Behind The Scenes on Home Reno Shows
Behind The Scenes on Home Reno Shows: The Ripple Effect
Intro
As anyone in the construction industry knows, for the better part of 20 years, clients have armed themselves with knowledge gleaned from their couches watching Mike Holmes “Do It Right” or a Love It or List It. And for the better part of 20 years, many of us have had to answer questions about budget, schedule, and expectations that haven’t exactly helped our process. So in my little corner here, we should talk about what really goes on, and how shows like those might just be ruining it for the rest of us. But here’s my chicken s__t disclaimer: I love those shows. I love the transformation we see, I love the exotic locations and homes the producers find, but there are a few things I don’t love. See below.
Unrealistic Budgets
Now I love me some budget renovations, I have Youtube and Instagram posts upcoming about budget renovations, but this isn’t that. With full acknowledgment that trade pricing is very, very macro economic and regionally dependent, most pricing on the home reno shows gives viewers a skewed perspective on how much a renovation actually costs. Just imagine the host of the show telling the homeowner, “and we can do this version of your reno for just $275,000.00!” as the homeowners choke on their tongues. Not a great look. So prices are massaged into a homeowner’s budget, and everything goes according to plan. The problem is now the viewer comes to a designer and wants to do something similar for a similar price and many times, the reality vs HGTV prices are not in the same stratosphere.
Unrealistic Timelines
Now obviously everyone knows these shows are edited to fit into a 22 or 44 minute format, and the reality of the project would be many weeks and if not months. But sometimes we the viewers are led to believe the projects are much shorter than they actually are, which certainly doesn’t help with expectations when clients want to take on the real thing. It’s not good tv when the plumber takes the week off to visit his daughter for a week in the next state/province. And when we run into structural issues with the home that need addressing? No problem, we’ll have that done over a commercial break or an upbeat montage. We’re not waiting on the kitchen appliances to arrive, because in TV land, everything arrives when we need it.
Preconstruction Planning & Decision Fatigue
This is a major part of the home renovation process, and for obvious reasons, it’s rarely, if ever, shown. Not great tv to show sit down meetings where permitting, bylaw restrictions and endless material samples are being trotted out to bleary eyed clients, but that’s the reality of a well run construction renovation, minus the bleary eyed clients. Part of the reason for the creation of Albatross Academy is to help streamline projects and ease this burden on clients, and healthy pre-project planning is critical to this. If you want a FREE Client Decision List, just click here to download a pdf fillable document that will change your mood and offload stress during your project.
Building Practices
Nobody gets it right 100% of the time. When HGTV’s Mike Holmes was really pushing sprayfoam insulation for his projects, that did wonders for the purveyors of that product around Canada. I once had a client wanting to insulate his entire 10,000 sqft house with spray foam insulation because he thought it was best practice. What Mike Holmes didn’t know or didn’t say, was that sprayfoam insulation contains fluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons, which make it very toxic to our respiratory system. So much so, that after application, homes should remain empty for days to let the VOCs ventilate to the point where human occupancy approaches safety. So not only is it poisonous, it’s very expensive. For the same insulative value, it would have cost my client $75k to insulate his walls with spray foam, vs $17k with traditional batts. Furthermore, in areas of high diurnal temperature swings, like most of Canada and the northern US, sprayfoam can detach from the stud walls and allow airflow in/out, bringing with it moisture and eventually mold in those areas. Ask any carpenter what they think of the practicality of home reno shows, and you’ll get an eye roll.
The Juice
So here’s what you really want to know:
Sometimes the show won’t renovate all 4 walls of a room if they’re only showing 3 sides.
Sometimes the homeowners have to buy the staging furniture back from the show. If they choose not to, they have to refurnish their own home at their own cost.
Sometimes the show’s workers will pick away at a project for months and months, only visiting it when they’re able, meaning homeowners are stuck waiting on a production timeline.
The host doesn’t do any work on the actual project, but you can tell that once you see them swing a sledgehammer into some drywall.
Many times the designers working on the shows aren’t getting paid, they’re doing it for the prestige and the exposure.
Off topic, but many times the homes in House Hunters International have already been purchased by the homeowners, but the real estate agents show them other houses to fill in the show.
Many times the materials in the show are donated by local suppliers for free, for the affiliation.
All is Fair
At the end of the day, literally when all of these shows are on tv, these shows deliver exactly what we the viewer are looking for. Entertainment is why we turn on the tv in the first place. We wouldn’t watch reruns of MTV’s Pimp My Ride, or Orange Country Choppers to learn how to build or repair cars or motorbikes, so maybe my complaints are really just that we can’t take these shows as gospel, just keep them at arm’s length, and enjoy. Anyway, I have to go, House Hunters is on…
Thanks for reading…
Aaron