‘Makeover’ madness takes Kingston by storm

KINGSTON — On a construction site, the often-pink Paige Hemmis, one of the stars of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, stands out like a sore thumb.

Monday, Hemmis hurried about her show’s current project, toting her pink tool-belt and equally pink jacket amongst the countless hard-hatted construction workers who have — quite literally — built a home almost overnight.

To be exact, it’s taken five days and nine hours to build a 3,200-square-foot home for Rosanne Dore and her three daughters, Jessica, Sarah and Aariel. But all that hard work will be unveiled to the four family members today, when they return from their week-long vacation.

The process has involved countless resources and man hours in order to put such an effort together in such short time. But the imported-to-Kitsap cast and crew said they’ve enjoyed their time in the Pacific Northwest — including Hemmis.

“I love Kingston,” she said. “Everyone is so sweet and so welcoming here.”

A unique aspect of the project is the beauty of the Puget Sound region, Hemmis added, mentioning the beauty of the Olympic Mountains and the vast “green trees.”

What brought them here, Hemmis said, was the Dores’ story — a family that lost everything in a fire and one forced to live in barn-like conditions since — and felt that selecting the Kingstonites over the approximately 1,500 candidates for the show was the right move.

“You could see that they didn’t just want a makeover,” Hemmis said, “But that they needed it.”

The family’s house burned to the ground in March and the fire insurance policy proved to be insufficient for the Dores’ needs. Not being able to put a payment down on a new residence of any sort, they had been living out of an equipment shed and utilizing an outhouse as the primary bathroom since.

But their lives changed last Wednesday when the crew of Extreme arrived at their Kiwi Lane home.

Since the family left and crews went to work, Extreme fans have flocked to Kingston from around Puget Sound to get a glimpse of the show up close.

“This was something we knew was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Katie Corbett, a senior at a Maple Valley-area high school.

Corbett, who trekked north and across the ferry with her mother, braved a rainy Monday morning to visit the site, taking a day off school to come see the makeover in progress.

“It’s the best show on TV,” her mother Ann Corbett said. “They’re not focusing on themselves like these other shows. They’re reaching out to help other people.”

Yes, it’s been done

— but how?

Dallas-based Centex Homes — a multi-state home-building corporation that employed about 700 builders for the project — has been the primary contractor in the Kingston effort, in its first project for the show. Though they’ve prepared 700 volunteers and will have used 10,000 man-hours working around the clock to complete the home, it still seems inconceivable that a house could be put together in little over five days.

David Finch, Centex’s supply-chain manager on the project, has felt that time pressure. Yet much of Finch’s work had begun long before the Dores knew they’d be getting a new home.

Three days prior to the start of the Kiwi Lane project, the house was actually built — thanks to the efforts of Woodinville Lumber and space donated by Kingston Lumber. Every piece of the house was divided into a cube shape that could be transported onto the Dore property easily and then constructed there permanently.

“This entire house is just a jig-saw puzzle,” Finch said.

The reason for the pre-build is that some of the house work — painting, for example — had to be done under a longer schedule than the five days, nine hours allotted for the build.

Just because the house is pieced together doesn’t mean the quality is spared, Finch added. For instance, Centex is installing the most up-to-date hardware in the home. From a tankless water heater and a high-efficiency furnace to double paned windows and insulated fiberglass doors, the home is on the cutting edge of energy efficiency.

Approximately 200 tons of construction equipment was brought on the site for the project week. To compensate for that much weight, a 22-inch raised road was created especially for the quick importing of an entire home.

And one thing that should offer the family piece of mind — fire protection. Finch and crew have pulled out all the stops to ensure the Dores won’t have to worry about losing their home to a fire again.

An advanced fire alarm system will patrol the house, complete with fire sprinklers wired from the bottom to the top of the house. And should the power go out, a 400-gallon backup water tank would engage the flames if a fire were started during an outage.

“We just thought, ‘How can we make the family feel safe that their house will never burn down again?’” Finch asked.

