KNIGHTDALE - Knightdale town staff has earned high praise from the Raleigh-Wake County Home Builders Association for its prompt and courteous work in the community.

The association on Dec. 9 presented Knightdale with its “Outstanding Public Staff” award at the organization’s year-end ceremony in Raleigh.

“I think it goes to show that our staff is focused on customer service,” Mayor Russell Killen said. “Their responsiveness is really what impressed the Home Builders’ Association.”

Knightdale was nominated for its help in renovating the home of Chris Chapman and Rachelle Friedman, which was featured on the NBC television show George to the Rescue.

Chapman and Friedman were engaged when Friedman suffered a spinal cord injury just a month before the wedding. Six months later the couple was interviewed on the Today Show, where they met the George to the Rescue Star George Oliphant. NBC and Oliphant quickly teamed up with the Remodelers Council of the Raleigh-Wake Home Builders Association to begin planning the home fit up.

“We contacted the town, told them what we wanted to do and that it would require some special consideration to construct the improvements while the couple was put up in nearby accommodations,” said Suzanne Harris, vice president of government affairs for the association. “This had to happen fast and everyone worked together to see that it did.”

More than 40 contractors donated labor and materials to the project to create more usable and handicap accessible living space in Friedman’s home.

The renovations – completed in just 10 days – included wider doors, a new shower, a lower vanity, remodeled bathrooms, a redone master suite, a new deck with a wheelchair-accessable ramp, a newly poured sidewalk, and an inside elevator to help Friedman get to the second story.

“The town of Knightdale really stepped up to help the Remodelers Council for the George to the Rescue remodel,” said Steve Hilliard, president and CEO of Hilliard Contracting Inc. and 2011 chair of the HBA’s Remodelers Council. “Town officials were on call 24 hours a day to help us complete this project!”

Lawless cited the couple’s Planter’s Walk neighbors and Homeowners Association as well as Wake County Building Inspections and the Knightdale Chamber of Commerce for helping everything come together.

“We knew these folks had assembled all of this volunteer labor to work on this house, and we just asked how the town could help.” Lawless said employees from every department were eager to participate.