Rebooted ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ makes its way to Mesa with construction of new home

With the revival of the televised ABC reality program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” currently in development, the producers of the show teamed up with national developer Taylor Morrison to bring a home to a lucky family in Mesa.

Construction began Sept. 11 and was projected to take 96 hours to complete, according to members of Taylor Morrison who spoke to the Mesa Independent. The construction took place at the La Mira community in Mesa, near 10846 E. Tillman Ave.

“We are overseeing the Extreme Home Makeover revival. We are building this house in the La Mira community in Mesa in 96 (hours) for a deserving family. We’re also building a commercial facility at the Banner campus in Gilbert for cancer patients,” Taylor Morrison Phoenix Division President Brad Schoenberg said. “This single-family home will have four bedrooms, a couple bathrooms, a beautiful backyard, open space, and lots of features to hope make the life of this deserving family better.”

Schoenberg said this partnership came about thanks to the two hosts of the upcoming reboot of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” — Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin. Shearer and Teplin were the hosts of Netflix’s “The Home Edit,” a reality program about decluttering houses that ran from 2020 to 2022.

“We had a relationship with ‘The Home Edit’ team — and it just so happened that Clea and Joanna were the hosts of the ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ reboot. The opportunity came from that relationship,” Schoenberg said. “I was a fan of ‘Extreme Makeover’ back in the day. The show’s ‘Move the Bus’ slogan really resonates with our culture here at Taylor Morrison.”

Schoenberg also explained why they chose the La Mira community in Mesa as the build site. He said it was the perfect fit.

“We think this is a phenomenal community, It fits the needs of the family that will be moving in. It’s in a great part of town,” Schoenberg said. “The city of Mesa has just been a phenomenal partner throughout all of this. There’s a lot of positives for this location.”

It wasn’t just the La Mira house that was being worked on. As the Gilbert commercial facility was Taylor Morrison’s next project, numerous volunteers were packed inside an air-conditioned tent, working on building special Lego sets for cancer patients that will reside in said facility.

Though for Krstine Hedlund, director of new build construction for Cox communities, she would have much rather been outside working on construction than be inside building Legos.

Hedlund was at the site to help set up the infrastructure and wires for the home to have Cox internet, but building a Lego set was far more daunting to her.

“I’d rather be outside hammering nails, even though it’s probably 110 degrees outside. I am not the master of Legos,” Hedlund said. “The Lego sets out here on the tables are for the community center in Banner. We were doing work outside and we were asked to come indoors to help with a project, so when you get the chance to come and sit in air-conditioning, you take the chance to come and sit in air-conditioning.”

Mike Mansfield, national vice president of construction at Taylor Morrison, said that it’s difficult to quantify the fiscal impact this home will have on the chosen family, but emphasized that the project will have an impact on their lives that goes beyond dollars or cents.

“It’s hard to quantify fiscally, but it’s moving. I’ve been associated with these types of projects four for five times now. It’s moving to see the realization on their faces when (the family) comes back. They’re going to learn that we’re doing this house for them,” Mansfield said. “When they come back on reveal day to see the fully finished home and walk inside and see all the people around that are genuinely happy for them, it will be life changing.”

There is no current air date for the episode yet. Members of Taylor Morrison told the Mesa Independent that the episode will air sometime in 2025.