient building method going than modular construction."

So Clayton will analyze the input from home-supply and home-selling specialists and from the public. Team members will tweak the i-house design, modify it to suit various needs and specific areas of the country, offer optional sizes and modular variations, and then put it on the market and sell thousands.

When?

"Soon," Clayton said.

He can't wait to hear customers utter the "i" word most cherished by entrepreneurs -- "i-buy."