Trade Talk: How a local builder got going with 'Makeover'

We've heard a lot this past week about all of the work "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is doing in Moorhead.

But what about the local business working day and night behind the scenes to make this home magically come together in a week?

It got us thinking. Just how does a local Fargo-Moorhead homebuilder get the ear of a hit network television show in the first place?

Here's what we learned:

Four years ago, Tyrone Leslie and Daryl Braham - owners of Heritage Homes in Fargo, the firm responsible for constructing a new home for a Moorhead family this week for ABC's "Extreme Makeover" - wondered the same thing.

When the two first kicked around the idea of chasing down a gig with the show, the scenario seemed unlikely.

"We thought there was no way," says Braham. "We're a builder in a small community. We're not going to be able to influence ABC. This is a multimillion-dollar show. It's seen by 12 million viewers a week."

But they tried, anyway. Through a trade association, they knew a builder in the Washington, D.C., area who had worked on a project for the show. They asked that builder if he had a contact at the show.

He did. They sent an e-mail to express their interest. No response. They sent another.

Two days later, ABC called. Braham figured they must've gotten his e-mails.

They hadn't. But, improbably, "Extreme Makeover" had been eyeing Heritage Homes, too. In fact, the show's representatives had spent a month vetting the company as a candidate for a potential project in Fargo-Moorhead, checking on everything from criminal records to the company's finances.

"We had no idea," Braham says. "It's unbelievable what they do to make sure we get the right builder."

From the network's point of view, Heritage was the right builder. The call started a relationship that's led to three "Extreme Makeover" projects for the company: a home in Minot in 2006, a home and church in New Orleans in 2008, and the current project in Moorhead this week.

As Leslie told The Forum last month, getting one build with the show is hard enough. Getting three is a remarkable feat.

All the more remarkable, in this case, because the first project nearly fell apart before it began.

Three days after Braham's first conversation with the network, the show's producers called again. Sorry, they said, but they didn't think it was going to work. The Fargo family they had selected didn't wind up meeting the show's criteria. They had another lined up in Minot but said Heritage was too far away - farther from the construction site than any builder they'd used in the past.

"We said, 'We'll do it,' " Braham recalls. The company had never built in Minot before.

At the time, Braham says, the firm was so relentless in pursuing that project - an expensive undertaking for the company, which is not paid - in part because it seemed like an impressive feather in the cap.

Once the build was under way, that changed.

"Quite honestly, when we went through the process, we realized this is not about that," he says. "It's about giving back to the community. It's not about, 'Oh, look at us.' "

He's right. But there's an upside to the grind: When this episode of "Extreme Makeover" airs, 12 million people will get a look at what a local builder can do.

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Readers can reach Forum business reporter Marino Eccher at (701) 241-5502.