[Jeff Cavins] This property is a beautiful Texas Hill Country land.
We are building a safari tent.
These are tents, but they are like supertents.
It's not a fun part of the job.
[grunts] What were the fun parts of the job?
This is the hardest thing I've done so far.
-[grunts] -[sighs wearily]
-What's wrong? You okay? -I really feel like I can faint
and I'm so frustrated, sorry.
Tent's arrived from South Africa, got damaged.
Okay, Jen, don't drop it.
[Jeff] We have lightning
and we're sitting under this massive iron frame.
-Up! This is gonna hit. -[Jen] Up!
Can you just pick it up from here?
We're trying, Jen. It's 3,500 pounds of iron.
Holy mackerel, this is heavy.
-Don't hold on to that shaft. -[Jeff] Whoa, look out! Whoa!
-[screams] -[Jeff] Snake.
[Jen] Watch this. The tent! The tent!
I am so exhausted. I really hope that this gets done on time.
[narrator] Are you ready to go Off The Grid?
[serene instrumental music]
[Jeff] You okay doing a little bit of bumpy stuff?
-Well, this is getting awfully good. -[Jeff] All right.
It'll be fine. Remember, this thing is designed to go through the Sahara.
-[Jen] Whoa! -[Jeff] Yeah.
Getting this piece of property started off the same way
we usually get new adventures in our life.
My home brings home recreational vehicles.
[Jeff] Okay, so,
we're gonna map out where we're gonna build this house.
-It's beautiful. -[Jen] Beautiful.
We both built most of our careers in skyscrapers
in New York and San Fransico.
We started a company in the outdoor travel space.
We moved to Austin,
but we started spending our weekends driving out to Hill Country.
Look at that view.
How does this area look, or do you wanna go to that big monster oak?
That thing is 200 years old.
-It's a beauty. -[Jen] So beautiful.
Moving from recreational vehicles into land,
and land that you could camp on, or glamp on,
was, sort of, like, the idea.
I called Jen one day and I said,
"There's a farmer that's willing to carve up a piece of his ranch,
and sell 34 and a half acres."
So I brought her out here one afternoon and we walked the property and we both said,
"This is it. We've gotta be here."
-[Jen] I'm Jen. -[Jeff] I'm Jeff.
[Jen] And we're building our safari tent in Texas Hill Country.
[Jeff] This property here in Stonewall is 34 and a half acres.
Beautiful Texas Hill Country land.
To the left of us is Fredericksburg, and to the right is Austin.
By the way, it's about an hour.
I'm so excited. I cannot wait to have this thing up and ready.
We are building a safari tent,
and the reason for that is
there's something about the safari-inspired camping experience
that still makes you feel connected to nature.
Now we just need a zebra and a rhino to finish it out.
Our builders for this project are Richard and Gary Flaks.
They speak with a South African accent,
so, immediately, they have credibility with safari tents.
This site reminds us a lot of all the game reserves that we have in South Africa.
The terrain's very similar.
We would probably be a little bit more nervous in South Africa
'cause there's probably a wild animal behind that tree over there.
-And I know he's a wild animal but that's a different kind. -[laughs]
[bird screeching]
[Jeff] Did you hear the eagle?
There's so many choices of where we could place
-the tent. -Right.
We chose them because they're probably the most experienced
safari tent builders on the planet.
We've been building safari tents for close on 50 years.
From Asia, obviously a lot in Africa, Europe.
We've got a great tent option that's like an L-shape,
so you get to see the views in more than one direction.
[Jen] That's what we'll call curb appeal.
[Jeff] We're building a tented home in Texas Hill Country
that will feature a large wrap-around deck
for enjoyment and having family and friends over.
When you walk in the front doors,
you'll be greeted with a large living room.
Behind the living room is a fully-stocked kitchen
with all the amenities that you would have at home.
Behind the kitchen is a resort-style bathroom.
To the right of the living room is a large primary bedroom
with a king-sized bed, with glass doors overlooking Texas Hill Country.
For our off-grid features, we have solar panels for power,
we have a 350-foot deep well for water,
and we have a compost toilet.
The build that we're doing encompasses about 640 square feet
It'll take about a month to complete the build at a cost of $100,000.
We're starting with one tent on this property,
but if we find that our family and friends love it as much as we think they will,
the plan is to build multiple tents for everybody to enjoy,
'cause we wanna share this with as many people as we can.
[Jen] I love that canvas look
'cause those are the things that remind me that we're in nature.
So the challenges of this build is always,
you know, the logistics of getting everything here
from the factory in South Africa
and, then, being off-grid.
You don't always have the supplies you need
and there's no proximity to go and get them.
It's like Hill Country meets the Serengeti.
-[all laughing] -Yeah, I like it.
[Richard] We've made a great start to the build.
We started putting the deck system in.
First thing we had to do is put these concrete footers in the ground.
