There are do-it-yourselfers and extreme home makeovers. Then there's the Trinity Habitat for Humanity home at 2116 Foxcroft Lane in Arlington where 24 General Motors Assembly Plant employees are ripping out cabinets, smashing through walls and pounding floor tile to smithereens.

Day one of construction of this Habitat for Humanity rebuild started at 7:30 a.m. Friday with GM Cares employee volunteers arriving well before that, sledge hammers in hand, ready to work steadily until 1 p.m. The plan is to return the next five days or until the insides have been demolished and ready for the rebuild group to turn this gem of a home into, well, a home.

The project is one of a dozen taking place across the U.S. thanks to a $1 million grant from the General Motors Foundation to Habitat for Humanity International. Funds provided to Trinity Habitat for Humanity will be used toward two home rehabilitation projects in partnership with local families, the first being on this tree-lined street on the southeast side of the city.

"I'd hate to be Mayor of Arlington without General Motors,"said Mayor Robert Cluck, who stopped by to see the first day of construction."The way they partner with the City of Arlington, the way they give back to the community, I'm so very proud of them being a part of Arlington. The money they put into this community is just awesome. Just the kind of partnership all communities need."

The partnership has been quite busy lately, with the GM Foundation pledging $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity to help restore neighborhoods impacted by the May 15 tornadoes in five Texas counties along with $100,000 to the American Red Cross to assist West, Texas.

In December 2012, Chevrolet donated 24 Express cargo vans to Habitat for Humanity International filled with tools and equipment from Lowe's and Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. They were dispatched with team GM Cares volunteers toGranbury and Moore, Oklahoma, for relief efforts.

The house on Foxcroft is a three-bedroom ranch home of about 1,500 square feet with a sizable backyard. It is hard to visualize the insides at the moment - every room looks like a bulldozer ran through it. Regardless, the new inhabitants were thrilled Friday to see it.

The new homeowner had a chance to view the home in its torn-up glory, and came out smiling with Cluck, who told her that he, too, couldn't wait to see how it all turns out after completion.

"It's going to be so, so nice,"said LeNeice Coffey, a GM worker who signed on as volunteer if only to"tear down a wall."

"I love it. It's a blessing to give back, especially when you are fortunate enough to have a job,"she said."That's what we all should do. Give back as much as we can."