Holmes on Homes

[Dan Mages]

I normally avoid HGTV like the plague. I would tell you what I think about the interior design shows, but I am sure it will violate the TOS. There is one show though that has caught my attention, Holmes on Homes. The premise of the show is a contractor that helps people out who had disastrous encounters with shady contractors. During the show, Holmes points out every mistake and code violation he discovers and rips the responsible contractor a new one for the sloppy work. As a person with a quality background, I find this extremely entertaining. I was wondering what others think of the show. Of those in the industry, is he justified in his complaints? Has anyone seen his team do something wrong?

Dan

[Chuck Wintle]

I normally avoid HGTV like the plague. I would tell you what I think about the interior design shows, but I am sure it will violate the TOS. There is one show though that has caught my attention, Holmes on Homes. The premise of the show is a contractor that helps people out who had disastrous encounters with shady contractors. During the show, Holmes points out every mistake and code violation he discovers and rips the responsible contractor a new one for the sloppy work. As a person with a quality background, I find this extremely entertaining. I was wondering what others think of the show. Of those in the industry, is he justified in his complaints? Has anyone seen his team do something wrong?

Dan
In toronto where the show is based they are overrun with fly-by-night contractors. And the contractor can put a lien on the clients house if any payment is stopped because the client is fedup with a bad job. He even earned a PHD for his work in the construction business. :D

[Jeff Monson]

I think he does a great job, obviously he knows his building code very well. Its very entertaining to watch what some of the other so called "contractors" have done. In some cases though, the home owner hires a shade tree carpenter to do a job at a reasonable price, then it goes bad, and in comes Holmes, with a crew of highly trained professionals. I think his bid to do the job, do it correctly and to code, would have blown the homeowner out of the water. Like I stated, this is only in a few episodes...many homeowners on the show pay a premium price for very shody work, not even close to code. I do really enjoy the show.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Ditto. The homeowners are party to blame much of the time.... Most don't know what to ask for so the contractor does what he can make money on. Ask for cheap work, get cheap work. Holmes comes in and usually does what the homeowner couldn't have afforded even if the original contractor had offered it at a fair price. I usually see shared responsibility in many instances.

Jeff. My son is at UND and stacked sandbags in Fargo not too long ago.

I like the Blue Moose.
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[paul cottingham]

Its a great show, but some of their safety practices with power tools will make you cringe.

[Joe Leigh]

A bit too sanctimonious for my taste. It's easy to sit back and nit pick every nut and bolt after the fact. He's always whining about fixing everyone else's screw ups, I assume he's getting paid??

[Lee Schierer]

I watch the show and think Mike is doing a good thing, eh. Be sure to watch the "behind the scenes" episode if you get a chance. It will better explain how the show works. Most of the stuff he shows is pretty scary and his fixes are generally right on if not a touch overboard.

I can empathize with some of the home owners. We recently had an encounter with a landscaper that I hired to do some work in my yard to repair the lawn after a new sewer system installation. I had checked him out and his work was good. One night before he arrived it rained pretty hard and long. He lives less than 2 miles from me. He arrived Monday morning and proceeded to tear up more yard than needed repair in the first place and then got stuck. After the tow truck pulled him out he crossed the yard twice more leaving deep ruts, but went around where he got stuck and then decided that it was too wet to work and he quit telling us that he would be back next summer and he would refund my money. I asked what he was going to do about the damage he caused and he said he would fix it next summer if I had him do the work. Part of the work was in my neighbors yard who loaned me their yard for access to my back yard (long story) so I could get the sewer done. So now I had to tell them their yard would be torn up until next July. Well I asked for my money back and completed the work on the neighbors yard plus 3 hours extra labor for the landscaper damage myself. My yard will probably wait until spring.

[Matt Meiser]

two words: "Spray foam" :)

[Joe Leigh]

Two more: "vapor barrier"

[Jeff Monson]

Jeff. My son is at UND and stacked sandbags in Fargo not too long ago.

I like the Blue Moose.
.

Me too! My family enjoys the food and atmosphere there, its loud....and so are we :(....we end up there once every couple of weeks.

Hope your son is enjoying UND, its a great university. Avaition I assume?

[Jeff Monson]

two words: "Spray foam" :)



Thats funny stuff Matt, did you see where he resprayed the spray foam on a bathroom over a garage? I think he has a love affair with spray foam....and overalls.