The problem is, we ran into a lot of rock,
so we had to get the rock out of there,
pour the concrete,
and we've actually done a steel sub-structure for the deck.
So the next phase of what we're gonna do
is now dress up that deck with all the wooden elements.
[Jen] Today's gonna be a really long, challenging day.
We are on a super tight schedule.
We got a lot of planks we have to lay down.
Dudes, what's the plan?
The project we gotta get done today is get the wooden boards on top.
We're gonna be building the decks with help from Richard and Jordan.
[Gary] Jordan joined us a few years ago.
He's been an incredible asset for us.
And that's good that you've got experience,
'cause Jordan's never done this before.
-Nah. Just kidding. -[Jen laughs]
[Jeff] It's about 640 square feet of deck,
so we gotta get all the boards cut
and we gotta start screwing the deck boards out.
I'm gonna be on the drill gun all day today,
so I have at least 1,000 screws to get in.
So the first couple of screws, I can't even get them in place.
I feel like it can't be my lack of talent or ability here,
but they're just, like, not going in.
-I figure out that I had the wrong bend. -Atta girl.
That building is way harder than I thought it was gonna be.
I am not even three boards into building this deck,
and I am already dirty, I am sweaty, and I am tired.
[whoops]
[Richard] Putting on the boarding on top of the deck
is just a repetitive, time-consuming exercise,
and it's really just repetition just to get the whole deck done.
[Jeff] So we got to the end of the day. The entire crew left.
It was just Jen and me, so we finished up the project ourselves.
-[Jen] Nice one. -All right, that one's in.
I am such a pro at building this deck right now
and I am so glad this is my last board.
If I don't see another wood board for the next five years, I will be happy.
So the deck is built. It looks great.
And, tomorrow, we go vertical.
[upbeat instrumental music]
Today's a big day. We got 20 posts that we have to install.
These are gonna make the foundation of the entire house.
It's not a fun part of the job. Has to be done.
-What were the fun parts of the job before this? -[all laughing]
-Can you help? -[Jen] Yes, obviously.
[laughs]
Okay. [grunts] Up. Up.
[Jen] They're heavy. They're over 200 pounds per post.
We gotta bring the beams onto the deck
and, then, we have to position them over top of each one of the brackets,
shimmy them in and, then, push them upright.
[Jeff] The hard part is getting these posts up
and getting them on top of the brackets so that the bolts will line up.
And we found that the first few,
the bolts weren't lining up at all.
[Jen groans]
[Jeff] Yeah, you got it.
We got one up. How many more do we have to go?
[Gary] Only about 20 or so.
-[Jeff] 20. All right. -[laughing] Oh, my goodness.
[Jen] Little concerned about the weather here today.
I'm not used to working construction for ten-plus hours,
and I'm definitely not used to working construction in over 100 degrees.
Okay, guys. I'm a little out of breath.
But we had 20 and this is the last one to go up.
-Up. Up. Up. -[Jen] Yeah.
-On the blade. That's a good line-up. -And that's that.
Look how these are going in.
[Jeff] These are lining up perfectly.
I guess after 19 times, they should, right?
[Jen] So we've finally got the 20th beam up in place.
And I'm wanting to celebrate a win,
but we haven't even started the hard part yet
which is, now, getting all of the ring beams on top of the posts.
[Richard] One, two, three.
[Jeff] It'll be two people on ladders.
Who else is getting on the other ladder?
[Jeff] Jen, Gary, and I will pick up the beam,
lift it over our heads
and, then, put it in the hands of the guys up on the ladders to set it on top of the posts.
There we go.
All right. 24 more.
[Jen] I'm short. My muscles are starting to shake.
The heat is just, like, beating down on us.
This is the hardest thing I've done so far.
I actually feel like I could faint.
I look over at Jen and I'm starting to get worried.
-What's wrong? You okay? -I really feel like I can faint
and I am so frustrated, sorry.
[sobbing]
[somber instrumental music]
[grunts]
[Jeff] As we're lifting these heavy beams up on top of the posts,
I look over at Jen and I can tell she is exhausted.
She's worn out. She's pushed herself too hard.
The hot Texas sun and the heat just really knocked me over the edge.
I actually feel like I could faint.
Thankfully, my husband sees that I'm struggling a bit,
so he tells me I just have to take a break and hydrate.
[crying] I feel like I'm gonna pass out.
We don't even have half of our job done for the day.
It's a problem.
[Jeff] This is hard. This is very hard.
You're gonna have a heatstroke if you keep working like this.
Jen's been in tears because she's got some heat exhaustion.
She's probably dehydrated,
and we really need to give her a breather because her health is more important
than getting the ring beam up.
We're gonna get there. We're gonna get it finished.
One thing about Jen is she is a trooper,
and after she got hydrated, she went right back at it.
Got it? Up.
All right.
[Jen] We just took one beam at a time.
