Two churches bookended the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Bunker Hill build. Oakbrook Community Church and First Church of the Nazarene are both located in Kokomo, Ind.

Oakbrook Community Church, which seats 1,100 people in its auditorium, hosted the kickoff rally prior to the beginning of the week-long build. The church was selected because of its size and location, according to Oakbrook’s First Impressions Coordinator Dea Mygrant.

Steve Erwin, a CPA and friend and neighbor of the Schwinghammers, coordinated the rally.

Contractors, suppliers, volunteers and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” executive producer Conrad Rickets attended the rally. The kickoff included music from the Extreme Kats, a band put together just for the event. Hallmark Homes president Paul Schwinghammer played trumpet in the band.

Other speakers included Schwinghammer’s wife, Winnie, as well as representatives of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and the American Red Cross. Ricketts showed several informational and motivational videos.

“It did a good job of driving home the importance of helping others in your community,” Erwin said.

First Church of the Nazarene, which can seat 1,500 people, hosted the show-day event. Heather Cowan’s parents and brother attend the church, so Heather asked the church to host the event.

The show-day event began at 5 p.m. with an open house in the church atrium, followed by volunteer testimony, speakers and videos in the auditorium. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – The Cowan Family” aired on ABC at 8 p.m. The event finished with reactions from the Cowan-Brown family and Hallmark Homes, as well as several presentations.

“The whole community of Kokomo and surrounding areas were extremely enthusiastic about this project,” First Church’s Senior Pastor David Leeder said.

He also described the importance of faith – faith in action making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities – in an event such as “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” demonstrating how very appropriate it was to have the two churches host the beginning and ending of the Bunker Hill build.

Hundreds of fans and volunteers gathered in Kokomo’s First Church of the Nazarene Jan. 10 to greet the Cowan-Brown family and one another. They enjoyed 1,500 donated Blondie’s cookies and soft drinks provided by Coca-Cola and the church’s Holy Grounds coffee bar. Groups such as the American Cancer Society and the Be the Match national marrow donor program had information booths and volunteers available.

At 7 p.m., the crowd moved into the church auditorium where Dennis Ashley from D. Ashley Design + Events moderated a program that included: opening remarks, Hallmark Homes highlights, volunteer highlights and testimony, Cowan-Brown family highlights, viewing of the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Bunker Hill episode, Hallmark Homes and Cowan-Brown family responses, an IROK Foundation presentation and closing remarks.

During the pre-show family highlights, the family shared information about the application process, working with the community, acclimating to their new house and unpacking.

Andy and Heather shared that the application process was lengthy; not only in paper form, but also in the amount of time it took from application to selection. Andy mentioned that there were many questions on the application that nobody would want to answer – a comment met by laughter from the crowd.

“We are so proud of this community and our church and school,” Heather said. “We are so thankful and we are so blessed.”

She said the family’s clothing and bedding was all professionally cleaned and returned to the garage before Reveal Day. And she is still unpacking – down to about two dozen boxes.

“I’m still sleeping in the garage,” Andy said, emphasizing how very much he likes the workshop garage full of new tools and equipment. Again, the crowd laughed and applauded. When the garage was revealed during the episode, the crowd said, “Wow,” in unison.

The crowd laughed and applauded several times during the show. There were also times of sniffles and tears.

On commercial break, Ashley moderated conversations and brief presentations. During one break, Paul Schwinghammer and Derek Wilder of Hallmark Homes presented Kori a $5,150 check – the proceeds from the auction sale of five handmade “1K” pillows – which she in turn presented to the American Cancer Society.

In case you missed the episode, a home build that usually takes more than 106 days was done in 106 hours for the show. The show presented this in time-warp fashion during about 25 seconds of air time. The home and each special room was designed and furnished to meet the likes of the Cowan-Brown family.

Andy got his garage. Heather and Andy’s bedroom was presented as a quiet retreat. Trevor’s room was designed for his love of building. Ryan’s room was soccer-themed. Mason’s room was motorcycle-themed. And Kori’s room was decorated with 8,950 sticky notes – a tribute to her favorite form of organization.

The full episode is available here .

From Hallmark Homes to the contractors, sponsors and volunteers; from the ABC crew to the community; and certainly from the Cowan-Brown family to their new beginnings … Extreme is the best way to sum it all up.

