TV show to roll in with a big footprint

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By Tim Tressler, Staff Writer 11:08 PM Saturday, July 18, 2009

When the cast and crew of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” rolls into the area later this month, they won’t come quietly or in a small way.

The television show usually brings with it tents for VIPs, a line of production trucks that stretch three quarters of a mile, recreational vehicles for the volunteers as well as medical staff and police, said Rob Arnold, president of Coventry Fine Homes.

“It’s like a city rolls in,” Arnold said.

Arnold’s company will be featured as the lead builder in an upcoming episode of the ABC television show in which a local family will receive a new home.

But Coventry hardly will tackle the project alone. Arnold said they will use between 1,500 and 2,000 volunteers to build the home over four days.

Five families are vying to receive the new home, which will be built over four days. Producers will notify the winner July 30 and work begins the next day.

Arnold, who was tapped to participate in the ABC television show a couple of weeks ago, saw the Extreme Makeover building process firsthand in Erie, Pa.

The keys to building a home so quickly, he said, are coordination and manpower.

“Everything is staged and ready to go,” he said. “There’s a time clock associated with every event that happens in the process. It’s very well orchestrated. They tell me this is the Super Bowl of homebuilding.”

The final design for the new home remain in flux and will depend in part on who wins, Arnold said. But his in-house designer, Ed March, and HMA Associates LLC of Oakwood are collaborating on the plans with the show’s design staff, he said.

Staff writer Tim Tresslar covers commercial and residential real estate for Dayton Daily News. His Real Estate Notebook appears every Sunday. He can be reached at (937) 225-7317 or via e-mail at ttresslar@coxohio.com.

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