Too much house

Extreme Home Makeover is incomplete without an extreme budget makeover:

After he became a local celebrity, Marrero said, the collection agencies came calling, threatening to put liens on the home.

Then there were the taxes.

Marrero, who lives on a pension of $939 a month, paid $2,016 in property taxes in November. In February, he wrote out a check for $1,512. On May 1, another $1,512 was due.

And the utilities, he said, cost about $10,000 a year.

"It's too much," said Marrero's son, Billy Joe. "We tried taking out lightbulbs and doing other things to save energy, but the house still eats a lot of power."

I was there on the first day of construction. It's a very impressive operation with literally hundreds of people swinging hammers around the clock. It's interesting to see how all that sophistication allows them to build a giant house in three days but does not allow them to make the situation sustainable for the recipient. I bet a critical analysis of many great efforts would reveal similar patterns. Perhaps complex problems require complex solutions as a rule. And that tv show would probably be boring...