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Wright Custom Home was selected by the producers of ABC TV’s hit television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as the builder for their Las Vegas episode which was filmed March 10th – 17th 2009. With the generous assistance of over 200 companies and trade partners and over 3,200 volunteers, we worked day and night to tear down and rebuild a new home for a needy family in less than seven days.
The episode premiered on Mother’s Day Sunday, May 10th, 2009 on ABC. KTNV Las Vegas channel 13 aired a one hour special just prior to the premiere.
Chuck and Terri Cerda and their two daughters, Molly and Maggie were selected by ABC TV as the deserving family. Molly and Maggie were diagnosed with Combined Immune Deficiency Disease (CIDD) at the age of three, and had been living in a home that was threatening their lives. CIDD, a disorder of the immune system similar to that which made David Vetter famous for living his short life as the “boy in the bubble”, means that a simple cold can become a life-threatening lung infection. Chuck is a Homeland Security officer. Terri has worked all her life in global relief, organizing search and rescue services during disasters. She used her experience as an advocate and mother of two ill children to found “Artful Hearts” which gives painting murals to organizations, clinics and foundations that 
operate to support other children fighting life threatening medical conditions. In 2004, while their oldest daughter lay in intensive care, the Cerdas were fraudulently sold a home that was in poor condition. Faulty plumbing cause the house to flood six times and the Cerdas were forced to make repairs themselves. After recent inspection by an engineer, the Cerdas were advised to gut the house or tear it down and rebuild.
Tye Pennington and the cast of the show knocked on the door of the Cerda family on the morning of March 10th. Then, over the next seven days, the Cerda’s old home was leveled and replaced with a beautiful new contemporary-style zero-energy home loaded with unique features designed to improve the family’s quality of life.
The actual allotted time for the construction was 4-1/2 days. According to Wright’s Daniel Bartlett, “a ‘normal’ construction schedule would be more like 8 to 10 months”. To tear down and rebuild a home in such an extremely compressed schedule took thousands of really big hearts. “A project of this scale could only succeed with the combined efforts of many”, says Bartlett. “Our trade partners really stepped up and were the key”.
All materials and labor for the house, as well as all support services such as feeding the volunteers, were generously donated by local businesses. “The response was amazing”, said Brent Wright. “Despite the economic conditions everyone wanted to help out and do the right thing”. During the week, over 8,000 meals were served, 
5,000 cans of soda were consumed, 10,000 bottles of water were guzzled, and 6,000 cups of coffee were sipped.
>Ron Eastman, a visitor to Las Vegas, cancelled his return flight to Wisconsin and stayed at the site all week to help out. Eventually we had to insist that Ron sleep in our construction team RV because he wouldn’t leave to get some rest.
Volunteer Lee (last name omitted) was a laid off sheet metal worker who was living in his car at the time. He came out to offer his services, and the team he worked with was so impressed with his skills they hired him.
“We can’t express how wonderful it was to be part of such a project”, commented Volunteer Mark Anderson. “We thoroughly enjoyed helping with the house. It was an experience we will never forget”.
We chose “Do the Right Thing” as our theme for the project, and during the week of the build, we tried to accomplish as much good as we could in addition to building a new home. A food drive was held to benefit local food bank Three Square. Over 5,000 lbs of food was collected – the equivalent of 6,500 meals. A blood drive collected 34 units of blood. More than 100 left-over hard hats were donated to Habitat for Humanity and 20 tons of materials from the old house were recycled.
The Cerda’s beautiful new contemporary-style home received Platinum Level Certification from Environments for Living and Gold Level Certification from the National Association of Homebuilders Green Build. To improve indoor air quality, the house was built upon a Cupolex aerated foundation system with vapor intrusion mitigation system. The home is extremely energy efficient thanks in part to a rooftop photovoltaic solar system and LED lighting. At nearly 3,000 square feet, the home will only cost on average $30 a month for both gas and power. Most of the year, the home will be actually be depositing electricity back into the grid and the Cerdas will be receiving an energy credit.
After the project was competed, Team Wright and all of the volunteers celebrated their success with a party at the Hard Rock Hotel. The Hard Rock generously sponsored the event to allow the team the opportunity to rest from their more than 20,000 combined volunteer hours watch the behind-the-scenes video. “It was good to associate with the build team and their guests”, commented Dennis Bunker. “A lady asked me, ‘would you do it again?’ and when I replied yes, she said that is what her husband also said - just a simple ‘yes’. What a great experience to participate to fully understand. Certainly words don't give proper perspective.”
During the April 1st, 2009 Las Vegas City Council meeting , Mayor Oscar Goodman named Brent Wright as City of Las Vegas April Citizen of the Month and also honored Daniel Bartlett and Jeff Lehr for their extraordinary efforts. Mayor Goodman cited Wright Custom Home’s recent Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project as the reason for the recognition. “This is an honor”, said Brent when given a moment to speak during the ceremony, “I know my name is on this award, but the real credit goes to my partners. Daniel Bartlett and Jeff Lehr are the ones who really provided the leadership for this project.” Brent also indicated that the Extreme Makeover could not have been a success without the trade partners and volunteers who selflessly joined together to do the right thing.
Wright Custom home is grateful beyond words to all who donated their time, talents, and resources. Not only did we join together to build a beautiful new home for the Cerda family, we helped them build a new life.
Visit wrightextreme.com to learn more and to view photos and behind the scenes video.