Most people fantasize about winning the lottery. They love to imagine how many of their problems could be solved if they suddenly won $5 million or $10 million or $50 million.

For people who live in a house that needs fixing up, the next best fantasy is the popular television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. People make an application to the show and then, if picked as a finalist, they wait for a determined morning and suddenly there comes a knock at the door letting them know they've been selected. They are moved out of their house for a week, their belongings put into storage, they are sent on an all-expenses-paid vacation and when they come home, they have a brand new house.

The Emmy award-winning show, hosted by Ty Pennington and aired on ABC, is hugely popular. Viewers are touched by the change brought to the lives of deserving, yet less fortunate people, and are awed by the amazing sight of a brand new home constructed in seven days. But a lot goes on behind the scenes for this feat to take place, and left unseen is the massive logistical contribution of the world's largest equipment rental company, Greenwich, Conn.-based United Rentals.

RER was given inside access to an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build that aired on December 5, and observed the preparations for the filming as the show's crew prepared to build a home in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, Ohio.

United Rentals prepared about 65 pieces of equipment for use in construction of the home. The build was being carried out by a United Rentals national account customer, Marous Brothers Construction.

Locally based in Willoughby, Ohio, Marous Brothers had already worked with United Rentals on other projects. They had a strong confidence and comfort level in the reliability and performance of United Rentals, which has several branches in the Cleveland area. Marous Brothers vice president Ken Marous met with United Rentals national accounts manager Brian Stanley to go over the needs of the job well in advance, and Stanley coordinated with local branch managers — John Clark of the general rental branch based in Cleveland; Joe Pannitto of the aerial branch in nearby Independence, Ohio; and Paul Sustersic of the power and HVAC branch in North Olmsted, Ohio.

Spirits were high with everybody connected with the project, and even the most minimal contact with the Anderson family, the beneficiary of the new home, made people excited to be part of the build. The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition staff selects people who are not only in economic need, but also are positive role models who contribute to their communities, and in choosing the Anderson family, they hit the target.

Andre and Jasmine Anderson are both legally blind, yet run a center for people with disabilities, called the Disability Awareness Center. Run out of the Anderson home, the center does presentations at schools and businesses about the lives of people with disabilities. Jaison, one of their two sons, is deaf. The Andersons' home was literally falling apart and had a damp basement, crumbling porch, a roof with missing parts, broken windows, loose and exposed wiring, holes in the floor and cracked, uneven pavement. The Andersons were not only incapable of doing the repairs themselves because of their vision disabilities — which also complicated their ability to hire and supervise others to do the work for them — but on a very limited income, were not in a financial position to get the repairs done.

Andre Anderson completely lost his sight because of diabetic retinopathy. Jasmine is progressively losing hers to the same illness.

The newly built home, more than twice the size of the Anderson's original 50-year-old, 1,200-square-foot home, contains a number of technologies designed for people with disabilities such as the Andersons'. During the build, the Andersons enjoyed a vacation at the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colo., a resort that specializes in improving the quality of life for people with disabilities through outdoor adventure activities.

With the assistance of more than a dozen subcontractors, and 1,500 volunteers — more than 100 from United Rentals and the Marous Brothers business, who donated their own time to help out — the Marous Brothers were charged with building the house in a matter of days. Originally scheduled for 109 hours, the project was completed in an incredible 95 hours. The Marous staff pre-fabbed some of the walls and frames and had them prepared in advance of the build.

“It was a great experience with our people and all of the volunteers, watching them come together as a team for one cause,” Marous Brothers vice president Ken Marous told RER. “We had a lot of Type-A personalities, but they checked their personalities at the door.”

Having worked together before simplified the process for United Rentals and Marous Brothers when it came to determining the equipment list. “United Rentals is experienced in these builds, so they gave us an initial list of equipment and we went through that list and tweaked it a bit and tailored it to the needs of the build,” said Marous.

“We met with the builder several times and went over our equipment list and finalized it with them, and then between Joe, Paul and I, we determined who would provide what,” United Rentals' Clark told RER. “We set up the trucking and worked around our other deliveries because the rest of business doesn't stop. We slotted the whole period and got it all out here to the site.”

The equipment, delivered on a United Rentals convoy, included aerial work platforms up to 40- and 60-foot booms, light towers, utility vehicles, skid-steer loaders, backhoes, mini-excavators, air compressors, reach forklifts, generators and more. United Rentals' Stanley oversaw much of the project. Marketing specialist Richard Carolan was on site as well, serving as liaison between Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and United Rentals. Carolan determines the branches best situated for each build, and then coordinates with branch and district managers and national accounts reps from the company's headquarters.