| Blaine business recaptures ‘Extreme Makeover’ karma |
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| Wednesday, 14 October 2009 | ||
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Life Editor Tom Budzynski and his Blaine-based TJB Homes crew are continuing to thrive from the karma created by helping a needy family overcome a housing crisis. Last week, Budzynski and a cast of thousands completed a second “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” project for a St. Paul resident and daycare provider.
TJB Homes led development during the week-long volunteer construction effort, which will be featured in a future episode of the popular ABC television series. In 2007, TJB Homes built a 5,600 square-foot dream home for the Swenson-Lee family in Minnetonka. Materials and labor were donated for both home projects. “We had 106 hours scheduled,” Budzynski said. “At 84 hours, we turned over three-quarters of the house to the designers, because they had so much to do.” According to Budzynski, the build team for the recently completed project was given six weeks notice as opposed to three-and-a-half weeks two years ago. “We knew our scheduling,” he said. “Basically, we and the subcontractors that came in just took a five-month project schedule and squeezed it into 96 hours.” The home built in the District Del Sol neighborhood south of downtown St. Paul replaces a 100-year-old house that was sinking, cracking, crumbling and falling. While the primary mission was “move that bus” to benefit the Morris family, Budzynski said volunteers also concentrated on other neighborhood improvements. “We allocated some of our energy to meet those needs,” he said. “We cleaned up five parks on the west side and helped an elderly woman out with her home.” According to Budzynski, the woman, who has cancer, needed her garage roof and porch repaired. Two other neighborhood houses were scraped and repainted. “We finished that work, and trimmed weeds, bushes and cut grass around the neighborhood,” Budzynski said. “There are a lot of elderly and poor living there.” After the traditional surprise day one door-knock and departure of the Morrises on a Mexican cruise, workers packed up and stored the family’s personal belongings. Home demolition was completed on Sunday (Oct. 4). Carpentry crews started working the next day as wet weather rolled into the Twin Cities, Budzynski said. “They had to finish framing and roofing in the rain,” he said. “Everybody was sopping wet Tuesday, but stepped off the ladders with little smiles on their faces.” The Minnetonka home was basically a mini-mansion, Budzynski said. The second project in St. Paul involved a period home located in an older neighborhood. “If you drive down the street, you can’t tell we were there because the house fits in so well,” he said. “TJB has done some pretty neat homes, and I’ve built about 1,200 of them with some priced as high as $3 million, but the daycare center that we completed in the Morris home is the best room that I’ve ever built.” Budzynski said being involved with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” a second time has fostered a “definite karma” that’s helped his family-owned company. “We have been able to keep our heads above water even in a down economy. I think lot of it can be attributed to ‘Extreme Makeover,’” he said. “We haven’t sold houses because we built one [in Minnetonka] for the show, we’ve sold houses because we’ve learned how to tell the story behind how we built that home.” Budzynski offered this example: Shortly after the 100th episode with the Swenson-Lee family aired, he encountered an elderly woman at a Blaine gas station. “It was about 15 degrees below zero and this elderly woman was in the passenger seat of a car, and her daughter was pumping gas,” Budzynski said. “She kept pointing at me, and my truck, which says ‘Extreme Makeover.’ She came hobbling over across the ice, and said, ‘Thank you for doing it’ and gave me a hug.” That type of reaction from the public and customers is what makes the entire “Extreme Makeover” crunch-construction effort so rewarding, Budzynski said. “If you give, you receive,” he said. “Do something good, and you will get repaid many, many times. That’s what we believe has happened with our participation.” According to Budzynski, there are many behind-the-scenes stories that don’t get told well enough. It’s all part of people coming together when a need is present. “People were unbelievable,” he said. “Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher brought members of his department down in vans and they ran all of our shuttles. When we were short on something, I would just run up to one of them and say, I need to go to Menards, and I would just hop into a nearby squad car and we would go.” That type of effort comes from people Budzynski, calls “angels and saints” paying forward their volunteer time and efforts to create a better community for other people. “They probably can’t do something as big as an ‘Extreme’ home, but they can paint a neighbor’s garage or clean an elderly neighbor’s backyard,” Budzynski said. The TJB Dream Give Build, Inc. Foundation was established with that goal in mind, he added. “Hopefully, we can get corporate monies and partial donations, to try and help with housing needs affecting the elderly,” Budzynski said. “These are the type of things that start to develop after you do finish a show like this.” Budzynski said when “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” returns to Minnesota and the Twin Cities, he’ll push for a home project somewhere in Anoka County. “If we can get Anoka County in 2011, I think we can get even more support,” he said. “Rallying Anoka County people for a project like this would be fantastic.” Tim Hennagir is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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