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February 19, 2004 [ view dossier ]
(continued)
 With only 72 hours to renovate, Versacorp set aggressive goals: new paint, new appliances and new kitchen cabinets. Tammy made the hard work even harder as she constantly butted heads with her other team members. Katrina came through for Versacorp by landing a professional contractor for just $1,500 to redo both the kitchen and bathroom.  There was also tension during Protégé's renovation effort. The group was frustrated with Omarosa, who would call meetings and pull everyone away from what they were doing just so that she could tell them all what they should be doing. Omarosa, who earlier was hit on the head with a small piece of plaster, also complained of headaches that she said were aggravated by construction noise at the suite. As a result, she didn't do as much physical work as the others.  However, she was able to play basketball with some kids in front of the apartment. To make matters even more complicated at Protégé, Heidi learned that her mother had cancer, which made her question whether she'd stay in New York. Finally, both teams finished up their renovations and were satisfied with their properties. Now, all they had to do was rent them.
 Versacorp had a small but critical business problem: no customers. They just couldn't get people to look at the apartment even though everyone (except Bill, who stayed at the apartment) was out trying to drum up traffic. But it wasn't working. The strain started to show as normally cordial Bill snapped at Ereka. The team had only three hours left to find a renter, approve his or her credit and sign a lease. Bill admitted that he was about to enter "panic mode." But then, with less than two hours remaining, a potential renter appeared. As Project Manager, Katrina decided to let Bill handle the rental negotiations. The woman didn't seem like she could budge much on her price, but Bill was able to finagle an additional fifty dollars a month from her. On the other end of town, Protégé showed their apartment to many people, but had no takers.  With literally just minutes left, Protégé still hadn't rented their property. Defeated, the group agreed that it was over. But just before they started to clear out, a woman walked in off the street. She just happened to need a place as soon as possible. She signed the lease and Protégé got a reprieve.
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