THE BLUEPRINT.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: Plans for Oakwood Homes

The floor fell out under Oakwood Homes. But there's a plan in place to fix it, the new president promises.

In his second week as president, Myles Standish grabs a pen in his left hand to list Oakwood Homes Corp.'s factories. As he writes, another question prompts him to turn to his computer. He maneuvers the mouse with his right hand. Asked which is dominant, he replies: "I play pingpong left-handed, tennis right-handed. I play golf right-handed. But I've always written with my left hand."

He'll need both hands to lead the nation's fourth-largest manufactured-home builder back to profitability - and maybe a third to cover his rear. The revolving door at Greensboro-based Oakwood has a way of smacking bosses on the butt. On July 26, Standish, 47, became the company's fourth CEO in less than two years. He replaced Duane D. Daggett, who replaced William Edwards, who replaced Nick St. George, who left Oakwood in September 1999 after 20 years at the top.

Only six weeks before Standish became the boss, Daggett sat in another office in the chrome-and-glass headquarters, vowing that his latest moves to cut expenses and boost sales would bring the company back. But he announced his retirement the same day Oakwood reported third-quarter losses of $49.8 million. Enter the Harvard-educated Standish, who joined the company in 1995 as general counsel after nine years as its chief outside attorney.

Daggett, like Edwards and St. George, says he left voluntarily. If so, the specter of poor performance followed him and his predecessors to the door. Oakwood has lost $253 million the last three years. In June, it did a reverse stock split to escape the threat of being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. But Standish believes a plan -- his and Daggett's plan -- is in place to save the company. Just a couple clicks shy of cocky, he's confident he's the man to make it work.

This Myles Standish is a direct descendant of that one, the English soldier who accompanied the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and saved the Plymouth colony from Indian attack. "Whenever you're introduced to somebody, that's the first thing people talk about. Believe me, it gets old."

Standish began his association with Oakwood in 1982. He was a lawyer with Charlotte-based Kennedy Coving ton Lobdell & Hickman. But he eventually lost interest in practicing law. "I was about 40 and I said to myself, 'Do you want to do what you're doing the rest of your life.' My answer was no." He already knew Oakwood, which was growing rapidly then. He joined the company as its in-house counsel, which he saw as a possible entree to top management. He was right Within three years, he was promoted to e executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Two years later, when Daggett took over, Standish assumed the role of director of housing operations. He watched the company hit its highest level of profitability -- in 1997 -- then saw it crater.

Four years ago, Oakwood had sales of $953 million and net income of $81.9 million. As late as March 1998, its stock price, adjusted for the 1-5 reverse split, was $211.25 a share, and analysts were praising its strategy of vertical integration: It builds, sells and finances mobile homes. But after nine consecutive quarters of losses, the amen corner has gone quiet. Oakwood lost $31.9 million in 1999, $120.9 million in 2000 and is on track to lose even more this year. Through the first three quarters, it lost $120.8 million. On the day Standish took over, its stock closed at $4.87 a share.

What happened? Naturally, neither Standish nor his predecessors will point fingers. All start the discussion of Oakwood by blaming industrywide problems -- overproduction, poor credit decisions, a weak national economy. Pressed for specifics, they admit that Oakwood grew too fast under St. George. It operated too many factories, built too many homes, opened too many sales lots, authorized too many loans and missed...