This past February, the producers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE) asked if we were willing to build another home for their show – we told them “yes”.

Immediately they began looking for a family in Louisville. We agreed on a late summer, early fall build and finally decided on the last week of October.

On September 8th, 5 representatives from EMHE flew to Louisville and we met with them for 2 days to learn about the family they had selected: Jeff and Shelley Lampe and their 6 children.

We began construction of a 4,100 sq. ft. home, with a 2,200 sq. ft. garage and gym on October 23rd and completed it on October 28th.

I have been asked – “why did EMHE come back to Louisville?” There are two reasons. One is that it is easier in this economic climate to find a deserving family than a builder. This year EMHE has been going back to past builders to see if they would be able to take on another project. It had been 3 years since we built the home for the Hughes family. I had always thought that they would ask us to build another home because of the support we had received from the community-which is the second reason.

It is impossible to complete a project of this magnitude without the total support of the community. Metro Government has to agree to road closures. Building Inspectors have to agree to be on-call 24/7. You need the cooperation of all the utility companies. All the labor and material for the house has to be donated. I knew when the show’s producers left Louisville in 2007, they were impressed with the support of the entire community.

This year’s project was much more difficult than in 2007. The show had told us they wanted to build a gym in addition to the house and needed to know if we felt we could handle both projects. Also, the Lampe family has 6 children, the Hughes had 3.
A home for a family of 8 will be larger than one for a family of 5. Because we had successfully built a house for EMHE before, we were confident we could handle a job of this size.

Despite the increased size and complexity, the rugged terrain and some challenging weather, we completed the home on time. As in 2007, our team of subcontractors and suppliers were awesome in doing “whatever it took” to get the house done.

The show is scheduled to air on January 9th on ABC. We hope you will watch on what I was quoted as calling, “The Miracle on Jefferson Hill Road.”