I love this show. I especially love it when Mike gets livid at other contractors. Best of all, it's Canadian. I have learned a lot from this show. I now have the confidence to take on projects around my house. Mike also teaches us to beware of contractors and check their references. Often times, he makes mention of "Code". You should keep in mind, as with any other home improvement show, that the codes he is referring to are local to his area, which is Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although, I am sure that Mike's building practices would meet code in just about any area of the world. Good job, Mike Holmes. I look forward to seeing more of you and your show.
8 Reviews
What Every Construction Show Should Be Like
corey-walker8 September 2006
Over the years, I've watched select episodes from various home renovation shows, and contractor shows. And except for "Bob Vila's Home Again", most of them never kept my interest, until Mike Holmes came along. I discovered the series last year (2005), and I watch faithfully every week. "Holmes on Homes" is great because Mike Holmes, his crew and many of the subcontractors clearly explain (in plain English) what they're doing and why, so that a renovation dummy such as myself can understand it.
But what I like most about Mike Holmes, is the fact that he's part of a rare breed of contractors that still care and who are true craftsmen, settling for nothing less than quality work. I love how he prefers older homes to newer homes, but my major beef is when he removes lathe and plaster and replaces them with drywall and removes old windows and replaces them with new. But other than that, he shows people what a contractor should be like. So many people have had their lives salvaged, because he came to the rescue in their home renovation disaster. On one episode, Mike and all the other crew members and subcontractors donated their time (and I think materials) to help fix a poorly constructed addition built for a family's wheelchair-bound son.
He is a true hero and this is one reality show I highly recommend!
But what I like most about Mike Holmes, is the fact that he's part of a rare breed of contractors that still care and who are true craftsmen, settling for nothing less than quality work. I love how he prefers older homes to newer homes, but my major beef is when he removes lathe and plaster and replaces them with drywall and removes old windows and replaces them with new. But other than that, he shows people what a contractor should be like. So many people have had their lives salvaged, because he came to the rescue in their home renovation disaster. On one episode, Mike and all the other crew members and subcontractors donated their time (and I think materials) to help fix a poorly constructed addition built for a family's wheelchair-bound son.
He is a true hero and this is one reality show I highly recommend!
Truly, a cut above all renovation shows
zridling-118 March 2010
Although the show could be cut from 60 to 30 minutes, Mike Holmes consistently gives good advice throughout the series. Among that advice is how to find a good contractor, how and when to pay them, do your research and know how much you're going to pay for a specific project, and how to inspect the contractor's work. Here's the full list:
(1) Start with an honest assessment of current situation. (2) Recognize that a temporary fix is just that – temporary. (3) Rip away the external and get to the heart of all problem areas. (4) Return to the basics and focus on a good foundation. (5) Do the hard work in the beginning -- and continue with it until each task is completed. (6) Make sure each layer of subsequent work ties in to the work that came before it. (7) Stop making excuses and do the work. (8) The true cost of any decision cannot be measured simply in dollars, but must also take in to account time. (9) There is little value in appearance if it is only camouflaging structural damage. (10) A job well done is its own reward.
Mike has no tolerance for half-done workmanship and though he doesn't name names, he points out exactly where previous contractors fell short. When something has been messed up, however, Holmes is the guy you want fixing it. There's a guy much like him in my hometown; he's not cheap by any means, but he's a perfectionist and the work gets done right... once.
(1) Start with an honest assessment of current situation. (2) Recognize that a temporary fix is just that – temporary. (3) Rip away the external and get to the heart of all problem areas. (4) Return to the basics and focus on a good foundation. (5) Do the hard work in the beginning -- and continue with it until each task is completed. (6) Make sure each layer of subsequent work ties in to the work that came before it. (7) Stop making excuses and do the work. (8) The true cost of any decision cannot be measured simply in dollars, but must also take in to account time. (9) There is little value in appearance if it is only camouflaging structural damage. (10) A job well done is its own reward.
Mike has no tolerance for half-done workmanship and though he doesn't name names, he points out exactly where previous contractors fell short. When something has been messed up, however, Holmes is the guy you want fixing it. There's a guy much like him in my hometown; he's not cheap by any means, but he's a perfectionist and the work gets done right... once.
