If men need their personal space, Jodi Bagwell is their godsend -- construction-style, that is.

Bagwell, a Moorpark contractor, is one of the stars of the new Discovery Channel show "Dude Room." She explained the show's premise thusly: "Oh gee, this poor dude, maybe his girlfriend moved in or he just had a baby, and he's lost all the manly space in his house."

So in come Bagwell, two carpenters and a designer to the rescue. They convert a room into all bastions and stereotypes of maledom -- and have two days to do it.

Bagwell and crew did a room in a ski chalet theme, converted another guy's porch into an Irish pub feel and turned a shed into a replica of Grauman's Chinese Theater. Others reflected an Indy 500 race car motif and a rock 'n' roll recording studio.

In all, Bagwell will appear on eight of 20 episodes of "Dude Room," which is to run through early March. Her next episode is today at 3 p.m.

The past year or so has been quite an unexpected ride for the girl from the Midwest who was almost born spitting nails -- or as she put it, "I grew up as my dad's son, and I learned how to use tools at an early age."

Bagwell never dreamed construction work would have such a Hollywood flavor.

"Dude Room" comes on the heels of her role in three episodes of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" last year, including one that was taped in Ventura.

Her latest gig as the "Dude Room" contractor took a little getting used to, Bagwell admitted.

"I hated it at first," she said. "The producers and the director kept the flavor of the show under wraps. They didn't tell us they were looking for a lot of good conflict. I don't know if I would have so readily agreed to this had I known it was going to be so soap opera."

Much of that conflict came with her crew. They had what Bagwell called "structural issues." Once, Bagwell told them they couldn't build something a certain way and left the set, only to return and find they were doing it anyway.

"That doesn't happen on a job site," said the 35-year-old Bagwell, who is the chief financial officer of Bagwell Construction Services Inc. in Moorpark, which she runs with her husband, David.

Another downer: The very first room they converted, the one done in the ski chalet theme, did not please the homeowner.

"That was very traumatic for all of us," Bagwell said.

Bagwell also is a licensed contractor. As the "Dude Room" contractor, "I spec out the job, pick up all the materials and keep things running," she explained.

Much of her early clashes were with a designer named Elvis. But all's well that ends well.

"By the end of all the filming, we had all really come together," she said. "The designers were really talented -- even Elvis. They had wonderful ideas. In the end, I was very pleased to have done it."

Her Hollywood delvings began as a classic friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend thing, Bagwell said. One of the producers of the "Extreme Makeover" home show lives in Ventura County, had dinner with one of her friends one night around Thanksgiving 2003 and mentioned that they needed local construction companies to do the makeovers. Her friend happened to have Bagwell's business card on hand.

So Bagwell got a call. But the timing couldn't have been worse -- she and her husband had started their business just a year earlier -- and she had some early doubts.

"I thought it was kind of a hoax," she said. "And our company was growing so fast. I told my husband about it and he looked at me and said: 'Forget it. We are not doing it. We're too busy.' "

But Bagwell went to a meeting anyway, and got the gig. While still doing the previous show, she learned of "Dude Room" through her connection with the National Association of Women in Construction, though she added that it didn't hurt that she put down "Extreme Makeover" on her rsum.

Bagwell has been a Women in Construction member for two years. She's achieved a double rarity -- contractor gone Hollywood and woman gone into construction. Bagwell said few female licensed contractors exist and confessed she still encounters resistance from the guys.

"Oh yeah, you do get it," she said. "But you can use your brains to get around it. And a little sense of humor always helps."

Perhaps showing them how to build a few manly dream rooms on national television will help, too.