‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ comes to Logan

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” arrived in Logan Sunday morning, surprising a local family with a well-deserved and needed gift: a new house.

The Pauni family was chosen out of thousands of applicants to have a home

designed and built by the team of ABC’s famed reality show.

The Paunis moved to Logan in 1991 from the island of Tonga. Seneti Pauni, the mother of nine, has been raising her children alone since her husband died two years ago. In order to increase the flow of money, the family began their own catering business, DJ Island, five years ago.

Denise Cramsey, Executive Director of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” said they are a very deserving family and were chosen because of their circumstances and hard work.

“They have sort of been chasing the American Dream. They have been doing all the right things yet they are still not getting ahead,” Cramsey said. “The

house had been neglected because they are busy trying to pay the mortgage.

They have the right attitude and ethics. They just need a house to pull things

together for them.”

Ati Velasquez, one of the Pauni children, is happy for her family. Because Velasquez has married and moved out, she was not allowed to travel with the family.

She said her mother applied for the program after watching the show on

television, figuring she had nothing to lose. Velasquez said her family was

surprised and were all thrilled to be receiving a new house.

“Oh, there are no words to explain. It is just magnificent,” Velasquez said. “They said it’s going to be beautiful. I am very excited for my family.”

The Pauni home is located at 1085 North 400 East, near Logan Regional Hospital.

While their home is being built, the family will be on a private yacht

cruising through the Virgin Islands, Cramsey said.

“They will be on two yachts because one wasn’t big enough for all of them,”

Cramsey said.

Troy Kartchner, president of local business Kartchner Homes, Inc., was asked by ABC to help in the construction of the Pauni home. When first contacted, he said he thought it was a practical joke but once he knew he had received an actual invitation from ABC, he was thrilled at the opportunity. He said he is very excited to participate in the show and help a family in need.

Kartchner said the home will be 5,500 square feet. The home will be completely demolished on Tuesday and construction will begin immediately, he said. When laying foundation and concrete, he said they use a special mixture that dries faster than the typical mix.

“It will cure in six hours, when it would normally take a week. It will be the strongest foundation in Logan,” Kartchner said, noting the house will be completed on Sunday.

Cramsey said the show receives more than 5,000 applications a week. Applicants are narrowed down to five deserving families within a 60-100 mile radius of each other. The crew does not know which family they will be helping or where they will be going until the very morning.

A couple of weeks before the ABC crew arrives, the families are notified they are finalists.

The neighbors of the Paunis said they were happy to see the family receive a brand new house. They were also excited to have the crew of the television show in their neighborhood.

Neighbor Tammy Pettigrew said, “I’ve been a big fan of the show for three and a half years. It is the only reality show I watch because they leave the world better than they found it. Their sole motivation is to assist. I don’t know how you get much more noble than that.”

-ariek@cc.usu.edu