Distpatch Tribune 4/05
Raytown Tribune 4/05

Home A Perfect Fit
‘Extreme’ house has look of neighborhood fixture

Locals say it’s beginning to look like Stephen Johnson’s new home has always belonged there.

The house is a shocking difference to the one that used to stand in its place at 8211 E. 79th St. Johnson’s home was demolished and rebuilt for an episode of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Though it dwarfs the homes next ti it, warm earthy tones and copper accents make the two-story house seem less imposing than it could be.

“I just can’t get over how it looks like it’s been here for 15 years,” said spectator Nancy Ebeling of Raytown.

That’s the effect contractor Kevin Green of Parkville wanted.

“The product fits within its community,” Green said. “It seems like it’s been here for a while.”

Though the house was scheduled to be finished only moments before being handed over to the Johnson family today, the exterior appeared mostly finished by Monday afternoon. Interior work was still speeding along.

Green was schedule to give the Johnson family keys to their new home sometime between noon and 1 p.m. today.

Gladstone resident Debra Childers visited the site Saturday night, April 2, and was surprised to see the house was so tall so quickly.

“They look like elves up there,” she said, speaking of the rooftop full of men.

Onlooker Lisa Nichols said she thought the hurried work on Johnson’s new house looked like a “construction ballet.”

Nichols of Kansas City North said she was amazed as she watched Johnson’s dream home go up. About 150 members of various construction crews were working on or in the house for days straight. Some hung out of windows to pass shingles to others on the roof.

“I watched them pump the footings last night,” Nichols said on Saturday. “By 7 p.m. (Saturday) they were already putting beams in for the roof.”

Working should to should is unusual in the construction field, where individual crews usually have the building to themselves until their portion of the job is done. But there’s no time for that in a construction project scheduled to take only five days and nine hours.

Green said the quality of the home would match or surpass a home that took seven or eight months to build.

Given the scope of the project, neighbors knew to expect some disruption.

Sean Crump, who lives across the street from Johnson, can no longer drive his pickup out of his driveway because there are people and barricades in the way – but he doesn’t mind.

“He (Johnson) asked if we minding if they mess up the neighborhood for a week,” Crump said. “I said no.”

Meanwhile, the record audience cheered each crew as it arrived to complete its tasks or left when it was finished.

Project manager Alan Luxmore said the crowd’s enthusiasm was having a positive affect on the job.

“It give us a really good feeling,” Luxmore said. “It makes it nice for us, especially coming to the end of the season, to make it to build like this.”