The ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is coming to the Galveston Bay area to prepare a home for a deserving family, but local builders Blu Shields and his grandson Patrick Henderson, who have been chosen to oversee this project, have a vision that extends far beyond just one home. For them, this is not just about assisting one family; it’s about reaching out to an entire city, much of which is still struggling to recover after Hurricane Ike.
“When EM: HE asked us to do the job, we were extremely happy,” said Shields, president of Blu Shields Construction. “We said we’d do it if they would allow us to reach out and bring in all the other contractors and builders in the area to teach them to do what we do.”
What Shields and his grandson do is build energy-efficient homes within a short timeline — only three to six weeks.
“This show is a godsend to us,” he continued. “They agreed to teach us how they do it using their technology. We’re teaching them how to build energy-efficient homes using Patrick’s designs.”
Henderson, who at age 23 is the CEO of Energy Solution Homes, said that homes built using his energy solutions have electricity bills that are always much less than $100 a month.
“We’re hoping that after we are done doing this show, the financial impact on the area will be massive. They show us their high-speed techniques, and we combine that with Patrick’s energy-efficient designs, and then we can train all the other builders and contractors in the area to continue to do this for everyone,” Shields said. “We can put people back in their homes fast. And that’s what we want. … Putting us together with the show’s technology, we are going to revolutionize home building. We want to show ‘ em how it’s done.”
They will certainly need teamwork and passion. The home, which will be more than 6,300 square feet, must be completely finished within a mind-boggling 103 hours.
“This is the largest house they’ve done on EM: HE,” Shields said. “What we need now more than anything is support. Unfortunately, the viewers might believe that the network gives everything necessary for the house and furnishings, but that is incorrect.”
He said they are relying on the community to help. Donations can be made at http://www.blushieldsconstruction.com.
He said he hopes that a few years from now, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition could return to the Bay Area and see that they really haven’t left.
“We want them to be able to see that their imprint has stayed on our area, and they’ll see all the people that have gotten into homes as a result of our combined efforts.”
The Emmy-award-winning reality show, now in its seventh season, airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on ABC. The family, whose identity is unknown and does not yet know they’ve been chosen, will find out on “Door Knock” day, Thursday, when Ty Pennington and his team will appear at the home and inform the family that they will be the recipient of a new home. The family will be temporarily relocated, and construction will move forward round the clock until Jan. 14, also called “Move That Bus!” day, when the new home will be revealed to the family and community. This two-hour special episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is tentatively scheduled to air in March.
