My experience working on EM:HE, and expelling some myths

Last week I volunteered as a skilled laborer for the Knoxville, Tn build, and wanted to give the inside scoop on a few things regarding EM:HE.

First off, Ty Pennington was not on the set until Tuesday and Wednesday, and for a very short period of time each day. This was probably because he was filming three different episodes in three different cities (Joplin, Knoxville, and New York, I believe)... cannot be blamed for that. He did interview me briefly for the show, and was a nice guy. The funny thing is that we had a carpenter who was also signed up as a skilled laborer volunteer who looks JUST like Ty! Even had the crew fooled! It was hilarious!
The show was mainly hosted by Jenny McCarthy, who was on site for a few hours or so at a time. We rarely saw her, but she was extremely friendly! I was able to talk to her briefly, and she was delightful to have a conversation with. My fiancee also talked to her on a separate occasion that day, and Jenny even held a rope fence up so that Tiffany can walk under it as they went up the hill. Really down to Earth lady.
Paul was there and I did get to talk to him some as well. I have to say that out of the cast, he was the one that I was the most impressed with! Really awesome guy, friendly and gracious! I was impressed completely with him. He wore a firefighter helmet on the site the first day. As a former volunteer firefigher, this led to a conversation with him. I honestly had no idea who he was at first, but he was really easy to talk to.
We did a house for a local family called the Watsons, and while I will not reveal any key information on the build, as the show requested us not to, I will let you in on how the build/show works. Some you probably knew about, some you might not.
The process of choosing the family is more detailed than you may think. They start with the state, then the city area, then the family. This is because in order to do one of these builds, they have to involve the entire community, as there is a lot of equipment and material to store, noise 24 hours a day/7 days a week, lights all night long, etc. Because of this, some cities refuse to issue permits to the show, therefore some deserving families might get kicked out of the running. All in all, it takes around a half a year to chose a family, from what I was told.
The build takes place almost a year before the show airs, at least in our case. The home was decorated for Thanksgiving, as the episode will air on or right around Thanksgiving. The reunion dinner (where the family came back to Knoxville) was staged to look like a Thanksgiving dinner banquet. It was really interesting to see Thanksgiving in January.
The materials, workforce, construction companies, food for the workers, bus drivers to the site from an off site location, furniture, equipment, etc. were all donated and loaned from local companies and volunteers. As laborers, we were graciously given Channel Lock pliers and box cutters by Irwin Tools on sign-in, and local restaurants donated food for us to eat on the site. One of the biggest donations came from Grace Construction, who donated their time and workers to the build, as well as equipment. All in all, the Extreme Makeover program had nothing to do with the actual build, they were just there to film and design the home.
The build was around the clock, 24 hours a day. The only time work was called off was when lightning was in the area. Work was halted for an hour or so due to the unsafe conditions. This was at the order of Grace Construction. The camera crew was not even noticeable throughout the entire build. They filmed from a distance, and did not get in the way. Unfortunately, there was a lot of disorganization to the whole process, each task (be it siding, trim, doors, etc.) was taken on by small, individual groups or workers. Most of the volunteers had no idea what to do, or where to go. For this, quite a few people were getting under the toes of other workers, although their intentions were good.
There were certain liberties that had to be taken for the show. For instance, the build unveil was supposed to have taken place on Tuesday at 6pm, but the bad weather and shortages in building materials forced the unveil back to Wednesday, as the house was just not ready to be shown on time. Even still, there were parts of one of the houses and part of one side of the garage that did not have siding and trim at the time of the unveil. The cameras manipulated the angles so as not to show these unfinished parts.
The Watson family has dedicated their lives to taking in single mothers and giving them a helping hand. This is the reason that they were chosen over the other family that was in the running in the area for the build. Their unfit house was torn down and replaced with a brand new 4,000 square foot home, garage, and two duplexes that will house the single mothers. With this large build comes two financial burdens on the families. One is the added value of the property that greatly increases the cost of the taxes. To offset this some, a benefit was held on site to raise money for the Watsons to help pay off their mortgage. The other burden is in the extremely high costs of heating and powering such a large home. The designers thought of this, and installed a solar power field in the front yard that will hopefully supply the house completely off of solar energy, possibly even earn the family money from the power company!
Even though the reveal was Wednesday, the home will not be completely finished for another week or so.
All in all, the entire experience was really awesome! The designers did a great job of making a nice home for these caring people, and the community really banned together... the turnout was incredible, even in the bad weather and the frigid cold!
Oh, and lastly, is Ty Pennington gay? Nope. I heard this rumor as well, but he has had a happy few years with his long term girlfriend. Also, some of you asked if the show was being cancelled... well sadly, yes, it is. We will be one of the last episodes aired, as they will be doing three two hour specials, one special for each family/site.