The Dore family’s “Extreme Makeover” will air on KOMO 4, ABC’s local affiliate, in six to eight weeks, according to Centex Public Relations Project Manager Gayle Goodman.

To be exact, it’s taken five days and nine hours to build a 3,200-square-foot home for Rosanne Dore and her three daughters, Jessica, Sarah and Aariel. But all that hard work will be unveiled to the four family members today, when they return from their week-long vacation.

The process has involved countless resources and man hours in order to put such an effort together in such short time. But the imported-to-Kitsap cast and crew said they’ve enjoyed their time in the Pacific Northwest — including Hemmis.

“I love Kingston,” she said. “Everyone is so sweet and so welcoming here.”

A unique aspect of the project is the beauty of the Puget Sound region, Hemmis added, mentioning the beauty of the Olympic Mountains and the vast “green trees.”

What brought them here, Hemmis said, was the Dores’ story — a family that lost everything in a fire and one forced to live in barn-like conditions since — and felt that selecting the Kingstonites over the approximately 1,500 candidates for the show was the right move.

“You could see that they didn’t just want a makeover,” Hemmis said, “But that they needed it.”

The family’s house burned to the ground in March and the fire insurance policy proved to be insufficient for the Dores’ needs. Not being able to put a payment down on a new residence of any sort, they had been living out of an equipment shed and utilizing an outhouse as the primary bathroom since.

But their lives changed last Wednesday when the crew of Extreme arrived at their Kiwi Lane home.

Since the family left and crews went to work, Extreme fans have flocked to Kingston from around Puget Sound to get a glimpse of the show up close.

“This was something we knew was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Katie Corbett, a senior at a Maple Valley-area high school.

Corbett, who trekked north and across the ferry with her mother, braved a rainy Monday morning to visit the site, taking a day off school to come see the makeover in progress.

“It’s the best show on TV,” her mother Ann Corbett said. “They’re not focusing on themselves like these other shows. They’re reaching out to help other people.”

Yes, it’s been done

— but how?

Dallas-based Centex Homes — a multi-state home-building corporation that employed about 700 builders for the project — has been the primary contractor in the Kingston effort, in its first project for the show. Though they’ve prepared 700 volunteers and will have used 10,000 man-hours working around the clock to complete the home, it still seems inconceivable that a house could be put together in little over five days.

David Finch, Centex’s supply-chain manager on the project, has felt that time pressure. Yet much of Finch’s work had begun long before the Dores knew they’d be getting a new home.

Three days prior to the start of the Kiwi Lane project, the house was actually built — thanks to the efforts of Woodinville Lumber and space donated by Kingston Lumber. Every piece of the house was divided into a cube shape that could be transported onto the Dore property easily and then constructed there permanently.

“This entire house is just a jig-saw puzzle,” Finch said.

The reason for the pre-build is that some of the house work — painting, for example — had to be done under a longer schedule than the five days, nine hours allotted for the build.

Just because the house is pieced together doesn’t mean the quality is spared, Finch added. For instance, Centex is installing the most up-to-date hardware in the home. From a tankless water heater and a high-efficiency furnace to double paned windows and insulated fiberglass doors, the home is on the cutting edge of energy efficiency.

Approximately 200 tons of construction equipment was brought on the site for the project week. To compensate for that much weight, a 22-inch raised road was created especially for the quick importing of an entire home.

And one thing that should offer the family piece of mind — fire protection. Finch and crew have pulled out all the stops to ensure the Dores won’t have to worry about losing their home to a fire again.

An advanced fire alarm system will patrol the house, complete with fire sprinklers wired from the bottom to the top of the house. And should the power go out, a 400-gallon backup water tank would engage the flames if a fire were started during an outage.

“We just thought, ‘How can we make the family feel safe that their house will never burn down again?’” Finch asked.

The Dore family’s “Extreme Makeover” will air on KOMO 4, ABC’s local affiliate, in six to eight weeks, according to Centex Public Relations Project Manager Gayle Goodman.

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