I focused on one step in front of me,
and we made it through the rest of the afternoon.
That was a slam dunk. There you go.
Now, all the ring beams are up.
It was a challenging day.
I don't feel like I can lift a pencil right now,
but I feel great that those beams are up
because I think the hardest part might be behind us.
I am feeling elated this day is over.
The most exciting part of the project starts tomorrow.
We are putting up the tent.
[thunder rumbling]
This is not gonna end up being one of our best days.
Supposed to be out here building, we got everybody lined up,
and Texas Hill Country weather, obviously, is not lined up for us.
It's rained and rained and rained, and we've lost days on this project.
We've also lost money on this project.
Texas Hill Country, please give us some sunshine.
[upbeat instrumental music]
It rained and rained and rained for days,
so the construction was on hold.
But, today, it's clearing and we're back at it.
Well, today's the day where we unbox the tent and we take it to the deck.
The problem is we don't know what to expect when we open this box.
Our tent's arrived from South Africa.
It got damaged. It stormed all of last night.
That's really a problem because it takes weeks, and even months,
to get parts replaced.
Really frustrating, but we'll see, shortly, when we get it unpacked.
Stood up.
[shouts]
[Jen] I was feeling pretty confident,
but I didn't realize the precision required to be able to go over...
Looking good!
[Jen] ...and pick up our tent.
We've spent a lot of money on this.
There's only one product, it's in this one box.
And, if I break it, we're not off to a good start for the project.
-Jeff, you're getting splashed there. -[Jeff] Oh, man.
I got this.
Okay, Jen, don't drop it.
[Jen] I got this. I got this. I got this. I got this. I got this.
Okay. All right.
[whoops] This feels good!
Let's get this tent built!
[exhales]
Let me move it this way.
[Richard] Whoa, slowly!
-Bring it in. -[Jen] Okay.
-Drop it right here. -[Richard] That's good.
-[Jeff] Slowly. -[Richard] Put it down.
-You're good. -I did it! I love it!
This has got to be one of the best feelings ever.
-[laughs] -[Jen whoops] I love this project.
Yay.
-Great job, Jen. -Okay. Well, let's see if it's intact.
-Let's cut it open. -Okay.
It's like opening a birthday gift.
-[Gary] This is gonna be all wet. -That's okay. I don't mind.
-This is part of the process, right? -[Jeff] All right.
[Richard] I'm not what the content's gonna look like,
and we're just hoping we don't have damage
because these tents are made 8,000 miles away.
[Jeff] Let's do it.
-Whoa! -[Jen screams]
Our tent's arrived from South Africa, got damaged.
Really frustrating, but we'll see when we get it unpacked.
[Jeff] Let's do it.
-Whoa! -[screams]
-[Jeff] That's a house. -Well, so far, it looks pretty good.
Looks like it's intact.
Well, we got the tent to the site.
We opened up the box.
We saw that the tent was pretty wet, but everything seemed to be okay.
[Richard] Little bit of water got in there, but that doesn't really bother us
because the tents are made to withstand all these conditions.
It looks like we're in good shape.
[Jeff] Here we go. All right.
-Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. -Okay, great. Okay.
[Jeff] This is like an erector set.
You have the instructions for this?
We don't need it.
[Jeff] There are hundreds and hundreds of pieces
that are all wrapped in this wrapping material.
I like how organized we're starting off the day.
Don't worry, guys. I'll bring all the heavy ones.
Gary, let me explain to you. One, two, three, four, five.
Not one, two, five, four, three.
-This is five. -Yeah, I grew up in South Africa.
The numbers go in different orders.
[Gary] Taking all the plastic covering off the parts takes ages.
But, thankfully, Jeff and Jen brought family and friends.
I remember camping as a kid and putting up the tent,
and I thought the tentpoles were, like, so much hard work and so much effort,
[chuckling] and this is like...
This is definitely harder than putting up the tent.
[Gary] So, right now, we're gonna break up into teams to build the frame.
And that's when we start to see the tent come together. That's when it gets exciting.
It's like a puzzle, but we have a little bit of a plan that helps us.
You can see here's the layout. This is the shape of the tent.
I would start with these big, odd-looking parts.
Luckily, my brother and I have put a lot of these tents together,
so we know which pieces go where and how they get bolted together.
Pretty soon, the frame was nearly done.
[thunder rumbling]
[Gary] We gotta move this on. It's starting to rain.
I don't know how much time we've got left.
So we get the frame assembled
and, then, all of a sudden, like Texas is known for,
massive thunderstorms come overhead.
[thunder rumbling]
Lightning, and we're sitting under this massive iron frame.
It's getting dangerous here now with this rain coming down
and the bad weather and the lightning.
And we're gonna have to cut this and pause and, hopefully, it blows over soon.
Oh, it's going. It's going.
There we go. Oh, big...
-Oh, there we go. Good. -Yeah!
