Austin man gets home remodel after losing arm, leg in boating accident

Carlos Vallejo, 58, is home again, but his home is nothing like the onehe left in May. 

CG&S Design-Build and local contractors have completely remodeled hishouse off North Pleasant Valley Road in East Austin.

“It’s awesome, awesome, awesome,” Vallejo said Thursday. “I can’t ask for no better than that. I’ve been blessed.”

Vallejo, 58, lost his right arm and right leg in 2018 when his fishing boat and another boat collided near the Pennybacker Bridge. Since then, he has used a wheelchair scooter to get around.

The home where he grew up and has lived most of his life was no longer accessible to him. The kitchen cabinets were hard for Vallejo to reach. The countertops were designed for a standing cook.

The home also had many repairs that needed to be made. A large crack ran across the bedroom floor, which was patched together after some foundation work years ago. The roof leaked. Every time it rained, Vallejo had to move his bed to set down a bucket to collect the water.

Vallejo was part of the 2024 Statesman Season for Caring program, which highlights the needs in our community through local nonprofit partners. Vallejo was nominated by Meals on Wheels of Central Texas. 

Since 1999, the Statesman program has raised more than $21 million in monetary donations and goods and services for local nonprofit. The Statesman will launch the 27th Season for Caring in December. 

On Thursday, Vallejo was thrilled to be able to move out of the motel where he’s been staying during the remodel and to take a shower in his almost brand new home, put sheets on his bed and settle into his new life in a home he can easily live in. 

Vallejo’s one-bedroom, one bathroom house has been completely transformed in shades of blue gray and cream. In the kitchen, the counters, new stove and oven are lowered, but with space for his scooter to fit beneath. Many of the cabinets have pull-down shelves that Vallejo can easily access by tugging on a rod and not having to reach far. He now has a dishwasher as well, which he said “is going to be a big game-changer to me. I had my dishes piling up.” 

A built-in kitchen table has space underneath for his scooter.

“Everything is right to my size,” he said. “I can reach all the way to the back burner (on the stove). There’s no problem at all.”

The floors throughout the house have been leveled with new flooring. In the bedroom, CG&S reconfigured thecloset and laundry area with new counters underneath the washer and dryer where Vallejo can fold his clothes. All four closet rods pull down to bring clothes closer to him and there’s room for his dresser underneath.

CG&S cleaned up the already accessible bathroom and installed a new, higher toilet. 

CG&S President and General Manager Dolores Davis learned about Vallejo’s needs through his Season for Caring stories. The firm, which is named after Davis’ parents, also has its roots in East Austin. Her parents, Clarence and Stella Guerrero, who founded the renovation company she now runs, had a long history of making homes safer and more accessible for clients with disabilities.

“I grew up with that, and I definitely have a soft place in my heart for that kind of need,” Davis said.

The project represents a more than $150,000 gift to the Season for Caring program and Meals on Wheels. 

“It was a whole-gut house. It needed a lot of love,” Davis said, but the way it came together and the contractors and subcontractors who donated their services “was kind of magical.” 

The team, led by CG&S, included Eleven26 Site Prep, Eastside Lumber, Garland Insulating, Ehrlich Mechanical, Bowne Electrical, Advantage Plumbing, Builders FirstSource, Kristynik Hardwood Flooring, Austin Granite Direct, Barrett Flooring, Facets of Austin, Tri-Supply, Brenton Christian Painting and Roof Company of Austin.

Meals on Wheels was able to use Season for Caring grant money to help pay for the roof, buy Vallejo a new scooter and pay for him to be in a hotel while the work was being done on his house, as well as help him with his utility bills. Because of the CG&S Design-Build’s remodel with energy efficiency and new windows, his utility bills should be a fraction of what they were before.

This was the fifth time CG&S Design-Build has donated to Season for Caring. Last year, it added a wheelchair ramp and did many home repairs for a mother with multiple sclerosis. It built an accessible bathroom for a double amputee in 2018 and remodeled the condominium of a couple with developmental differences in 2017. In 2016, it built an accessible home for a veteran who uses a wheelchair.

“This program has always felt for us a natural fit,” Davis said, because it’s “helping neighbors in need.” 

Bridget Grumet contributed to this report. 

Every year, Season for Caring families have many needs that cannot be met by monetary donations alone. To learn more about the Statesmans Season for Caring program or to donate a good or service to the program, contact Sara Bryant, [email protected].

To make a monetary donation, visit statesmansfc.kimbia.com/statesmanseasonforcaring.