Leomiti Family

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Higgins & Leomiti Family
Recap By J.G. Bird
3-27-05


The application video is simple. Charles Higgins, oldest brother to four siblings, explains how dramatically his family changes in just over 6 months. Their mother passes away after a battle with breast cancer on August 16, 2004, followed a few months later by their father, who dies from a heart-attack. The surviving Higgins’ children receive the news of their father’s death while visiting the Leomiti family, former neighbors to the Higgins when they lived in the city of Downey. The Leomiti household embraces the immediate need of the Higgins’ children, and the two families come together as a remarkable one.

Add another hash mark to the tally: Ty starts out this episode with his overused line, “They have absolutely no idea we’re coming!” Interestingly, Ty’s shouting out over megaphone to the families has a distinctly different sound quality from the norm. Maybe the boom mike was missing? The best shot is this huge family picking Ty Pennington up off his feet in an – almost – tackle of enthusiasm as they pour out of the house.

The Leomiti family is headed by Phil Leomiti, a man big-hearted and gregarious about his Samoan heritage. He and his household have known the Higgins kids for 8 years. It’s not as if the Leomiti home had extra space, this was clearly a decision made from the heart. Once the Higgins’ arrive, the Leomiti’s three bedroom house in the city of Santa Fe Springs houses eleven people total. Yes, you will need a scorecard to keep track - Mom (Lokilani), Dad (Phil) Grandma (Seena), 21 year old (Jaboy Leomiti), 17 year old twins (Sina and Joshua Leomiti), 21 year old Charles Higgins, Jr., and his siblings, Michael, 19, Sharis, 17, Joshua 16, and Jeremiah, 14.

It’s almost impossible to keep track of what the existing sleeping arrangements have been, except that it’s no less than three to a room, besides the parents. The garage is utilized as one of the bedrooms, and some are using a sofa, even in that set-up. I believe it’s Josh, Sina and Seena, to one bedroom; Sharis, Joshua and Jeremiah, another; while Michael, Charles Jr. and Jaboy fill up the garage.

So, the design team wastes no time finding out about the family member’s likes. (Really, with this many people’s tastes to consider, they don’t have time to waste!) Charles hopes to travel. Michael has aspirations to work in physical therapy. Jaboy seems much like his father in enjoying his family’s Samoan heritage, and commits himself to his family above other personal achievements, like pursuing a football scholarship. His younger brother, Joshua Leomiti adores martial arts. Josh and Jeremiah Higgins enjoy a hip-hop liveliness (which “dad” later acknowledges can be hard on the house interior). I think they both enjoy moving their bodies around and don’t really mind what’s in the way! – Catch the uncontainable excitement just before the reveal. One of the boys is racing back and forth in a twenty foot stretch behind the rest of the family at that moment. Sheris is into animation, drawing her own anime-style characters. Sina is on the Sante Fe Springs High School girls’ varsity basketball team.

Mr. Leomiti seems to have really bonded these families together, partly by relying on the exuberance of using a Samoan rallying cry. Ty tries to pick up and use this as a motivator in the demolition/pep talk phase of the program, but his attempt sounds more like a rooster gone wrong. Thankfully, they call in some professional Polynesian performers to successfully rev things up for that segment.

The real pep talk comes from Mike McGee of Pardee Homes. He introduces a volunteer team comprised of their L.A.-based construction team. Pardee Homes wants to highlight building a large scale home that will be superior in energy savings. As I said, Polynesian dancers schooled in the actual warrior chant kicked off the demolition. Given how closely spaced the neighboring homes are, it is a surgical demo with a bulldozer carefully razing the old house a section at a time. As Ty updates the family, Ed Sanders points out that this home’s rubble will all be recycled in various ways. In addition to Pardee Homes’ focus on energy efficiency there’s a safety program in effect on the site too. That’s where the gold colored hard-hats on the design team come in.


Rain starts the night of Day 2, making the framing process more difficult than usual with mud and some street flooding. This rain barely lets up completely, even by reveal day, there are still rainy conditions. At one point, Pardee security halts work and removes crews from the building site due to potentially dangerous conditions. While this put the build behind, the deadline was still met. McGee of Pardee Homes comments that 22 of the first 24 scheduled building hours were lost due to the weather.

