Extreme Makeover: Day 4

Friday, 11 December 2009 13:47

Accelerated construction on a northeast Gainesville home continued on Thursday as part of an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

By Sarah Hsu

ABC chose Tobin and Jill Wagstaff for a home makeover, and Wednesday morning, their property consisted of piles of fill dirt and pipes. Twenty-four hours later, the wooden frame of the new house had been raised, and subcontractors and builders started installing insulation, electrical wiring, side panels, windows and the roof as the wooden frame began to look more and more like a home.

Bob Poston, a volunteer working in the arts tent, said that he is helping make custom-made furniture for the new home while other builders are working on the home itself.

“I’m kind of jack of all trades, but my avocation is in building construction,” he said. “I have built my own house twice.”

He said the first one took five years to complete, as he was building it all by himself, and the second one took a year and a half to complete.

“So building a house in seven days is mind-boggling to me,” he said. “I wanted to come and see the whole process, if nothing else.”

The president of the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), Don Whyte, said this project was a great opportunity for the not-for-profit foundation that – among other things – educates, trains and certifies people in the construction industry.

“Not only is it a good way for us to highlight the positive things we can do in building construction, but it is also a great way to help the community and the Wagstaff family,” he said.

NCCER was a major sponsor of the event, and 40 staff members as well as other volunteers from the foundation were on site to help, Whyte said.

Spectator Rosa Singleton said she is on a waiting list to volunteer and in the meantime has come back and forth several times to watch the process.

“It’s fun being out here, and it’s awesome to see this,” she said. “The whole community coming together to help is great. There is just so much love flowing in. God has truly blessed this family.”

She said she watches the show all the time and is always amazed how community members come together to build a house for a family they don’t know.

“They’re doing it out of all the love and kindness that’s in their hearts,” she said.

Ark Remodeling & Construction is the company in charge of the build, and its president, Ricky Strickland, echoed Singleton’s words, saying that he loves seeing how this project brings the whole community together.

“We are doing three things here,” he said. “One – we are taking care of a family who teaches music and the arts, so they’re taking care of the community. Two – by freeing up the family’s time so they don’t have to remodel their home themselves, they have more time to help the community; thus we are also helping the community.”

The third thing he said is that they are bringing in ordinarily competing construction workers and organizing them to work together for a good cause.

“We have thousands of volunteer workers coming in to help around the clock, that are from competing construction companies,” Strickland said. “But for this, they are working together and helping each other out when there are shortfalls in one area or another.”

He also said he saw competitor construction workers drinking beer on the roof together Wednesday night, which probably never would have happened if it weren’t for this project.

He said he wants this kind of thing to continue in the future, having volunteers keep coming together to do good things for the community.

Earlier in the day, some of the UF cheerleaders and mascots Albert and Alberta made appearances at the build site and posed for photos with spectators.