OXFORD — A person would be hard pressed to find a town within a 100-mile radius of Oxford without at least one home in it from Twin Town Homes, but that’s what happens after a company has been in business for 60 years in the same region.

Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that now-owner Bob Huotari, who started out at the company when he was 20 years old as a “lot boy,” has been with Twin Town Homes for 50 of those years.

Twin Town Trailer Sales incorporated in 1955, and changed its name to Twin Town Homes in the 1970s to keep up with changing times. Alton Luck started the manufactured-home business in Norway, but soon moved it to Route 26 in Oxford where it would be the first of many such businesses to come to the area over the following decades. In 1957, shortly after relocating the business, Luck suffered an aneurysm. His son, Hayward Luck, took over the family business.

It was Hayward Luck who recruited young Huotari to come to work for him in 1965, when Twin Town Homes was just 10 years in business. He started as a part-time lot boy, also working at the local A & P Supermarket. He had only been at the job for a few months, cleaning up the yard, shoveling snow and doing other various grunt work when he suffered a back injury lifting a side of beef at his other job. This took him out of work for a short time, until Luck, who was aware that the young man had attended two years of business school, offered Huotari a full-time job on the sales floor.

“I really enjoyed it. Sales is very rewarding, but, like the saying, ‘you’re only as good as your last sale,’” Huotari said.

Luck, who had no children of his own, took Huotari under his wing and became his mentor and a father figure. Over the years, the two developed a strong bond of friendship, often going fishing, traveling and spending time together outside of work. Huotari learned the business inside and out from Luck. Twenty-five years ago, Huotari became president of the company. When Luck passed away in 2006, Huotari inherited the company, as they discussed over the years.

Huotari basically grew up with Twin Town Homes, or at least he raised his family there. His daughter, Amanda, who now runs Celebration Barn Theater in South Paris, used to come to work with him, Huotari said.

“She learned to ride her bike down here, riding in and around the homes,” he said.

Jody Dow came to work for Huotari 38 years ago as a secretary, and she now manages the office and is vice president of the company.

“I remember taking a shorthand class in business school, and I hated it. The teacher asked me what I would do in the business world, and I said, ‘I will have a competent secretary,’” Huotari said. That turned out to be Dow.

Together, Huotari and Dow have seen many changes in the industry.

“We’ve seen the industry from 10-(foot)-wide homes, to 12-wide homes, to 14-wide homes, to 16-wide homes, then to double-wides and now to modulars,” Huotari said.

Nowadays, just about anything a person can think of for a home can be manufactured in a controlled environment and delivered to a prepared site.

“It went from being cookie-cutter to being almost customizable with all of the options,” said Dow.

Twin Town Homes now boasts one of the largest displays in the state. They still sell manufactured homes for placement on a concrete pad, but they also sell modular models, which are delivered to a site in pieces and placed with a crane onto a full foundation. Once set, the delivery of the home is completed with furnace and electrical installation, with chimney and stairs also added on site.

While once they simply sold homes for delivery, they now offer site preparation so they are able to provide turn-key home packages to their buyers.

“We started doing that to keep up with other home companies. It’s a more complicated business because of that and it’s a lot more time consuming,” Dow said. “People continually seem to be amazed that manufactured housing isn’t like it used to be. They still think trailer or mobile home.”

Smaller manufactured homes run in the $40,000 range, and larger modulars can run into the upper $100,000 range, depending on the options and the size of the building.

“The sky’s the limit as far as what people want to put into them,” Huotari said.

Dow says the modular home industry draws people from all walks of life, from young families looking for their first home, to people looking for second homes.

“Repeat customers are not uncommon,” she said.

“We’re seeing second and third generations coming in,” Huotari said.

The people Huotari and Dow have come to know after all these years in the industry are like an extended family. When sales reps come to visit, they’ll often go out in large groups for dinner, laughing and talking about the “good ol’ days.” They still manage to do business, but the scene might appear more like a family gathering than a business meeting.

“It’s always been that way,” Huotari said. “It’s really been a great industry.”

“We work hard, but we have fun,” said Dow, who added that the sales team Twin Town Homes has assembled now might be the best they’ve ever had.

“They’re young, energetic and smart,” she said of the team.

It’s pretty common for the team at Twin Town Homes to receive emails, letters, thank-you cards or just a phone call thanking them for their exceptional customer service. Occasionally, a sales person will receive a plant, a gift card or even something more personal, like homemade soup, from a happy customer.

“I don’t know how many people come in and say how pleasant it is to come into a place that is welcoming and doesn’t push,” Dow said.

The first 10-foot-wide trailer that the company ever sold still sits on a lot in Norway behind the Amato’s restaurant.

“We still have our sales records going back to the ’50s for every sale we ever made,” Huotari said.

The industry experienced a downturn between 2008 and 2012, during which several other modular and manufactured home companies in the area closed up shop. Twin Town Homes weathered the storm and is now poised for an impressive rebound.

“We expect business to stay good for a while,” Dow said.

After years of coming in at 6:30 in the morning and working until 8 at night, even on Sundays, Huotari shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, either.

“One of the manufacturers called me up and said ‘congratulations on 50 years in the industry’ and asked me, ‘do you have another 50 years in you?’” Huotari said, offering no answer — just chuckling a little.