Volunteers hammer away at 'Extreme Makeover' house

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HOLT - Like a colony of ants, hundreds of blue-shirted workers swarmed on what will become the Nickless family's home. It had been only a foundation at 8 a.m. Monday. By mid-afternoon it was a full-fledged house.

"I'm just so thankful there are so many people helping," said Terry Engstrand, whose mother, Arlene Nickless, and brothers Aaron, 11; Noah, 9; and Andrew, 7, will move into the house Friday. "It's going to be a healthy, clean place where we can come spend time with our mom and not have to worry about fixing things."

On Sunday, crews demolished the 1860s house the Nickless family had been living in as part of the ABC TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The house had fallen into disrepair after Arlene Nickless' husband, Tim, became ill with hepatitis C nearly seven years ago, family members said. Tim died in January.

The family's story helped provide fuel for the long hours that began Monday, volunteers said. Crews will work around the clock until the house is finished. The work is being done by volunteers with donated materials.

Mark Hamelink of Grand Ledge started his day at around 7 a.m. building trusses. "I feel like I could go another 10 hours," he said. "You go inside and everybody is working together. You could ask anybody for a tool. On a normal job, it's just not like that."

Organizers said the volunteer workers are the key to getting the project done so quickly. At any given time, there are hundreds swarming the job site doing jobs from building to picking up trash. More than 1,600 are expected throughout the build.

"Instead of three, four, five guys, there are 45 guys," said framer Brad Durrant, 29, of Eagle. "We still bump elbows, but we all know what has to be done." Dale Hosford, owner of Hosford Bros. Concrete of East Lansing, brought a crew of 14 to the job site Monday. They poured the basement and garage floors.

"I don't think I've seen anything like it," Hosford said as the site bustled around him.

Brothers Jason and Jerome Helton spent the day working on furniture for the themed bedroom of Andrew, the youngest Nickless brother. They own a set design and art displays company in the Detroit area and donated their crew for the project.

"We've been gifted from birth," said Jason, who graduated from East Lansing High School. "The best way to be is to give back and teach others to give back."

"What we get in return is to see what happens when the kid first walks into the room," said Jerome. "It's priceless."