Another deserving family will receive a new home and be featured this Sunday on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition. This particular build happened close by and I was able to drop by a few days in a row and watch the process. It really is quite amazing to watch it all happen in just about 104 hours from beginning to end. And we’re talking an almost 6000 square foot house here!
Dozens of stories and blogs have been written about EM:HE, the family and the stars of the show. However, I am writing today about the real rock star of the entire show. The plan. As with any successful business, individual, music tour or television show – there is a plan. Success does not just happen. One does not just get lucky. Lady Gaga does not wake up each day and decide what city to play that night.
EM:HE advance teams hit our area in late 2009 once a family had been chosen. Meetings were held and plans were made between the show, city officials, suppliers and more. Again, when you have to build a house that big in less than 5 days, there must be a plan and a good one at that. *Not to mention that EM:HE usually has two builds going on at the same time in different parts of the country.
When you are organized and have a plan, you are better prepared for the expected and the unexpected. I am probably safe to assume that the show producers thought it would be best to build in the Houston area in the winter. Our weather is usually mild and dry compared to the rest of the country around this time of year. For this build? The Houston area had record breaking low temperatures and snow. At one point, they had to wait for a section of the roof to thaw before it could be lifted and put in place. Frozen roofs do not happen often in Kemah Texas. Hurricanes yes. Frozen roofs no.
Blu Shields, the builder for the Kemah home, gave me ten minutes of his precious time during the build to answer a few questions. Shields is known for building affordable, energy efficient homes in our area in amazingly short times (30-45 days). I asked him what the one thing was that made this build possible. “Time and materials management,” he replied, without hesitation. “There is no reason other builders can’t do this. It’s all in the planning. The reason they don’t is because the longer they take, the more they can charge.”
Take the time to have a plan, an idea of what you are doing and how you are going to do it, the help you will need and the supplies it will take. EM:HE does it. I do it. Now you do it.
Episode #719 will air on ABC at 7:00 p.m. CST on Easter Sunday, April 4
