Status: UNKNOWN
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house transformations have gotten complicated with all the “where are they now” questions flying around. As someone who’s tracked down property records and public filings for dozens of these families, I learned everything there is to know about the Harvey family’s build in Hastings, Florida. Today, I will share it all with you.
Who Were the Harveys?
The Harvey family was living in a 1,100-square-foot home in Hastings, Florida when the show came calling. Hastings is a small town south of Jacksonville — rural, agricultural, not exactly a place known for mansions. The Harveys were a hard-working family, and from what I can piece together, their original house was tight but functional. It was home, you know?
Then Extreme Makeover showed up and decided to go absolutely massive with the renovation.
The Transformation
Probably should have led with this section, honestly, because the numbers here are wild. The crew took that modest 1,100-square-foot house and turned it into a 4,300-square-foot showpiece. That’s nearly quadrupling the living space in just seven days. If you’ve watched enough of these episodes, you know the build crews could pull off some incredible things, but this was one of the most dramatic size increases in the entire run of the show.
Think about that for a second. Going from 1,100 to 4,300 square feet isn’t just a renovation — it’s basically building a brand new house from the ground up. And in a community like Hastings, a 4,300-square-foot home sticks out like a sore thumb. The neighboring properties are modest. The local economy is modest. Everything about that area is modest except this one enormous house that appeared out of nowhere during a week of filming.
The Hidden Cost Problem
That’s what makes the Harvey family story endearing to us reality TV watchers — they didn’t do anything wrong. They accepted a gift from a TV show that genuinely wanted to help them, and then had to figure out how to afford a house that was four times larger than anything they’d ever owned.
Here’s what nobody talks about during the big reveal episode: when your house quadruples in size, your property taxes don’t just go up a little bit. They can skyrocket. In St. Johns County, where Hastings is located, property assessments are based on the improved value of the home. So going from a modest house to a 4,300-square-foot build? That tax bill jumps in a serious way.
Utilities follow the same pattern. Heating and cooling 4,300 square feet costs a lot more than conditioning 1,100 square feet. Maintenance on a large home — roof repairs, HVAC servicing, plumbing for all those extra bathrooms — all of it scales up. These are the kinds of ongoing costs that the show just didn’t address, and it was the same story that would later cause real problems for family after family.
Where Are They Now?
I’ll be straight with you — I haven’t been able to verify what happened to the Harvey family’s home. The property records in St. Johns County are a bit harder to dig through than some other counties I’ve researched, and I haven’t found clear evidence of a sale, foreclosure, or any public issue. That doesn’t mean everything’s fine, but it doesn’t mean there’s a problem either.
What I can say is that the Harvey build followed the exact pattern that caused trouble for other Extreme Makeover families. Massive increase in square footage. Small town with modest property values. A family that wasn’t earning a six-figure income. All the ingredients were there for the same kind of financial pressure that hit the Okvaths, the Harpers, and several other families on the show.
If anyone has more recent information about the Harvey family or has driven by the property in Hastings, I’d genuinely love to hear about it. These are real people, and I think their story deserves proper follow-up.
Status pending verification – January 2026
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