ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition — Elcano Family Home | Bakersfield

In 2004, Sweaney Construction, led by Todd Sweaney, served as the local builder responsible for organizing and managing construction of the Elcano family home rebuild in Bakersfield, California, for ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Sweaney Construction was contacted approximately one month before production began. Todd and his team developed the construction plan and coordinated an around-the-clock effort involving local trade professionals, suppliers, businesses and hundreds of volunteers. A project that would ordinarily have required months of construction had to be completed in less than a week.

Meeting that schedule required an unusually detailed level of planning and coordination. Sweaney adapted its computerized construction schedule to break the accelerated build into 15-minute increments, sequencing trades and activities around the clock. During periods of peak activity, more than 300 people were involved on site, with as many as 50–60 people working inside the home at one time. Todd Sweaney and construction superintendent Chris Anderson spent approximately 20 or more hours per day on site as the project progressed.

The home was completed in approximately four days and nine hours.

The Elcano family project aired November 21, 2004, as Season 2, Episode 8 of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The project later received the 2005 Beautiful Bakersfield Chairman’s Award, recognizing the extraordinary community effort that brought local trades, suppliers, businesses and volunteers together to help the family.

This Houzz project preserves 68 original photographs documenting the accelerated construction effort, the people who came together to make it possible and the transformation of the Elcano family property.

Learn more about the project, watch the Elcano family story and explore the complete historical project page:

LINK TO FULL EPISODE BELOW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkZiQXUc2c&list=PL-k_bjb6negSpOSBixpB-ZNVsPsFVM3Ek&index=7

Historical source: “Extreme Construction,” Bakersfield Magazine, 2004.