Okay, guys, we're gonna call it for now.
We'll take a break. We'll come back and finish this off.
[Jen] It took a couple of hours for the weather to clear,
and the guys want to really push hard now, and they want to
end the day strong by getting the entire roof structure
up on top of the ring beams.
[Jeff] Everybody. Mike, Michael. We need your muscles.
We're all gonna lift up this frame
and we're gonna move it over and a little closer to the tent.
Today's a really big day 'cause we're gonna try and do something
we don't often do.
-One, two... -[Jen] We got this!
...three!
[Richard] We would normally do one half
and, then, get it up there. And, then, take the other half and connect them.
But, because we lost all that time in the rain,
we're attempting to do this in one step.
It's a little bit scary.
Are you guys helping? It feels like I'm doing this all by myself.
Rich, we've gotta figure out which side the wing is
-to put it on in the right direction. -[Richard] I know. We do.
-So how do we do that? -[Richard] We'll have to unfold it.
So unfold it, position it in the alignment that works with the structure
-and, then, roll it back up? -[Richard] And, then, carry it up.
[Jen] And, then, carry it.
[Gary] This thing is heavy. We're gonna need hands here, I think.
This is the heaviest individual piece.
But this is the most important part of our house.
This protects the water from coming in,
so we need this to, like, roll out perfectly.
Thank God we have, like, 20 family and friends of ours
to be here and get that job done.
[overlapping chatter]
[Jeff] We're rolling this to get it to the center.
That way, it's easier to lift up on to the frame
without dragging it through the mud.
All right, now that we have this rolled up,
we're gonna get the rope and we're gonna tie this together.
[Gary] Doesn't matter how tight it is.
-Well, as long as it doesn't come on down. -[Jeff] Tight enough to hold.
Yeah, but the way Jen ties knots, we'll never get these ropes off again.
-[Jen] We will. We will. -I can see you were, like, girl scouting in your youth.
-[Jen] Go. -[Jeff] Up.
-Okay. -[Richard] Gary, lead the way.
-[Jordan] He could reach that over there. -[Jeff] Yeah, here we go.
[Richard] We're up and in.
[Jeff] One, two, three, go.
[Jen] Guys, can you go up one more?
-Awesome. Nice work. -[Jordan] All right, it's in.
[all cheering]
-[Jeff] Nice! -[Jordan] There you go! Boom.
-[Jeff] All right. -[Jen] Awesome.
Small wins. Small wins. That's what this day is all about.
We're gonna get straps on it and, then, you're gonna lift it on the sky lift
and put it up there.
Now, the moment of reckoning.
This is a really big moment for us.
I'm responsible for making sure
that the roof structure is going to get safely on top.
I'm throwing up a little bit inside. I am very nervous.
[Jeff] Ready for this?
Okay. Slowly.
[Jen] My heart is pounding out of my chest right now.
Now they want me to lift an entire roof structure and land it like a gymnast
on one of those beams, and I am sweating bullets. I don't know if I can do it.
[Jeff] Go up slowly until it's tight.
Slow, slow, slow.
[Gary] We're gonna lift it up and drop it on top of that ring beam.
And I just hope she hits it spot on,
'cause I don't wanna miss or knock the ring beam over.
Sorry, guys. Sorry. A little choppy. It's a little choppy.
[Jeff] Okay, stop!
-This is gonna hit. This is gonna hit. -Stop?
[Jeff] Whoa, whoa, whoa!
[Jeff] Come forward, Jen. Little bit more. About a foot up.
Now, forward.
[Jen] Sorry, guys. Sorry. A little choppy. It's a little choppy.
I look at all the guys. They're on the actual deck.
Everybody's ready for me to do it.
They're shouting out the instructions.
I just have to concentrate and get this done.
[Jeff] You got it.
Okay, stop!
-This is gonna hit. -[Jen] Stop?
We're lifting the frame and one of the things we're concerned about
this particular tent is lopsided.
[Jeff] Whoa, whoa, whoa!
[Richard] It's only got a wing on one side.
[Jeff] You need to go up. You're gonna hit the beam.
[Richard] And as Jen's lifting the thing up,
the whole thing's tilting to the one side.
We've had to have the teams grab ropes to try and stabilize it,
and stop it from turning.
Oh, my gosh!
[Jeff] Six more inches.
-Okay, okay. -[Jordan] Okay, that's good.
[Jen] I'm raising the roof and the entire roof is shaking.
[Jeff] Oh! Oh!
[Jen] This isn't just a small roof.
I mean, this is, like, three massive octagon rooms,
and the whole thing is wobbling.
And I haven't been in this piece of equipment long enough
to exactly know what I'm doing.
[Jeff] Can you lift up any more?
-I've got about 12 inches left. -[Jeff] I see it. I see it.
As Jen drove closer to the tent structure...
Oh, oh, whoa, oh!
...the wheels hit the side of the deck.
