Extreme makeover home edition

[GTRS Fiero]

Have you watched it?  Years ago, I saw several episodes.  Probably more than several.  Don't judge.  It was on, and I had to sit there for hours.

Anyway, the thing that always struck me was all the 1-off things they did.  This team of...people...came to the house of people who could not afford to care for their house.  The owners were usually sitting around, watching TV in a house that was falling apart.  This team then did a quick hack and slash of the house, and rebuilt it with a bunch of 1-off items.  Basically, maybe 30% of the work was completely custom.  The exterior of the house was dramatically improved.  It didn't seem that the homeowners were involved in the work, or that the homeowners were given instruction on maintenance.  So, a rush job, with a bunch of untested work, and then the owners are left to deal with whatever happened afterward.  Many of the materials were closeout, or the last of whatever.  The team was always so happy to have gotten the last one.

Yes, some of the houses started having problems instantly.  Either way, property taxes went up.  How do the owners afford this?  Repairs come up.  The only solution is to remove down to non-custom stuff, and start over.  Who pays for that?

I'm no professional, but some of the work seemed to have been done incorrectly.  Apparently, some of the electrical wiring was done incorrectly.

My question is, were the owners of those homes actually better off from the makeover?

[f85gtron]

I’m curious too. I vote for a “Where are they now” for the properties to see what condition or of the remodels held up.

[GTRS Fiero]

Hmmm.  I wonder if the show is still on.

[Fierofool]

It doesn't show up as being on-air via a search of Dish Satellite. 

I always wondered how they got a full-time building inspector to be on site.  I believe I'm thinking of the same program.  Sometimes they would completely demolish the old home? 

How do you pour footers and foundation, properly treat the ground for termites, put down a vapor barrier, pour a concrete slab with the sewer and water underneath it, then within a day, start putting the weight of the structure on it?  The concrete slab needs to cure first.  The termiticide treated ground isn't supposed to be covered for at least 24 hours. 

Then the inspectors must be on-site full time to inspect the wiring, plumbing, framing, insulation, et al, so the house can be finished in a week or less.  Building a house is never a seamless operation.  There are always issues that come up. 

I, too have wondered how these people could afford taxes and upkeep when they couldn't afford to repair a broken door or put down new carpet, or even clean the carpet for that matter. 

[GTRS Fiero]

Yep, that program. 

All valid points.  I wonder  if these issues are why the show was cancelled?

It would seem to be a better idea to teach the people home repair and maintenance.  I'm not saying that there weren't some families on the show who just got overwhelmed.  It did seem that most of them had way more kids than they could afford.  It also seemed that, as part of the make-over, said kids received toys that would take time away from home maintenance.  Heck, most of the episodes I saw seemed to put TVs in every room--including the bathroom.

As for issues, I ordered 10 identical windows.  8 of them were fine.  1 was broken, and 1 was a different style.  I had 8 installed by the time I opened the last 2.  Unfortunately, the last 1 was the new style.  I had to remove 8 windows, order 9 more windows, and wait for them to arrive.