Extreme Makeover: Perficut Edition

Installing full landscaping for a brand-new house in just over two days - as the house is being built - doesn’t seem as daunting when it’s for a good cause. Just ask Matt Boelman.

Boelman, vice president at Perficut Lawn & Landscape and his crew recently got firsthand experience in the magic of television when they designed and installed landscaping for a project on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which aired in early November. The Des Moines, Iowa-based company outfitted the Kibe family with a complete landscape package to go with their new farm home, built after their previous house was lost to a fire.

The group worked from an in-house design to create full landscaping including build a stone pathway, a patio, an irrigation system, trees, plants for a greenhouse, stone planters, custom-made pots and plenty of annuals and perennials, Boelman says. Local vendors donated most of the items. Altogether, the landscaping effort was a gift worth about $50,000, Boelman estimates.

The Perficut crew reported to the site at 7 a.m. on a Thursday and left at 11:30 that night. The next day, they worked from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. and then a few of them put in the finishing touches Saturday morning.

“It was a pretty neat experience,” Boelman says. “There were a hundred-some people working at all times. I’ve never seen stuff go up that fast.” He adds that it went smoothly despite all the commotion.

Although they didn’t meet the show’s starring host, Ty Pennington, Boelman says he did meet Ed Sanders, another member of the show’s design team. Other members of the team were around as they worked.

Perficut has also gotten some local press because it was involved with the project. But what Boelman will remember most about the experience is the feeling he got from helping a family in need. 

“It’s a pretty humbling experience,” he says. “It takes the selfishness out of day-to-day life. When (the Kibe family) leaves, they have nothing and then they come back to something most of the public doesn’t have. It’s a life-changing experience.”