So she had to take the boom out as far as it could go.
So you're gonna go straight up.
If we go a bit further, can we get this over the top?
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
We're having trouble getting the tent over to the left.
We're gonna have to send the crew up on the ring beam,
and take it manually and try and carry it over.
[Jen] Can you just pick it up from here?
We're trying, Jen. It's 3,500 pounds of iron.
Oh, man!
[Jeff] Jen's trying to get the frame over this beam here.
It's incredibly heavy. The problem is the boom is fully extended
and our tires are hitting the deck.
So we have to do this with muscle.
-[Richard] Tent is moving to the left... -[grunts]
[Richard] ...and we're within a few inches of where we need to be.
Where are we binding? We're binding somewhere. This is not moving.
[Richard] Couple more inches and we're gonna lower this thing down,
and we're gonna call it a day.
-Here you go. You did it! -[Jordan] There we go. There we go, there we go.
-[Richard] There we are. -[Jeff] Yeah!
[Richard] Okay, it's over.
-Let it go. -You sure?
-[Richard] Yeah, let it go. Go rest on there. -[Jeff] All right.
Slowly, let it down.
All right, let's stick this landing.
[Jen] It's coming down!
[Jeff] We finally get it set up and we told Jen, drop it down,
and she stuck that landing perfectly, right on top of the beam.
[Jen] It's touching the frame. I've got it down.
[grunts]
Jen, you nailed it!
Way to go!
[laughing] Oh, my God.
Jen knows no fear.
There is nothing she's afraid of.
I'm very, very proud of Jen. It's really hard to keep up with her.
Yeah!
[all cheering]
Jen!
I had a good role to play that day and, yeah, I was really proud of myself.
[Jeff] You know what's gonna happen?
She's gonna want one of these for her birthday.
[chuckles]
Tomorrow, we'll come in and we're gonna start
unrolling the flysheets that we have up there
and, then, we can start hanging the tent.
[upbeat instrumental music]
How're you feeling about today? A little nervous?
-Yeah, we're gonna be on 18-foot ladders... -Yeah.
-...hoisting 700 pounds of heavy canvas. -Yeah.
[Jen] We've got four soft materials that have to go up on the roof.
We've got the PVC plastic sheets. That protects us from rain.
We've got the UV flysheets. That protects us from the sun and the harsh conditions.
And, then, we got all the walls. All the canvas.
-Home! -Can't wait to finally see what is gonna be our home.
Basically, the gameplan is everybody heaves this thing
over top of the steel frame.
I'm hoping this is the easiest part of the day. I'm looking for an easy win here.
[chuckles] We'll see. We'll see.
[Richard] Okay, pull!
[Jen] It's snagged. I can feel it right up there.
My biggest challenge for today is making sure nobody rips my walls or my roof.
Do not snag the flysheet, guys.
If this thing gets snagged and ripped,
it's five to six months before we can get a replacement.
[Richard] We thought it would be a quick and easier part,
but there's been a few hitches, just getting snagged on the frame.
But we're getting there.
[Jeff] There you go. You're good.
Okay, pull, Jen.
Oh, that's good.
[grunts] Yeah, good.
That was a bit scary of a moment, but we finally got it done.
We got it over the posts.
The next part that has to go up is the PVC layer,
and that thing is, like, over 700 pounds
and it's tightly rolled up from the day before.
I'm gonna start at the far right.
So my job was to loosen up the rope
and, then, I had to work to get that PVC untied.
First knot's coming down.
Second knot.
[whoops] This is high.
[exhales] That's adrenaline.
-Jen, we should move the ladder. -[Jen] Just wait.
-She's too far away. -Just wait. Stop.
This is super dangerous. There's no hospital within an hour of this place.
I'm on the ladder, I know what I'm doing.
No, Jen, you can't reach it.
[Jen] I just have a couple more inches to go and I've just got it.
[Jeff] I'll put a lease on you.
-Don't hold on to that shaft. -[Jordan] Whoa, look out! Whoa!
[Jeff] This is super dangerous.
I'm on the ladder, I know what I'm doing.
No, Jen, you can't reach it.
[Jen] I just have a couple more inches to go and I've just got it.
It's too high.
[Jen] And I can hear my husband just, like, chirping from down below.
All right, Jen. Super careful.
"Chirping."
Jen didn't wanna take the time to come down off the ladder and reposition the ladder,
so she was leaning out way over the top of the ladder.
I was really worried she was gonna fall.
I got it.
-She's got it. -Yeah.
It was a calculated risk. It was a good one.
I just didn't want it to become a bachelor pad. It's supposed to be our home.
[chuckles]
And now that we've got the ropes off, we're gonna unroll this PVC flysheet
and spread it all the way out.
[Jeff] You got it?
Jen and the others were up on the 18-foot ladders.
They would push the PVC up and, then, we start unrolling it
and try to get it to roll across the entire frame.
