“Extreme Makeover” Connection Between Southwest Virginia Council, Blue Ridge AIA and National Television Show

by Bob Nablo, Director of Industry Services, Western Region

Santa Claus came early to Blacksburg, Virginia this year in the form of the ABC Network program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”.

The deserving family of Carol Crawford-Smith learned that they had been selected from thousands of applicants to have their home completely remodeled by the show’s celebrity design team, when star Ty Pennington arrived on her doorstep.

At 9 am on Sunday, December 4, Carol and her two young sons heard those now-familiar words “Good Morning, Crawford-Smith family! Carol, Hunter and Garland—get out here!” Carol, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and walks with two canes, took a while to get to the door, illustrating how immediate the need for this extreme makeover was.

On Halloween of this year, ABC producers called Roanoke-based Building Specialists, Inc. (BSI) to assess their interest in the project. The call was taken by Residential and Commercial Team member Amanda McCreary, a 2004 graduate of Virginia Tech.

McCreary is also an associate member of the Blue Ridge AIA Chapter and had met VRMCA Director of Industry Services, Bob Nablo and Southwest Virginia Council Chairman, George Kuhn of Marshall Concrete Products at the annual AIA meeting in Abingdon. BSI was interested, and was selected by ABC as the builder of choice to complete the extreme—and rapid—renovation.

ABC show producers flew to Roanoke in early November and swore BSI to absolute secrecy. During the next three weeks, a completely new handicapped-accessible home was designed, and major sponsors were solicited for the building materials and labor. McCreary contacted Kuhn, asking for ready-mixed concrete to be donated.

Robert Lindsey of Chandler Concrete, and member of the Education Committee of the Roanoke Regional Home Builders Association was also contacted and he and Kuhn called several VRMCA members to request donations of materials or money. Roanoke Cement Company, Degussa Admixtures, Salem Stone-ACCO Quarry, Specialty Concrete Products and Custom Match Colors all donated materials for the special concrete mix.

Marshall Concrete Products President Steve Marshall, already contributing the landscape products used in retaining walls, agreed to the additional donation of concrete. SoCon Pumping donated the use of a pump truck, and the Southwest Virginia Concrete Promotion Council approved funds to be used toward concrete driveway placement and finishing.

On Monday, the family’s possessions were moved to storage and long lines of construction machinery showed up to begin the project. Some Blacksburg city streets were closed to traffic to accommodate more than 1,000 volunteer workers and many thousands of visitors to the site.

On Tuesday, the family was flown to a vacation in California and the old 1,250 square foot house was demolished, beginning a 107-hour project scheduled to be completed the following Sunday when Crawford-Smith was to be handed the keys to her new home.

The building slab and turn-down footers were scheduled to be placed at midnight on Tuesday, but very early Wednesday morning found the project already eleven hours behind, courtesy of cold weather and site excavation problems.

Marshall Concrete designed a special mix for the project, and at 11:00 am, with temperatures in the 20s, the first load of “Extreme Slab Mix” went through the SoCon pump and into the forms. Two hours and 106 cubic yards later, finishers from OK Concrete had trowel machines on the slab and at 2:30 pm (3 hours after initial placement!) the forms were stripped and construction of the new home began.

Initial plans called for pavers to be used in the sidewalk, patio and driveway, but show designers were convinced to showcase the capabilities of ready-mixed concrete in providing smooth, strong, handicap-accessible surfaces. Changes were made to feature colored concrete in these areas, and placement came late in the week—after the project was subjected to another round of snow and ice.

Contractors and volunteers pressed on to make up lost time from this second delay, and the concrete—as well as the entire rebuilding process—was completed on time. The Crawford-Smith family had their new home!

Look for a more complete description—and photos—of the demolition, rebuilding and concrete placement process in the next issue of The Ready-Mixer. You may also see the entire show on ABC-TV later this winter.