Building Construction students work behind scenes of TV show

Tech students are used to doing five months ' work in a week ' s time, but recently a group of Building Construction students put cramming in an entirely different light - they worked on the crew of ABC ' s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a reality show where a crew of designers, contractors and workers rebuild the entire home of a needy family in less than a week.

Katherine Davis, a Building Construction senior, was one of the students who worked on the show.

" It was amazing and very tiring, " said Davis, who is also the president of the Student Construction Association. " We worked night shifts after classes ended for about a week. There was one night I worked from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. straight. "

The opportunity was provided by Beazer Homes USA, Inc., an Atlanta-based construction company that collaborated with Extreme Makeover to build a home in five days and nine hours.

Beazer Homes sought out about 1800 people to make that happen. Because the company has fostered a relationship with Tech through the scholarships and internships it provides for students, all Building Construction majors were invited to apply for the chance to participate in the show.

A group of 12 were chosen out of 45 students who applied to volunteer for the show. Those students worked on a house in Lake City, a 30-minute drive from campus in southeast Atlanta. For their episode, host Ty Pennington brought good news to the Harper family, whose former home had problems with raw sewage leaks every time it rained, due to a chronically malfunctioning septic tank.

" This was the largest house yet [on the show], and the students ' work was very appreciated, " said Mike Mansfield, vice president of operations for Beazer Homes. " They had a do-whatever-it takes attitude. "

Maureen Weidner, a lecturer in the Building Construction program, supervised the Tech group. " It gave us a sense of community pride by putting out all our blood, sweat and tears to build something for the family, " she said.

Even though they were students, Weidner said there was no compromise on the structural integrity and quality of the house.

" All the pre-planning was taken into account, and [Beazer Homes] had every single detail taken care of. We just went on-site and worked there for a week, " she said.

The students, who started work on Jan. 18, were part of the cleanup and safety crew, clearing construction debris.

At the same time, they also learned many on-the-job skills. As a lecturer, Weidner found this especially valuable. She said she sometimes wishes she could tell her students how a site will look like from drawings, but that nothing beats hands-on experience.

" When you drive home from a construction site, and look into the rearview mirror, and see your efforts building up to something you can look at every day, that ' s very rewarding, " she said.

Brian Newhouse, also a Building Construction senior, said it was fascinating to see so many people working in every corner of the house at one time.

" It was quite ridiculous to work at such a fast pace, " Newhouse said. " When I asked [the Beazer construction managers], they said they would never do something as crazy as this again. "

But one of the perks of having such a large crew was the food. " There was catered food every few hours, and it was good, " Newhouse said.

In addition, they got to know the rest of the crew. " We talked to the workers there and it was definitely fun to meet the people who designed the house, " Davis said.

Although the camera crew was initially a hindrance to the construction work, the workers slowly got used to their presence. " Work was done 24 hours a day, and people just kept changing shifts. With all the furniture supplies and cramped quarters, it was a logistical nightmare at the residential site, " Weidner said.

For many of the students, the show was the first time they were involved in such a big project, and the work was also physically exhausting.

However, Newhouse said that the work was too fun to be tiring.

Their episode aired this past weekend, and even though none of the students had any screen time, watching the show when it aired was a still a gratifying experience.

" It was so amazing to see everyone working and putting in their best, and it was even better when I watched it on TV, and watched the family ' s reaction to the house, " Davis said. " I helped in some small way to build the house, and it was definitely a good feeling. "