[grunts]
Sounds a lot easier than it is, but it's really, really challenging.
Jen, be careful on that ladder.
-You're spinning around like a pretzel. -[Jen] I got it, I got it.
She's stubborn. She won't listen to me.
This is so hard. It's crazy heavy.
There we go.
One we get that unrolled, we then have to pull it out.
We have this extended wing here,
but we need to get two apex caps over,
which is very difficult 'cause it's gonna start getting very tight.
So we're gonna have to get on ladders, push up and pull
and, hopefully, we can get it to drop down.
[Jeff grunting]
Holy mackerel, this is heavy.
[Jordan] So, right now, it's getting caught on the apex,
so we to push and pull at the same time.
It's a little tricky, it's a lot of weight.
-Good? -[Jen grunting]
-[Jeff] Pull, Jordan. Pull. -[Jen grunting]
[Jordan] I'm on.
Nice. Yeah!
[Jen] This was the part in the day that I just wanted to give up.
[Jen grunts]
This PVC flysheet should've, like, unraveled way easier than it did.
It was a real struggle.
[grunting]
-[Jordan] I'll pull at this one. -Come on.
-[Jordan] On! -[whoops]
-[Richard] Yeah! -[whoops] We needed the win.
-[Richard] We're on. -We finally got the rain layer
and the UV layer of the tent on.
And my husband did an amazing job.
[Jeff] That stuff is heavy.
Feels like flexible concrete.
-Love you. -[Jeff] Love you.
And now we move on to actually hanging the tent body.
That's another whole erector set of assembly.
A bunch of pipes that go through these channels in the canvas
that connect them to the top of the iron frame.
And, then, those come down and these actually get bolted down to the floor.
[Jen] Very important to have walls in nature.
We don't want all the animals and the snakes and the critters
getting into the home.
[Jen grunts]
These are the last straps that we have to tighten up. It feels so good!
[Richard] Okay.
Nice work.
-[Jeff] Okay. Good job, team. -Well done, guys.
[Jen] This home is finally coming together.
[upbeat instrumental music]
[Jen] It's been a busy couple of days.
We finally have the floors installed, and they look stunning.
The house looks huge.
But the next step is getting the door in.
[Gary] We delivered the tent with a solid canvas panel where the door's going,
and we have to cut out into the canvas.
It's very tricky, but we gotta be accurate.
Make sure we get it right first time. No second chances.
[exhales] Steady does it.
[Gary] There we go.
Don't know if I'm gonna do as good of a job here.
Whoa.
This is particularly stressful for me
because I've got to make really good clear cuts,
and I get the box cutter out and I can see my hand shaking a little bit.
[exhales] That was crooked. Oh, no.
Jen is helping me put the door in,
and she stresses out every now and then.
I'm a little bit concerned. If she gets this wrong, we've got serious problems.
[whoops] Okay, I got it.
-[Gary] Nice! -Fantastic.
I'm worried about your height advantage. Here.
I realize that I probably shouldn't be the person
doing the cutting of the door frame 'cause I'm five foot two.
I can barely reach the top of the door frames.
No one told you to wear your heels today?
[Jen laughing] I should've worn my heels.
-Nice! -Ah!
Oh, my gosh, it's my door.
-I mean, my side's pretty straight. -[laughing] I know.
I don't think I did a good job.
Have you been drinking again, Jen?
[Jen] Gary did a much better job than I did.
His lines were perfect.
Meanwhile, on my side of the door, they were wobbly and wonky.
But I'm just so happy that they stayed, at least, within the lines.
[Gary] Now, we gotta fit the actual door in
and I really, really hope this fits.
-[Jen] Watch the top, watch the top. -[Gary] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[Jen] Watch the top. -[Gary] Okay.
-Okay, I'll pull from here. -[Gary] Okay.
-I'll pull from here. -[Gary] There we go.
Okay, it's in. Awesome.
Fortunately, it fits.
All we have to do is secure the door
and we feel like we're starting to have a home now.
It fits! [screams]
The door goes in, and I love the door more than I love the floors.
The door was beautiful.
[upbeat instrumental music]
All right, let's get this into the house.
Today is the day we move from construction to making the house a home.
So we go down to untarp all the furniture.
I start to take the wood off and pull up the tarps.
-[screams] -[Jeff] Snake.
-Snake. -[Jeff] Oh, my gosh.
Lucy, no. Lucy! Keep the dog away from the snake.
All right, let's get this into the house.
Today is the day where we unwrap all the furniture
and the interiors that are all stored on tarps outside.
-[screams] -[Jeff] Snake. Snake.
We got a snake.
I have a snake-phobia. I mean, I think everybody has a snake-phobia.
[Jeff] The concern with the snake is,
we don't know if it's venomous or not.
This area in Texas Hill Country is famous for rattlesnakes.
And my wife stumbled across a snake.