The Cowan-Browns will have another reason to love their new home because of the energy efficient assets included with the house. The home uses a closed loop geothermal system for heating and cooling, a wind spire turbine for electric costs and various energy efficient appliances and options inside the home. Cris Dorman, coordinator for Public Outreach and Education for the Indiana Office of Energy, said the construction was set up so the house would be fairly energy efficient.

The geothermal system, which was installed by Earth Link Geothermal Systems from Ossian, includes six pipes that make up the closed loop system. The 400-foot pipes, which were buried six feet underground, are filled with liquid that absorbs heat from the ground so it can be transferred to the house for heating during the winter. In the summer, the pipes carry heat from the home and transfer it back into the ground. Doorman said the system should have a noticeable impact on heating and cooling costs.

“That closed loop should help offset the heating and cooling cost anywhere between 50 and 75 percent, “ Doorman said. “It looks like [the home] will have a gas fireplace, which will also help offset some of the heating costs.”

The geothermal system is placed underground because the ground temperature is relatively constant. Workers from Earth Link said the entire installation process took about 10 hours to complete, including digging the trenches for the pipes. Doorman said more and more homes are being built with geothermal systems, despite the high initial cost. He said a traditional heating and cooling setup for a new home could cost anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000, but geothermal costs about $15,000 to install.

“Even though there’s a higher initial cost, the payback is typically five to ten years,” Dorman said. “You see the immediate savings in your heating and cooling costs.”

A wind spire turbine will help provide electricity as well. The turbine, which was installed by Wind-Wire, will generate electricity for the home as it spins in the wind. Dave and Glen Smith, co-owners of Wind-Wire, said they were excited to be involved with the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” project because it was a way to give back. The brothers started the company about two years ago when they were laid off from their jobs, and they’ve been installing windmills ever since.

The Smiths installed a 45-foot Windstream turbine, which has three six-foot blades to catch the wind. After the pole was delivered, it took the Smiths about two hours to set up the installation and 15 minutes to install the $16,000 turbine. The Smiths said a turbine like the one at the Cowan-Brown’s home typically pays for itself in about four to eight years. Doorman said the turbine will run whenever the wind is blowing, except when it could be dangerous.

“All wind turbines will lock down at a certain speed to prevent the rotors from breaking,” he said. “From my experience, it will automatically be going. In certain inclement weather situations it will shut down.”

Both the geothermal system and the wind turbine are outside the home, but there are energy efficient aspects inside the home as well. The appliances are Energy Star rated, which means they are 10 to 20 percent more efficient than other models. Another energy-saving feature of the home is lighting. The home was built with plenty of windows so natural light can be used when possible. When that isn’t enough, the home also includes LED lights, a relatively new energy efficient technology.

Juno Lighting, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, donated the LED lights for the home. Amy Huntington, president of Schneider Electric U.S., said the lights came on the market last year and are an alternative to florescent bulbs.

“We provided more than 150 LED down lights,” she said. “They save 80 percent energy versus incandescent. They’ll last 50,000 hours so it’s likely this family won’t have to change light bulbs.”

With typical use, that means the lights in the Cowan-Brown’s home could last up to 11 years before they have to be replaced. During all that time, the family will be able to reap the rewards of spending 80 percent less on lighting costs. Huntington said her company was glad to help out with the build and was impressed with the energy efficient options in the home.

“The other thing that’s really neat is finding out that Hallmark has been able to make this home energy efficient,” she said. “It falls into what we’re all about too, really helping people make the most of their energy.”

Many have asked what will happen in the long-term for the family who has ongoing medical bills, and now a bigger home to maintain. Though the new home came at no cost to the family, utilities and home maintenance were not included.

Fortunately, the community, sponsors and builder planned ahead to help the family.

A charity auction during build week raised more than $18,000 for the family to use toward home and medical expenses. Dr. Tavel Optical Group donated 15 years of eye care to the family. This is a significant contribution, valued at more than $30,000. And Ball State University awarded four-year, full-tuition scholarships to each of the four Cowan-Brown children. At today’s tuition rate, these scholarships have a total value near $120,000.

