Cross & Crescent

Instead of hosting a big party to watch ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Sunday, May 17, 2009, Paul E. Estridge Jr. (Evansville 1979) plans to watch the show at home with his family.

“First of all I’ll be a nervous wreck,” he says. “And secondly, I just want to be there. I don’t have to be on…don’t have to be chatty.”

As the president of the Carmel, Indiana-based The Estridge Companies, Estridge’s life changed dramatically when ABC called one of his vice presidents and asked if his company would build a new house for a needy family in Indianapolis.

“We were told that they typically try to find a builder in each market who shares the values that are on the show,” he says.

The executive producers with ABC told Estridge that they knew about his company and thought the two companies were aligned and had similar values. They gave him about 48 hours to respond.

“We said there couldn’t be a worse time for us to go build a house for free for a family in a neighborhood we don’t know,” Estridge says. “How in the world are we ever going to pull this off?”

For all of the right reasons, Estridge decided to accept ABC’s offer.

“It’s about reaching down deep in the tough times…not pulling in closer and holding on tighter but opening up more and finding ways to do more,” he says. “And as it turned out, it was absolutely the right decision. It’s been the single most energizing, transforming event we’ve ever done.”

To that end, the company focused heavily on their work more than what was going on with show, the stars, or the filming.

“Everyone only knows of this from the show,” he says. “But the show’s really invisible to us. We were down there doing what we do and the show was there on the outside edges…we were doing it in an extremely concentrated period of time.”

Two Conditions

There were two pre-conditions for Estridge agreeing to ABC’s offer.

“I had always felt these homes had frequently looked like set designs done in L.A.,” he said. “And they are just way over the top. It’s got to be embarrassing not only to the new home owners when the cameras leave but to all of the neighbors.”

So Estridge told ABC the only way he would agree to do the show was to have complete control of the architecture: the outside, scale of the home has to fit the architecture of the neighborhood.

“And they said ‘OK’ which really surprised me,” he says. “And since we’ve done it I’ve become even more surprised because it really doesn’t appear as though any other builders have ever been able to do very much. So Maybe it’s because they’ve never asked.”

Estridge’s second issue was he wanted to leverage the energy from the show to do more for the entire neighborhood on Indianapolis’ northeast side.

“For our company, that’s really the story,” he says. “We did build a beautiful home for a nice family. And we’re really proud…but more importantly, is that we planted 1,200 trees along six miles of streets. And we regraded and redressed and cleaned up 5 miles of alleys…and we refurbished, repainted or re-roofed 22 homes on the street we were building on. Tore down two houses that had been vacant.”

On top of that, Estridge also built a wireless mesh canopy, called a FAN (free wireless neighborhood), to allow more than 450 homes, businesses, and schools to have a lifetime of free Internet access.

Lasting Impact

When The Estridge Companies was founded by Paul’s father in 1967, it began with a simple commitment: to design and build homes as if we were building them for our own family. Today, more than 7,000 homes later, the company is one of the nation’s most respected home builders.

Given the company’s long history, Estridge has yet to fully reflect on the impact of the experiences this project has afforded him and his company.

“I think it’s evolving,” he says. “In the midst of this, we’re really in deep survival mode as a company. So everybody immediately snapped back to their roles and responsibilities.”

The sharing from employees has been amazing, as well as the outpouring of support from the community and people the show has touched.

“I don’t know how it will change us,” he says. “I guess it’s convinced us. We are a company that’s based on the right values. And that what we stand for and do is meaningful and relevant.”

After the build project was completed, Estridge sent out an email and told the employees that “trees with roots this deep don’t blow down easily. And we have deep roots right now and I’m very thankful for that.”

Estridge thinks his company will do this type of project again and they want to stay involved with the neighborhood where they built the first house.

“We really, really, really enjoyed it,” he says. “It was just an absolute blast….We all want to do something that is really off the charts. We’re wanting to do something that just rocks everybody.”

Lambda Chi Alpha

Fraternity is the single biggest reason Estridge finished college at the University of Evansville. He discovered Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity on a recruiting trip for football in 1976.

“My big brother ended up being High Alpha…Chuck Singer,” Estridge says. “We were roommates. So it was just a really important connection that I had. Without it, I would have just floated off into something else. It was really critically important.”

Unfortunately, Estridge’s connection with the Evansville and the local chapter had diminished since graduation due to other career and family demands. But now he is becoming re-engaged and he recently spoke at the school and 15-20 chapter brothers came over to support him.

“I’m of an age of the fathers of the kids,” he says. “So I’ve started to reach out and connect to some of the young men from this area who are actives down there just to have some sort of connection.”

At Evansville, Estridge played varsity football and served as the chapter president, an unbelievably important role for his development as a leader.

“The role of being a leader of peers — while having to fulfill the responsibility of being accountable to a housing corporation, collect dues, trying to be a part of the brotherhood — while also leading the brotherhood in ways that were not too damaging or too destructive,” he says.