[Pat Germain]

Ditto. The homeowners are party to blame much of the time.... Most don't know what to ask for so the contractor does what he can make money on. Ask for cheap work, get cheap work. Holmes comes in and usually does what the homeowner couldn't have afforded even if the original contractor had offered it at a fair price. I usually see shared responsibility in many instances.

I think there was more homeowner blame in the first few seasons. But now, many of the homeowners will actually say, "I followed everything Holmes says to do. I got multiple estimates. I hired who I thought was a good contractor. And my house is still a mess and the contractor flew the coop!".

The one HoH episode that really got to me was about a family with a disabled little girl. They wanted so much to give her a bedroom and bathroom which would accommodate her disabilities. They also wanted a simple, small, built-in table where the girl could easily eat from her wheelchair.

The contractor kept delaying and delaying. And he was delaying while doing shoddy work. He did install the little table. But it actually collapsed on the little girl while she was eating!

The contractor delayed so long, the little girl died before ever getting to use her special bedroom and bathroom. Holmes came in and pretty much had to rip out everything the first contractor did; not so much because it was not longer needed, but because it was a crap job. It was so very sad.

[Jim Rimmer]

I enjoyed the show for several episodes then it became almost as repetitive as the design shows and the house hunters. Same stuff, different victim.

[Charlie Reals]

I enjoyed the show for several episodes then it became almost as repetitive as the design shows and the house hunters. Same stuff, different victim.

+1 to that, at this point it is redundant. Same thing over and over, butt then that is home tv for ya.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Me too! My family enjoys the food and atmosphere there, its loud....and so are we :(....we end up there once every couple of weeks.

Hope your son is enjoying UND, its a great university. Avaition I assume?

Yes.. He got his pilot's lic in HS and he's headed for a degree in Aviation Management. He's also in ROTC so he can fly choppers for the army at graduation. Uncle Sam is paying his tuition and will cover the costs for the chopper lessons/license and commercial endorsements. He'll start helo lessons next year.

I met Sen. Dorgan on a flight last year. He was a college buddy of John Odegard (and told some hair-raising flying stories) and offered a boatload of support for one of the premier aviation schools on the planet.
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[Ben Franz]

I've had a couple of chances to follow some of the fly-by-night jerks and I want to know where HonH finds such uniformly pleasant clients. The two I interviewed were so angry and bitter that I was reluctant to take on the jobs. I had a referral through an architect I'd worked with to redo a major renovation/addition. The first "contractor" had botched it badly - charged for Anderson millwork, installed Borg bottom end - forged inspector's signature on final inspection - etc. When I walked through the house with the wife it was clear that any good will had long evaporated and that she was going to be almost impossible to please. Throw in the near 100% chance of litigation sucking in innocent bystanders and I had to pass. I felt bad for the couple - they were nice people. The scammer ... well, I carry a lot of sharp tools and a baseball bat. Wish I could be there when karma catches up with him.

[Rich Engelhardt]

A bit too sanctimonious for my taste. It's easy to sit back and nit pick every nut and bolt after the fact. He's always whining about fixing everyone else's screw ups
+1 to that.
I enjoyed the show at first, but it got old in a hurry watching a middle aged guy w/an earing rant.

One thing does bug me though.

Why do they insist on using screws for framing?

Personally, if it were me redoing his work, I'd be swearing a blue streak about the idiot that framed everything in with screws instead of doing it properly.

[Tyler Boleyn]

He's the only guy I know who can wear bibs and look cool.

[Jerome Stanek]

It's almost as bad as American chopper. An old man ranting and charging a fortune for their bikes. Then complains that his competition his son is using the same tools as he does along with the same suppliers.

[Rod Sheridan]

I live in Toronto, one of the more entertaining projects was the rebuild of a wall around a house.

Turned out Mike built it on city property, some rework required.

I'm glad that someone is producing a renovation show where quality work is shown, however as others have said, the format grows old after a few shows.

It doesn't mean that the show is bad, just that it's the same basic story/process each time.

A show of this type that I enjoy much more is Real Renos hosted by Jim Caruk, the show is on HGTV..........Regards, Rod.