Rain or shine, Michael gets in his shopping at Sears. The theme of energy-efficiency is touted once again as Michael points out the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer that he’s picking up at Sears. Take note, Whirlpool runs a commercial at the break which highlights their sponsorship of Habitat for Humanity. The call to volunteer in efforts for “Habitat” is also the top banner on the ABC website currently.

When the family is sent to enjoy a Disney cruise, it is discussed that Sina will be gone during a playoff game for her school’s basketball team. She has confidence in her team mates, but looks somewhat disappointed. The design team doesn’t let down Sina, or the Lady Chiefs either – it’s her last game as a Senior – so it seems fitting to do something Extreme. So, an unexpected surprise for the audience – a helicopter lands at the cruise ship to carry Sina and Loki Leomiti to the important game. Ed joins them at the high school gymnasium to cheer on team member 40; Sina is cheered on by her classmates as well. The team loses the playoff marginally in the final minute. Sina will have Paul DeMeo’s WNBA decorated room to cheer her soon.

Phil’s cousin gets an early tour of the redone Leomiti home, and makes a call to Phil on Ty’s phone to tell him how truly great the home will be for the family for years to come.
Another guest to the home is California Governor, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, which Pardee Homes P.R. states, “We were very honored, and impressed with Governor Schwarzenegger’s knowledge of energy issues,” (Mike McGee, President of Pardee Homes). Pardee Homes is one of the Southern California home developers that’s committed to meeting some of the tough federal and state “near Zero Energy Home” program criteria. This model of generosity to the Leomiti family is also working as a model for all the new home building that needs to meet energy-saving standards helping all Americans be more ecological. The Pardee Homes website has a very nice “storybook” style website documenting their partnership with EMHE. See it at: http://pardeextreme.com.

Well, I think the family was floored by having Arnold Schwarzenegger walk out of their new home after the bus was moved. Luckily, Arnold’s a big man, so he wasn’t floored by the family mobbing him. After the Governor’s kind words to the family (and my kids couldn’t stop giggling after Arnold said, “You’re gunna freak ow-t, when you see your how-se.”), the announcement is made that Pardee Home Loans has paid the mortgage. Of course the parents tear-up completely at that point.

Better details from the “How’d They Do That,” but in short, a miracle happened here. I think everyone with a big family will want the dining set they showed (Bombay) And who wouldn’t want a 10 foot kitchen island?! The thing I was amazed over, since we got almost no details about the individual work done on bedrooms up to this point, is that there literally was a bedroom for everyone. I didn’t think they could or would work it in. I have no idea how many bathrooms they put in. Keep in mind, a good percentage of these “kids” are at or near the age when they could leave home. Only the two boys that like dancing share that room for now, but I think that won’t always have to be the case. Nine bedrooms! I still can’t get over that. Mom, Loki, states, the designers got it so right for each one of them that you could come back in 3 years and it will be the same.

Charles is given a travel-themed room, which is rather understated, with its National Geographic wallpapering and furnishings. However, they also give him some airline tickets to go on his own travels. Sina’s room is nicely personalized, and focuses on her basketball playing, but I wonder if that’s going to be a lasting theme for her or not. Jaboy gets a wonderfully accented “Beach room.” A plastic form contains sand and shells along an entire wall. Michael has massage therapy equipment set up in his room, so his future endeavors are supported. Sharis gets a wallpaper treatment showcasing her own anime creations and enough art supplies to keep her at the top of her talent too. Josh and Jeremiah love their own hip-hop cityscape, public works signage decorated and brick-encrusted room. It’s different. Most “fly” room is Joshua’s Martial Arts room. It’s sparse in some ways, but palatial in its touching upon martial arts fantasy.

Grandma Seena is quite pleased with her own bedroom. There’s a hint of that Polynesian spirit almost throughout the house. Ty carries it through in Loki and Phil’s suite. He uses some dark paneling on one wall, but bamboo and matting across the rest of the room and in the headboard. There were some nice bamboo-looking shades in the great room as well. An almost mint green was used in several of the rooms. It was almost a message in the design: how the family areas were similar in color and feel to the parents’ room, as if to say how the Leomiti’s stretch their love around their home.

Here’s the topper – a car for every driving-age kid in the house (6) plus a 2005 Ford Escape (Hybrid SUV). My only disagreement with this episode was having them say, here are all these cars, and they’re all energy-efficient. Okay, on an individual-basis, the numbers may prove to be true, but is that financially-savvy or ecologically minded to add a whole fleet of cars to the area?