Palm Harbor and Nationwide Homes Build First Modular Home for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Palm Harbor Homes, Inc. and its wholly-owned modular subsidiary, Nationwide Homes, Inc. are joining ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for an upcoming build. This will be the first time the popular television program has featured a home built with modular construction during its intense one-week build time.

On February 15, 2010, they joined ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Pine Mountain Valley, Georgia, to surprise Jeremy and Jennifer Williams, whose son Jacob was diagnosed with Spina Bifida before he was born.

The Williams Family

Then, several years after Jacob’s birth, Jeremy was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  Now, the home Jeremy and Jennifer bought 13 years ago is falling apart around them. In addition to mounting home repairs, the home is too small to accommodate two disabled family members. In just seven days, team leader Ty Pennington, the design team, Palm Harbor and Nationwide Homes, and the entire community come together to build Jeremy, 38, Jennifer, 38, Josie, 8, and Jacob, 6, a brand new, energy efficient home.

As long-time national builders of systems-built homes, Nationwide and Palm Harbor Homes are perfectly aligned to assist Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with this important, time-sensitive task. Building and delivering a high quality home with extreme customization in one week is a routine part of the job for this homebuilder. Because these homes are built in environmentally-protected building centers with constant quality checks and then transported to the final home site, rain and other weather delays do not impact the build schedule. This inherently green construction method and the other green features built into the home are expected to give the home both an ENERGY STAR qualification and the National Association of Home Builders Green Certification. This means that this home will have lower utility costs when compared to a typical home built to accepted state and local building standards.

Over 1,700 volunteer help with the Extreme Dream Home.

This 9-section home is the first modular home built for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

The Extreme Makeover site runs 24-hours a day.

Cranes and Nationwide's experienced set crews keep things running smoothly.

Putting together the pieces on the foundation

Jeremy has been the head football coach at Greenville High School for the past eight years and is currently the school’s athletic director as well. In 2005, Jeremy saw a doctor after having some trouble moving his hand. After three grueling years of testing, Jeremy was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease – a fatal, progressive disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord which interferes with the brain’s ability to control muscle movement. Jeremy has trouble walking and will soon be confined to a wheelchair, but he continues to coach his team, has only missed one practice to date, and led his team to an 11-0 season and into the playoffs last fall. His determination and motivation in the face of adversity has given hope and inspiration to the entire community.  But Jeremy and Jennifer are struggling to take care of each other and their family in their cramped and crumbling home. With two disabled family members, the small home prevents both Jeremy and Jacob from being able to move freely about the house.  Because Jeremy is too weak to help move Jacob from room to room, Jennifer must carry Jacob throughout the house and as Jacob gets bigger, that will become impossible. In addition, the foundation of the home is cracked and sinking, one of the lower retaining walls is broken, and their leaking air conditioner has infected their walls with mold. Now, it’s up to the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” team and hundreds of local volunteers to build a new home where Jeremy can make the most of his time with his family and Jacob can grow up comfortably and independently. Learn more at www.extremephn.com.

Ron Powell, President of Manufacturing for Palm Harbor Homes, explained, “We love building homes for families, and having this opportunity to make a huge difference in the life of a deserving family is a special assignment for us. We are proud and excited to be the first modular company to work with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in their mission to improve the lives of families across our country. We are also grateful for the outpouring of generosity from our builders, sponsors, associates and many others who have already donated to this wonderful cause without even knowing the family.”

The Williams family will go on vacation to Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colorado, while “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” team leader Ty Pennington, designers Michael Moloney, Paul DiMeo, and Tracy Hutson, local builders with Nationwide Homes and Palm Harbor Homes, and community volunteers rebuild their home. The show will be the season finale for the 7th season, anticipated to run in late May.

