Extreme Builder’s Makeover

I told my brother and cousin, both builders, that Extreme Home Makeover is one of the best of the reality shows, best on television. They both scoffed! I said the show makes me emotional nearly every time I get to see it. Like the time they rebuilt a house for a man blinded by a gunshot wound to the eyes . . . they used some rock from the previous house hearth and used it to create textures for different rooms in the house. Turns out the man and his father had picked that rock out when the house was build twenty some years earlier.

What my brother and cousin said was that “reality” television creates a perception that renovating or building is easy, fast, and not expensive. People now come in expecting unique houses or renovations, armed with pictures and projects they’ve seen on HGTV or shows like Extreme Home Makeover. Expectations are high for quality and unique builds but many don’t realize the difference between a show that has a staff of builders and designers of 100+ and the reality of building and what it takes to work and money it takes to build.

Well, that’s another perspective, and a helpful one. One of my professors, likely repeating a business principle he’d learned somewhere, said nothing can be all of three things: good, fast, and cheap. If it’s good, it’s probably not going to be cheap or fast. If it’s fast, it’ll probably be expensive. It it’s cheap, you’ll probably get what you paid for.