I'm thinking we probably should call
somebody that's experienced with snakes, like a snake wrangler.
Ah, Jeff, she's here.
Hi! Thank you so much for coming.
[Jeff] Gillian comes out to help us relocate the snake.
-Okay, let me just take a look. -I don't know...
-Do you want the stick? -No, no, no.
-[Jen screams] -There it is.
-It's right here. -[Jen] Guys!
-[laughs] -[Jen] My God!
It's okay. It's a non-venomous snake.
-[Jeff] Is it non-venomous? -Yeah, yeah, yeah, I should be okay.
[Jeff] You're gonna pick that up?
Yeah, this is one of the... They're non-venomous, it's okay.
What are you gonna do with the snake now?
[Gillian] Pretty much, I'm just gonna take it and kinda relocate it
so it stays in its natural habitat.
Okay, yeah. That's fair. Yeah.
You are our new best friend.
-[laughing] Anytime. No problem. -[Jen] Thank you.
-Thank y'all. -[Jeff] Thank you, Gillian.
It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay.
[Jen sniffling]
All right, let's get to unpacking.
[Jen] We finally got everything untarped
and, now, it's all hands on deck to bring all the furniture
up into our house.
Man, this is not light. What's in this?
-It's a shower. -A shower.
-[Gary] A shower in the tent, can you believe it? -Wow.
We're starting with the closet, the bathroom
and, then, the kitchen unit.
Three of my favorite places in the house, and those are also the heaviest.
[Jeff] More heavy stuff.
We're bringing this up the stairs and everybody is struggling.
It's super-hot. Of course we're doing this in the middle of the day.
Good job. Another thing off the checklist.
But I'm just thinking, "The floors!"
We should've left covers on the floor.
[Gary] Jeff's worried about is that we don't damage the floor.
[Jeff] Scratching up the floors.
So we have to get the kitchen piece up on to the deck
and into the house.
-[Jen] One, two, three. -[Jeff] One, two, three. [grunts]
And it's 450 pounds.
It's extremely heavy, and we can't find the dolly.
So now we have to do this by hand.
[Jen] I'm not confident that we're gonna get this kitchen unit in
and I'm feeling like it's already taking way too long.
Everything takes longer out here in the middle of nowhere.
-[Jeff] Now, push! Push! -[Gary] Okay. Good, good.
Good? We made it.
[Jeff] Okay, now we gotta stand it up.
[Jen] You want the tarp underneath or not?
[Jeff] Under the floor bottom.
-[Jen] Watch the tent! The tent! The roof! -[Jeff] The tent.
Did it rip it? No? Okay, smart work. Okay.
-[Gary] We're good. -[Jeff] Okay, good.
This is one heavy piece of furniture.
It's like lifting a car.
Well, we've moved all the furniture in.
Now, it's time to take all the wrappings off and see what we have.
-Can we just start cutting it open? -[man] Yeah.
[Jen] Okay, let's see...
I'm excited! [screams]
Ooh, I love it.
I open it up and it looks absolutely fantastic.
I couldn't be more happy.
That looks really beautiful.
It's hard to imagine that we have a kitchen as beautiful as this
in the middle of nowhere.
Now let's go to the bathroom and the closets.
Yup.
-[Jeff] Don't cut. -[Jen] Okay, this is awesome.
The closet is even better than the kitchen.
So, now, vanity.
-[Jeff] Beautiful. Look at this. -[Jen] This is great. Oh!
-Oh, wow, this is amazing! -[Jeff] Stunning.
It's really, really beautiful.
And it also fits this very outdoorsy lifestyle
we were looking for with this tent.
It's exactly what we wanted.
We're completely off the grid and we have a full double-sink bathroom?
Yeah, it's like a five-star experience.
On the last piece of wrap that we're pulling off the vanity,
lo and behold, a scorpion.
-Jeff, what do we have next? -[Jeff] Next.
-Uh, careful. -[screams]
And Jen freaks out.
[Jen] Stop! Is that really a scorpion?
-[man] Yeah. -[Jen] Seriously?
I pull back from the vanity and there's a scorpion.
The full stinger coming out and running right towards my foot. [laughs]
-God! Let's... Okay. -[Jeff] Okay.
Oh, my God, it really was a scorpion.
We're not gonna relocate this one.
-You didn't tell me there were scorpions. -I don't
really like to hit bugs, but... there.
-[all laughing] -Well, now we got a scorpion.
I've had enough snakes and enough scorpions for the day.
Let's move on to the next project here. So what are we doing next?
The... We're unwrapping the tarantulas over here.
[laughs] I don't wanna unwrap any more scary animals today.
We set ourselves an important deadline
because we're having all of our family come in
to see what the new place looks like, and we can't be late.
We still have to unwrap a lot of the other material.
We have to assemble more of the furniture.
I am so exhausted just thinking
about how many more hours of work we have to do.
