The behind-the-scenes helpers in Stagecoach home build

The dry wall is drying, the rooflines are juxtaposed against the snow-capped Sierra Nevada skyline and the cement is setting.

T-minus 24 hours until the Boettcher family touches down at Reno/Tahoe International, to be shuttled back to their Stagecoach home, which since last Friday has been the site of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

In spite of Wednesday's emergency call-to-action for area framers, carpenters, siders and tile layers to help get the 150-plus crew back to their original time frame, those closest to the build are optimistic it'll be done on time.

Weather in the 20s has been blamed for the slower-than-anticipated results.

Completing the mission to tear down the home of Steve and Mary Boettcher - who shared a 700-square-foot single-wide trailer with 20-year-old daughter, Stephanie, and her 18-month-old son, Joshua - and replacing it with a dream compound is not solely in the hands of unpredictable weather and thousands of hours of hard labor, officials said.

That the Boettcher's arrive to find their dream home "revealed" at 2 p.m. Friday is as much a testament to the behind-the-scenes action as the blue-shirted work crews and volunteers, a show spokeswoman said.

That includes everyone from the 24-hour paramedic support to sheriff's deputies and volunteers to tireless efforts of the Lyon County Building Department.

But some Stagecoach residents question allocation of so many resources to one family.

"I just want to know how much we're paying so this can get done," said Stagecoach resident Rebecca Schalla. "I think everyone knows this is a great thing for the one family. It's a good thing for the community too.

"But how much are we spending?"

Across the board, Lyon County public officials were loathe to put a price tag on the services being deployed at the build site this week, but many said they did not need to "staff up" to get there.

"Well, actually we have our citizen volunteers out there policing around-the-clock," said Lyon County Sheriff Lt. Jim Cupp. "The show has its own security and there's a handful of us going out there periodically, but we don't have any sworn staff out there full-time - just our volunteers who are going out there and controlling it.

"It's going real well."

Cupp, who said he's made several passes out to the build site, said the opportunity for Stagecoach to fall in the eyes of the nation for a positive event is "an amazing opportunity."

As far as security and safety goes on the law enforcement front, Lyon County Sheriff's deputies have also been impressed.

"They've done it so many times," Cupp said. "And they know what they're doing. We're helping, watching and taking it all in."

Lyon County Fire Protection District officials were equally complimentary of the safety and expertise of the show and its seasoned staff.

The district, which dispatches paramedic crews to the house on Apache Drive 24 hours a day, said they've done so without having to dip into the overtime coffers.

"We do, we have two medics that are out there staying in an RV," said fire chief John Gillenwater. "They're there 24 hours a day. We're just there mainly for the stand-by in case someone gets hurt."

Gillenwater said the district's services are not specifically contracted by the show.

"It's kind of understood that we need to be there," he said. "They contacted us with this and we sat down with the (show's) producers and went over what they needed and what we could do.

"One of the first questions we asked was, 'what is your accident frequency?' We were surprised to find out that, anecdotally, the only accident they had was one of their stars (Ed Sanders) cut himself with a Skil Saw. Their security is good. Their safety is good. So far, so good."

Gillenwater said the only mitigating factor thus far has been the weather.

"If you start out in Reno, it's nice and sunny," he said. "When you get out to Stagecoach, it's freezing. So a lot of the things we had to do dealt with people getting cold or tired."

Gillenwater also gave credit to other Lyon agencies, including the Lyon County Building Department.

"We're used to working 24 hours a day," he said. "But a lot of our agencies, the inspectors, they really worked hard to make this happen."

A spokeswoman for the building department Wednesday confirmed that permits for the Boettcher home were issued through them, but did not say whether extra staff time was allocated in the weeks leading to the build.

"In any rate, it's pretty cool that this is happening here," said Lt. Cupp. "All of our regional services are meant to expand or collapse according to need. So we're all pitching in, but it's not beyond the scope of what we do.

"It's just something I think we're all proud to be a part of."

• Contact reporter Andrew Pridgen at apridgen@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.

You can help

• To contribute to the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" benefiting the Boettcher family, go to any Northern Nevada Wells Fargo and ask to donate to the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" account No. 3393936103. Checks should be made payable to West Haven Development Group and all funds go directly toward the Boettcher home project. Any remaining funds will be used for the Boettcher family benefit after construction is complete.

• For information on the "Extreme Build," or to volunteer log on to www.NevadaExtremeHome.com or call 850-7999, ext. 399. For details on West Haven Development Group, visit www.WestHavenDG.com.