As for the home, Hallmark Homes home has included its standard warranty on the Cowan-Brown home. This includes a 2-year workmanship warranty and a 10-year structural warranty covering anything normally covered under the RWC National Warranty Guidelines. Hallmark will perform a 30-day, 11-month and 23-month walk-through with the family.

The new home was built with energy efficient lighting, circuit breakers and surge protection that is intended to reduce related energy bills by as much as 85 percent. Installation of all new Energy Star appliances will reduce their related energy costs by up to 50 percent.

The build also included a geothermal closed loop heating system. This type of system works by extracting ground heat to warm the liquid contained in the heating system pipes. The warmed liquid requires less electric energy to reach the desired temperature, reducing total energy costs.

Perhaps the most impressive cost-cutting measure is the installation of a wind turbine that can produce enough energy to power a 2,000 square foot home. It is expected to cut the Cowan-Brown family’s energy bills by 30 to 80 percent, depending on their energy usage.

See the blog’s Sponsors section to read about the different companies that gave generously to the Cowan-Brown home build.

More pictures are available after the jump. And for more information on Janel Bantz Photography, go to http://www.janelbantz.com

More pictures are available after the jump. And for more information on Janel Bantz Photography, go to http://www.janelbantz.com

Video by Peter Gaunt

After a week-long build that truly can be defined as one of the most unique “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” efforts ever, the family is back in their new house.

Hallmark Homes would like to thank everyone who made this possible. There is no way that it could’ve been done without you.

The Cowan-Brown family is home.

It’s Day Seven and everything on the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build is coming together. All the hours that the builders, sponsors and volunteers have put into the Cowan-Brown family’s new home has come down to “Move that bus!” time. Hallmark Homes is almost done with its part of the build and ready to hand the keys off to the Extreme Makeover team.

Derek Wilder, CEO of Hallmark Homes, has been thanking volunteers, sponsors and everyone else involved with the build all morning. The build has been full of challenges, most of which came with the rain late last week, but so far all of them have been overcome. Wilder said the turnaround from being behind to getting back on track was the biggest accomplishment.

“I’ve heard people saying that they’ve never seen anything like that turnaround,” he said. “From that perspective, I’m really proud of the guys for it. Basically, that first morning was one that was very difficult. At 3 a.m. [Friday], I get a phone call and we have a foot of water and the foundation is totally flooded so I had to get on the phone and make a plan for how we’re going to get out of this.”

The plan is working. Volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the inside of the home while others lay sod in the front yard. Eventually, the keys will be handed off to the ABC Extreme Makeover team and Hallmark Homes will be finished with its part of the job. Wilder said most of the work is already out of his hands.

“The designers have taken over,” Wilder said. “They took over last night. You’re seeing some volunteers, but they’re not being told what to do by us. They’re being told what to do by the design team of Extreme Makeover. We’ve got some painters in there doing some touch-up and I’ve got some punch-out guys. We’ve got a backdoor lock [that] we’re trying to get a lock on that we couldn’t find.”

The build wouldn’t be back on track without the effort put in by everyone who has worked on the house the last seven days. Wilder said some of the biggest obstacles came from the constantly changing schedule that occurred as a result of last week’s rain. He said he couldn’t thank the people who came out to work enough.

“The unsung heroes were the people who sat here: framers, plumbers and tradesmen that sat over here and didn’t get in the house,” Wilder said. “They were our ace in the hole in case someone left or got too tired.”

Wilder said his part of the project would be mostly done by the end of the day. Spectators are out in droves because the home will be revealed to the Cowan-Brown family later today. Wilder said it will be time to celebrate when the finishing touches for the house are done.

“We’re going to have a wrap party tonight for all our VIP people, which includes sponsors, vendors and workers,” he said. “I was talking to some of our workers this morning and they’re looking forward to getting back to work [at their regular jobs] because it’s going to be so easy.”

A couple notes on the activities for today. Buses have begun to shuttle spectators from the Grissom Air Force Base to the build site. We will have as many buses running from the base to the site, lines have already started forming at the base, so plan accordingly.

The field site is still a little muddy, so plan your footwear accordingly. The weather should stay in the 50-60 degree range today, so don’t forget to dress comfortably and warm.

Currently, the official scheduled time for the Reveal is 3 p.m. We hope to see you out here as we share this gift with the Cowan-Brown family.