Home Builders Blitz 2006

Building Habitats for Humanity
by Colin Carmichael, VCG Editor

Palm Harbor Homes works with a number of charities to better the lives of families in need. As a homebuilder, we are particularly proud of our associates’ work with Habitat for Humanity. This non-profit organization helps low-income families across the country to attain the dream of home ownership. By providing zero-interest mortgages and energy efficient dwellings, Habitat for Humanity has changed the lives of thousands of families forever.
Palm Harbor’s recent projects with Habitat for Humanity include “Home Builders Blitz 2006” and “DESIGNHabitat2.”

Habitat for Humanity and over 1,000 building professionals joined together June 5th-8th, 2006, to build more than 400 houses in 130 communities across the United States. Dubbed “Home Builders Blitz 2006,” the nationwide effort was the largest Home Builders Blitz ever sponsored by the nonprofit organization.
Palm Harbor participated in Home Builders Blitz 2006 in the northwest community of Salem, Oregon, alongside two site-built homebuilders: JDC Homes and Weiland Homes. Local organization The Faith Foundation donated land for the project. Habitat built three homes on the donated property. Millersburg, Oregon’s Regional Sales Manager, Curtis Richards, led efforts in donating a Palm Harbor home to Habitat for Humanity for use in the project.
This was the first time a manufactured home builder participated in this event in the Salem area. The local chapter of the NAHB and the two site-built homebuilders involved in the project initially voiced concern regarding a manufactured home builder being involved.

According to Curtis Richards, “Early on, the other site builders involved in the project seemed amused at our involvement. The attitude seemed to be that Palm Harbor was being humored by being included in the event. After visiting our building center, one of the builders commented that he was ‘blown away.’ Because they were building a tightly scripted Habitat plan and I had convinced Habitat to let us design and assemble a home of our choice and standards, the other two builders began to voice concerns that I might show them up. From that point, we worked together as equals with a lot of shared humor about how we were going to show up and plop our home on a foundation while they spend 5 hot days in the sun with a cast of thousands building their donated structures.”

Palm Harbor Millersburg has worked on with Habitat. In every instance, the subcontractors and suppliers have proved more than generous. Many area suppliers donated labor and materials to the Salem project. Over 100 volunteers donated their time and craftsmanship to build these beautiful homes in just five days. Cornerstone Building Company laid the foundation for all three homes. Pinnacle Transport donated transport of the Palm Harbor home. J&J Affordable Homes donated use of a crawler and transporter. Habitat for Humanity offers participating families “a hand-up, not a handout.” The homes are not giveaways. The Palm Harbor home appraised at about $150,000 and has been sold to a family in the Habitat program for $100,000. The new homeowners are responsible for monthly payments of about $500, which includes principle, taxes and insurance. Principle payments go into a revolving “Fund for Humanity” used to help additional families realize their dream of owning a home.

This year’s owner of the Palm Harbor-Millersburg home is a single-parent family of eight. In early July 2006, they moved out of their inadequate housing and into a 1230 square foot, 4 bedroom, 1.75 bathroom Palm Harbor home featuring excellent energy efficiency and a fully landscaped yard with cedar fencing. The home is a 49-foot custom model with a 6/12 roof pitch and 9-foot sidewalls.
Salem city officials joined the homebuilders and future homeowners at the pre-build kickoff celebration on May 31. Northwest Natural Gas sponsored a post-build celebration picnic on June 10 for all involved in the Salem project. All three homes were featured in the Home Builders Association of Marion and Polk Counties Salem Tour of Homes. It was the first time Habitat for Humanity homes were included in the tour.
The public reaction to the Palm Harbor home was outstanding. Curtis stated, “I worked the tour on two evenings and without exception, visitors were impressed with our product and how far our industry has come. We are entertaining conversations with both participating builders to play a role with them as a “mega subcontractor” for future projects in the area.”

As for his feelings about the project, Curtis added, “I believe all businesses involved with community projects should give back to the community. Partnering with the Home Builders Association of Marion and Polk Counties has been a wonderful experience. We’re all in the same business and they have such great enthusiasm for the project. For all of us, this has been a labor of joy.”