Extreme makeover

Pierce Builders remodels home in 23 days

Pierce Builders Inc. might have pulled off the ultimate flip, at least on the construction end.

The Lake Geneva company needed only 23 days to turn an aging house near the lake into a luxury vacation home.

“Come Memorial Day, people from Illinois come looking for a home with lake access,” said project manager Eric Culp. “We wanted to have it all done by Memorial Day. We wanted it up and ready.”

Pierce Builders closed on the property in early May and then took a week to design renovations, map out the work and find subcontractors.

“We had Dumpsters on the truck and 15 guys standing on the road waiting,” Culp said.

A team of workers immediately started once the closing went through.

The team worked 12-hour days between May 9 and June 2 to get the house ready. Memorial Day and Mother’s Day were the team’s only time off.

Culp said Pierce had to pay premium rates to the subcontractors, but everyone was willing to do the work.

“Pretty much everybody dropped what they were doing to do this for us,” Culp said.

Culp said Pierce Builders is a “time-sensitive builder,” but this was unprecedented speed for the small firm.

“That was the interesting thing,” Culp said. “None of our trade partners or us had [done] anything that quick before.”

From the exterior, Culp said, only the roof and footprint of the house are still the same. On the inside, the ceilings remained, while everything else was taken out.

“We kept the original framework,” Culp said. “The roof had new shingles put on a year before. We left the drywall on the ceilings, but the plumbing and electrical were all ripped out.”

While their remodel plan finished on target, the flipping portion didn’t go quite as planned. The housing market wasn’t playing along for a quick sale.

“We did sell, but about three months ago,” Culp said. “We did make a profit, but it was not what we expected.”

— Janine Anderson