Leland Homes Answers Call for Assistance on Local ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ Project :: Atlanta Real Estate Forum

Leland Homes Answers Call for Assistance on Local ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’ Project

Leland Homes was one of the Metro Atlanta home building firms answering the call when the request went out for building partners for the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” segment which was televised by ABC on Sunday, March 11. Mark Gibbs, president and co-owner of Leland Homes, noted that when Oakwood Homes LLC was selected as the builder for the project, Tony Perry of Oakwood Homes realized that his company would need a lot of additional help to carry out the project. Gibbs said that Perry issued an appeal to the Greater Atlanta Home Builders’ Certified Professional Homes Builders to come up with a group of builder partners. “We at Leland Homes were among the builders who indicated our willingness to help, and we were pleased to be one of the nine builder partners selected for this project”, said Gibbs (pictured with, from left, “Extreme Makeover” design team member Tanya McQueen, Gibbs’ wife Kim, and his daughter Alyssa).

Leland Homes, which is based in Marietta, took on the responsibility for providing the home’s countertops, gutters, and decks. Joe Dilbeck, Gibbs’ business partner in Leland Homes, said, “This was a particularly satisfying project for all of us, since the Tipton-Smith family, whose home at Lake Arrowhead was rebuilt, was such a deserving family.” Participants in the Lake Arrowhead project described the effort as much more than rebuilding a home…it was an effort to rebuild an family’s lives. The head of the family, Faith Tipton-Smith, was a single mother with three children who had been living in their “dream home” on Lake Arrowhead in the Waleska area of Cherokee County. In February of 2005, the family home was destroyed in a fire. The family made the decision to rebuild, and three months into the rebuilding, the oldest child, Ransom, and one of his friends, Alex Yurewich, died in a tragic car accident, where Tipton-Smith’s oldest daughter, Missy, was injured. The family’s problems continued to mount with Tipton-Smith temporarily losing her job and medical bills continuing to add up. Because of all his, the rebuilding on the home had to be abandoned while it was still in the framing stage. The home, now at the mercy of the elements, was then attacked by hazardous mold.

Fortunately, after being nominated for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition” show, the family was awakened on Thursday, Jan. 11, by the sound of Ty Pennington, one of the show’s stars, declaring: “Good Morning, Tipton-Smith family.” The family was whisked away for a California vacation while the rebuilding project took place to restore their “dream home”, with the actual work getting underway at noon on Saturday, Jan. 13. The completed project was unveiled to the family and a large crowd of well wishers on Thursday, Jan. 18.

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