I really hope that this gets done on time.
[upbeat instrumental music]
This is my favorite part of a build. We are done.
[Richard] I think Jen and Jeff are really gonna like this,
because I believe we achieved their goal of both feeling like it's outdoors
but, at the same time, all the luxuries that they want to experience.
[Jeff] Richard and Gary did great. They're consummate professionals.
They were stars of the team.
So, guys, it's been a long journey, but we finally got here.
I think you're gonna be really happy with the result.
And Gary and I have, basically, one more task,
hand you some keys.
-Yay! -[Richard] We're so excited!
-Thank you, thank you! -[Jeff] Thank you, guys.
Getting those keys to our dream house outdoors
is something that we've been waiting for for a long time.
It's kinda like getting a set of keys to your first car when you're 16.
We've got some other installs we want you to come help with.
[both laugh]
[Jeff] At the onset of this project, we expected to spend $100,000
and take a month to complete.
We went a little over a month by just a few days
and we did go over $100,000, primarily due to weather constraints and delays.
[Brooke] Whoa!
Hey, ladies.
-Hi, guys! -[Patricia] It's beautiful.
[Jen] Today, we're gonna show off the tent to my daughter, Brooke,
and my mother, Patricia. And I think they're gonna love it.
[Jeff] Welcome to Hill Country.
[Jen] I'm just so excited you're here!
Hi!
What do you guys think?
You're in the middle of nowhere, really off the grid.
This is fab.
And the outside eating, really nice idea,
yet under the fan, perfect.
[Brooke] And I see a nice little patio for sunbathing.
That was one of the things we wanted to build especially for you.
That's called Brooke's corner,
and that's where we were thinking
you would love to have your morning coffee.
[Brooke] It feels like we've transported to, like, a different country.
[Jen] You guys love the outside,
but wait until you see the inside.
-Oh, wow! -This is very nice.
[Patricia] Look at the height of the ceiling.
I love the way the windows open up to the outside.
There's so much air coming in.
And it's so bright and light inside.
It's so, like, panoramic.
[Patricia] It's not your typical tent experience,
it's something much more glamorous.
Yeah, it does not feel like a tent.
-That's for sure. -No.
I'm so glad you said that, because we were trying to go for
this fabulous outdoor experience,
but with all of the indoor comforts,
including this luxurious kitchen.
-It feels like it's almost, like, full-size. -[Patricia] Yeah.
Gourmet coffee, which is great...
-For my little corner outside. -For your little corner. Right, Brooke's corner.
Running water. Like, everything we need is here.
But how are you guys powering all of this?
-Water comes from a 350-foot deep well that we dug. -Oh, wow.
[Jeff] And power comes from solar.
We wanted a place where would have maximum family togetherness.
So we think this really does that.
-I know the living room looks great. -[Brooke] Yes.
-But there's even better parts to show you. -Really?
-[Jen] Mmm-hmm. -Ooh, let's see.
[Jen] This is my favorite room.
-[Brooke] Oh, wow. -[Patricia] Oh, my goodness.
-So big! -[Brooke] This is huge.
[Patricia] Oh, my God, it's got the shower.
We wanted to get this just right.
It's important to start your day off, right, with a great bathroom.
It's, like, hotel-standard, but in an even better location.
-We're still in the tent, right? -[Jen] I know, right?
[Brooke] And a lot of good lighting.
You wanna be totally glam when you're off the grid.
-[all laughing] -It's important.
-And how does the toilet operate? -It's a compost toilet.
Coconut shells that are ground up go into your toilet.
And the coconut shells absorb everything.
And, then, once a month you just go dump 'em.
Well, I love it. I'll be spending a lot of time in here.
Oh, my goodness. Wow!
[Brooke] I feel like each room gets better than the last.
-[Patricia] Oh, for sure. -[Brooke] This is so gorgeous.
This one is special. I mean, there's just maximum views in this room.
You can just see for miles and miles.
It's actually kind of hard to get up in the morning now.
I think it's probably some of our best sleeps.
After all the work we've put into making this thing happen...
-[Brooke] You guys earned it. -Oh, we are tired.
You deserve a nice sleep, yeah.
[Brooke] I mean, this is, like, nicer than my room back home.
-This is crazy. -[all laughing]
-So, yeah, I'll be moving in. -[all laughing]
-You can fight for that one. -Yeah.
I, honestly, wasn't really sure what to expect.
This feels like a luxury resort.
[Patricia] This is beyond a tent. This is total glamour.
It was beyond my expectations.
[all laughing]
[Gary] Welcome home, Jen and Jeff.
-Thank you. -[Jeff] Thank you.
This project was so much harder
than I thought it was gonna be at the onset.
A lot of times throughout the project,
we felt like we couldn't make it through.
But, then, we did.
And having all of our family and friends here has made it all worth it.
That's great. Yay.
[all cheering]