P.S. It doesn't hurt that Jim rides, even if it's a Harley..............OK, OK, that was a joke..........(see avatar)

[Brian Elfert]

I just found this show a few months back and really like it. I just wish HGTV wouldn't show the same dozen or so shows over and over again. There are at least 50 episodes of this show.

I don't know about new shows, but it appears in the past some of the homeowners had to at least pay for some of the materials.

They had a spinoff called Holmes Inspections this past Sunday. It was the same basic show except Mike only did the initial inspection and the reveal. His crew foreman hosted the rest of the show. On this new show it appeared they spent a little less money. They left the kitchen cabinets and countertops for the owner to do later. Holmes on Homes probably would have installed all new cabinets and countertops.

[Steve Griffin]

I keep waiting for a show to expose the more common real reality-- shady homeowners ripping off hardworking contractors.

It certainly plays to the victim class who hates capitalism and want's something for free.

No doubt, there are many bad contractors out there, but I'd bet my last penny there are 10 times more unreasonable and cheap customers.

But, the show is certainly targeting their audience--
-Steve

[Van Huskey]

When I walked through the house with the wife it was clear that any good will had long evaporated and that she was going to be almost impossible to please. Throw in the near 100% chance of litigation sucking in innocent bystanders and I had to pass. I felt bad for the couple - they were nice people. .

In my past profession I almost NEVER took a client who had fired someone else even if it was for good reason. They were almost impossible to please and about half were treated properly to begin with.

I was the GC on my last house and a sub vanished on me and as expected it was almost impossible to find someone to fix/finish the mess. I couldn't blame them for not wanting to work on top of the other subs work, I ended up tearing out his work so someone could start with a clean slate.

[Darcy Forman]

Mike is an true Canadian hero. Love the show. I built my own house myself, and really appreciate good quality work. I to have a problem with going overboard, and everything I build is over built. My favorite Mike saying is and I quote, If they had a level they didn't use it.

[Curt Harms]

Mike is an true Canadian hero. Love the show. I built my own house myself, and really appreciate good quality work. I to have a problem with going overboard, and everything I build is over built. My favorite Mike saying is and I quote, If they had a level they didn't use it.

I recall a passage I read years ago about overbuilding but can't find the source. It was along the lines of Roman bridges and aqueducts were way overbuilt--terribly inefficient use of labor and materials. OTOH, 2500 years later they're still doing what they were built to do. Will the same be true of structures built to modern specifications?

[Phil Thien]

A show of this type that I enjoy much more is Real Renos hosted by Jim Caruk, the show is on HGTV..........Regards, Rod.


Too bad it looks like HGTV-Canada only, my US HGTV doesn't list it.

[Callan Campbell]

Yes, it gets old at times, but that is the nature of life. You get jaded at seeing the same type of victims- some caused it themselves, some were not to blame at all. Imagine what a police officer sees from 20 years on the job, it's hard not to lose the empathy after while. The constant issue of mold inside the houses is one of the more defining things for me about this show and others. We race to insulate our houses, often as a retrofit, but do not seem to fully understand the dangers of trapped water or moisture. MOLD Kills in rare cases, or maims by way of bad reactions in some people, or makes you really sick for awhile depending on your level of resistance and the type of mold and the length of exposure. And yet his crew rarely seems to wear better protective gear when they encounter molded parts of a house and have tear it down. My only real complaint with the show. Someone is going to get bit with this practice in the future since repeated high level exposure isn't good for you.
My all time favorite episode is the one about the add-on to the house that was built mainly on sand. VERY scary.:eek::eek::eek:
And for the comments about being #2 guy quoting after bad work and having unhappy homeowners who aren't nice, I hear you-totally-. I see this in the automotive world after repair jobs gone bad, or sales of vehicles that turned out not to be correctly represented in their condition.
It's easier to turn down that work and NOT be the white knight who saves the day. That's kind of why I really like the Holmes Show, he and his crew are going in there anyway, warts and all, tempers and tears too.
Not an easy task for any trade no matter what you're doing for a living.:rolleyes:

[Kenneth Moar]

I like Mike's show for raising awareness about building codes, standard's and "doing it right" As posters have said it gets old quickly, for sure.
Don't ever let Mike find mold in your house! I'd like to see Mike
blow a house up to eliminate mold.
Be warned " do not buy his magazine" , the articles seem to simply be product brochures rewritten with pretty pictures.