Tearing down a house, putting a new one up all in less than a week, along with months of planning such a huge operation, could be enough to exhaust anyone. 

But not Wes Sims, owner of Annapolis-based The Fusion Cos., who just finished an extreme week—a week of building a dream house for an Eastern Shore family selected for the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Now back in Annapolis and in the comfort of his own office in Historic Annapolis, Sims said he's ready to do it again, although he admits to some wear and tear, particularly at the height of the job. 

"After a couple of days, your body is so sleep-deprived, you don't recognize sleep-deprived," said Sims. "You'd have waves of complete exhaustion—I think, probably by the third night, your body doesn't recognize it—four-in-the-morning feels a lot like four-in-the-afternoon."

It's not enough to dissuade him from wanting to do it again.

"It was so much fun," said Sims. "I told the show, right after we left, we're ready to do it again."

That said, Sims would like to build a house in or closer to Annapolis.

"I would sure hope we would be back here—I would love to be in the Annapolis area," he said. 

As for the massive effort it took to complete the home in Mardela Springs, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Sims gives a lot of credit to the volunteers who helped. 

"Associated Builders and Contractors (Chesapeake Shores Chapter) attracted between 50,000 and 100,000 contributions from ABC Chesapeake Shores Chapter membership," said Sims, of the Annapolis-based organization. 

Jeff Halpern of Annapolis-based Halpern Architects was another critical member of the build team.

"He had to design and troubleshoot for five weeks," Sims said. He designed the whole home, from scratch, in one day, then for the next four weeks he had to problem-solve, redesign and troubleshoot on-the-fly."  

From architect to communications and media relations, Sims recognized the efforts of Annapolis-based Chic Public Relations. 

"Our [public relations] team of Morgan and Kristin of Chic—they were on the build from start to finish, twenty four by seven, and did just an incredible job," said Sims. 

"Our web development and marketing team, Branches PSP, was incredible in the lead-up to the build," said Sims, of the Annapolis-based company. "They helped make the scholarships happen, which was huge."

The scholarships Sims was speaking of are for the Johnson Goslee kids, the family the house was built for, to attend Salisbury University.   

Sims also recognized the efforts of those in food coordination, who provided six meals a day, day and night, and on top of it, lent assistance wherever and whenever help was needed. 

Sims said perhaps the largest single donation of materials came from Annapolis-based Seven Seas Energy, which donated all of the solar panels.  Sims said that amounted to somewhere between $60,000 to $70,000. 

"It's pretty accurate," said Teris Pantazes, owner of Seven Seas. 

"If a private homeowner wanted that same exact system, before all of the tax credits, that would easily be a $60,000 to $70,000 system" said Pantazes.  "I'm a small, local business owner—I'm not a big corporation and all of that equipment we put up, not a single piece of it was donated to me—I paid for it all. I just really liked what Wes was doing." 

Though it's hard, if not impossible, to recognize everyone, Sims spoke at length of the importance of the volunteer coordinators, led by Ian Gordon, as alpha team and Sean Songer, as bravo team.

"Definitely the most important position in the build," said Sims.

He explained why this is.   

"The last day, Salisbury University was delivering 50 to 100 volunteers every hour, on the hour," said Sims. "That's why the volunteer coordinator is so important. You want this to be a community project and you want everyone to help and to feel a part of it."

Finally, there were the cast and crew of the show itself, who on this build was Michael Moloney, Paige Hemmis, Ed Sanders, Johnny Littlefield and Ty Pennington.  

"They're awesome," said Sims. "It's easy to become cynical or be jaded about the Hollywood side of things, but everyone of them is so passionate about the show's purpose, it's just incredible."  

According to Sims, there was a first for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on this build. 

Wyzhir Johnson, the 16-year old who severed his hand last Christmas Eve in an accident while working on his old home, was allowed to stay for a few days to help design his new home. The rest of his family was sent on vacation to Santa Barbara, CA.

"The show had never done that before and held someone back and made them part of the process," said Sims. "It helps having a bond, not just with Wyzhir, but with the whole family. We were there—we wanted to be part of their life."

And as it turns out, Sims became part of many lives with this experience and those who were there, will forever be part of his.   

"It's been the most fun experience of my life," said Sims. "The relationships and bonds you form with the guys and girls that are out there don't leave." 

The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode featuring this build is slated to air as a two-hour special Dec. 9 on ABC.