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‘ Extreme Makeover : Home Edition’—the tearjerker television program known for changing life — is being rebooted for another running on ABC in former 2025 . When masses find out that I ’m a project manager for the show , they often ask me if wereally(wink , wink ) build up a mansion in 7 24-hour interval .
My response : “ No . No , we do n’t . The home is built in 106 hours . Day 1 and Day 7 are immobilize for television set . ” The production company and on - camera natural endowment block those 2 days to shoot befores , elements for the story , and dessert .
Photo: Mark and Theresa Clement |Project manager Mark Clement with the Extreme Makeover bus on site in Florida during the new season that airs on ABC in 2025.
Working that speedily shine a light on what works and what just wastes exploit when build or renovating a base . Building a theatre in 106 hours means that we take lots of little affair smear - on so we can manage the big things . This is a fully transferrable insight to unremarkable home betterment — my own professional work , let in — and that ’s what I ’ll blab out about in this article .
Use accurate names of things.
One pinch point in working with large radical of multitude in a different part of the country is that there are regional names for things that we have to pass time sussing out so we ’re all holler each matter the same name .
In DIY , this translates to recognise the names of the things you ’re working on so you could , at the very least , understand the local building codes , workshop for textile , and realize any instructions that are admit with material . Building a deck ? You should have intercourse the conflict betweenthe ledger , band joists , and field of honor joists . A beam is n’t a baulk . A guardrail is n’t a banister .
Installingchair rail ? acknowledge the epithet of the track you ’re attain helps make cut them easier . An “ inside - right ” is where you miter or cope an abutting paries . An “ outside - right field ” is where you wrap around a propose rampart .
Photo: Mark and Theresa ClementMark Clement during an overnight at ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ in its first run on ABC.
Knowing these little thing means you do n’t have to consider about them when what you should really be thinking about is getting the cutting you need for thefinished labor .
Set up a plan table.
In TV lingo the jobsite is called “ laid . ” After all , we ’re building a TV showanda abode . And on Extreme , nothing is lay by fortuity . The 20 dumpsters ( that fly in and out throughout the physical body ) , heavy equipment , porta - potties , and other substructure … they all go somewhere for a reason .
A DIY jobsite benefits from the same intent . you may set up your oeuvre website however you please , but a horizontal Earth’s surface is key to do the work the safest and most efficiently . Think of efficiency as an extra course in your nous so you could focus on what you ’re trying to fulfill rather than not tripping on an file name extension cord .
On Extreme , my hirer builds a “ plan table , ” which is the locus for everything from reading spreadsheet to storing saving . On a DIY project , a simple banquet table or plywood on sawhorses work to manage all the stuff of the chore — plans , keys , coffee cup , that supererogatory box of fasteners . If it is not on the storey or under your feet , you likely wo n’t have to keep moving all of those token to work or search for that miss box seat .
Photo: Mark and Theresa ClementMark and Theresa Clement overseeing a project during the first run of ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ for ABC.
Work standing up.
You might be surprised at how many novel expensive home are what I call “ poop framed . ” product framers move quickly and instead of setting up sawhorses , they just give the wood on the ground and go . I think it ’s a waste of energy and Iknowit can cause worry for a DIY project .
If you ’re building Modern garage shelves , installing a luxury vinyl radical plank ( LVP ) trading floor , or installing a new storm / screen doorway , you ’re not extend to get the results you project if you set uptools and materialson the ground . And youwillexhaust yourself try out to run a mitre saw on your lawn . ( Lawns are for lawn mowers . ) Make a piece of work table and discover ways tosupport long pieceswhen cutting them to length .
Practice your skills.
The only way Extreme ’s 106 - hour bicycle can be pulled off is because the core people have done all the elements of building a home before . The only thing that ’s new is executing the stages of structure at 3 a.m. with 50 of your newest friends .
We ’re not just born jazz how to apply a circular sawing machine orcope modeling . If you ’re plan to add crown molding to a room to spruce it up , and are a short rusty on how to cope it , do n’t hold back until the day of to practise the details on the genuine cap modelling you contrive to install . Get a hunk of crown and spend some clock time practise the proficiency of sheer and cop . You ’ll detect — and solve — the pinch points so the undertaking has a undecomposed luck of achiever .
Light the project properly.
There is no “ nighttime ” on an Extreme form . I was blown away the first meter I experienced this . I was so focused on getting our project moving that I just happened to expect up past the tower lights — then down at my sentinel — and it was 10:30 p.m. I had no idea .
Back in the real world , we also demand to see . And what I ’ve noticed remodeling basements and house painting sleeping room is that drab is n’t the problem . “ Dim ” is the problem . Let ’s say you ’re painting a bedroom ceiling and ask to cut in around the roof twinkle . They should be off and should belit from below with oeuvre brightness .
It ’s a similar scenario in a basement . surely , you may see where you ’re walk , but copper color bathymetry and chocolate-brown frame are all the same gloss in dim luminosity . wire under joists ? Invisible . Use a torch to highlight otherwise impossible - to - see detail .
Photo: Mark and Theresa ClementTheresa Clement overseeing the creation of part of a design element for an ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ project.
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Photo: Mark and Theresa ClementTheresa Clement at an ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ project that’s lit so everyone can keep working at night.
