On Sundays, ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” descends on deserving folks living in dire conditions, sends them off on a vacation and while they’re away, builds them a whole new house (and often a lot more).
Carpenter Paul DiMeo, who’s been with the show since its first season, has firsthand experience with neighbors pitching in to put a roof over someone’s head.
“That happened when I was a kid,” he says, “when our house burnt down. Our contractor just walked off. It ended being just my dad.
“I was only 5 years old, but how I remember the Knights of Columbus coming over the weekend, and the neighbors that housed the five children and took care of us for 18 months while my dad and his friends rebuilt our house.”
Currently in its fifth season, “EM:HE” has changed considerably from its early days, when the goal was to remodel a house in seven days.
Now, it’s usually about building a new house — and sometimes a barn or a community center or an office — in seven days, utilizing professional contractors and an army of volunteers.
So DiMeo and his fellow “design team” members don’t get to participate much in raising the roof anymore, but each member still takes on a room as a special project.
“I really try to build everything that’s in my room,” DiMeo says, “with my volunteers, with the folks.
“In my rooms, I try to build everything, from the nightstands to the bed to the chest of drawers to whatever’s going in there. I want to build that. That’s my task. That keeps me focused for the week.”
– – –
Birthplace: Media, Pa., as the youngest of five children.
School cred: Attended Point Park College in Pittsburgh.
Rehab cred: Master carpenter on the restoration of the Landmark Brownstone of Aaron Burr, along with other New York brownstones in Greenwich Village, Harlem, TriBeCa and the East Village.
Theater cred: Built sets for the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Yiddish Theatre, Carnegie Hall, and shows both on and off-Broadway. Also stage manager for the American Dance Ensemble.