"Making it Right"
koala_t_9830 January 2016
In response to the review by "tssmith417..." We don't see everything that goes on behind the scenes, so we don't know that Mike is doing all the changes you refer to without the owner's knowledge. For all we know, the owners give him what amounts to a blank check when they call him. I, for one, am fairly certain that the remodeling he does is done with the full knowledge and permission of the owner. Otherwise, he would probably be letting himself in for a series of suits. As far as your statement "If you'd let someone do the job right in the first place you wouldn't need to call Mike Holmes in to fix it later.," I'd like to say that this is the whole point of this show. People don't always know what to look for in a contractor, so they don't always make the best choices.
Great Advice, and some really dumb homeowners
gijoe1966-35 October 2010
Okay everyone knows the story, something happens to a house and Mike and company come in and fix the problems.
Does he go out of his way to make the previous contractors look bad? Nope they do an excellent job all on their own. What Mike does however is teach people as he is fixing the problems.
Some of the homeowners it is really tough to feel sorry for, I mean if the contractor starts to ask for certified checks made in their name, or they don't have you sign a contract (contract-OR hello) then you need to be taken for every penny.
One thing I love is that Mike shows that the judicial system will actually protect the contractor regardless of negligence. One would really hope that a contractor who fails to get the required permits would be sanctioned in some way, but NOPE, it's the homeowners responsibility to get them. So when a contractor tells you that you don't need them, then it's your a** if you don't have them.
My brother-in-law was having work done on his house, a kitchen remodel, just so happens that down the street a house was having some work done on it. The building inspector was driving by saw the work being done, took a quick peek and viola, NO permits. He (my bro-in-law) was hit with fines and a cease and desist order until the permits came through. Other than being fired from the job, nothing happened to the contractor.
When he tried to sue the contractor, the court basically tossed the suit. Homeowners responsible for getting permits.
My grandfather was a contractor for over 50 years the best advice he gave me was, you have to know who to call for what you want, there is no contractor who can do everything. Sure in little projects they can do the small stuff, but with remodels, if they are the only ones on the job,something is seriously wrong.
Does he go out of his way to make the previous contractors look bad? Nope they do an excellent job all on their own. What Mike does however is teach people as he is fixing the problems.
Some of the homeowners it is really tough to feel sorry for, I mean if the contractor starts to ask for certified checks made in their name, or they don't have you sign a contract (contract-OR hello) then you need to be taken for every penny.
One thing I love is that Mike shows that the judicial system will actually protect the contractor regardless of negligence. One would really hope that a contractor who fails to get the required permits would be sanctioned in some way, but NOPE, it's the homeowners responsibility to get them. So when a contractor tells you that you don't need them, then it's your a** if you don't have them.
My brother-in-law was having work done on his house, a kitchen remodel, just so happens that down the street a house was having some work done on it. The building inspector was driving by saw the work being done, took a quick peek and viola, NO permits. He (my bro-in-law) was hit with fines and a cease and desist order until the permits came through. Other than being fired from the job, nothing happened to the contractor.
When he tried to sue the contractor, the court basically tossed the suit. Homeowners responsible for getting permits.
My grandfather was a contractor for over 50 years the best advice he gave me was, you have to know who to call for what you want, there is no contractor who can do everything. Sure in little projects they can do the small stuff, but with remodels, if they are the only ones on the job,something is seriously wrong.
Good show, but I don't like parts of it.
tsmith41711 February 2010
The premise of Holmes on Homes is that a homeowner has contracted some work to be done on their house and the job was either not finished or done improperly. The homeowner has exhausted all other options for getting the job done so they turn to Mike Holmes, who comes in, looks at the job with disgust, points out all the errors the contractor made, talks ugly about how the contractor took advantage of the homeowners, and ultimately saves the day by "making it right." The show makes it sound like every contractor out there is some kind of idiot or crook, but truthfully, sometimes it's the homeowners who are at fault, by hiring people they don't know or not investigating the contractor before hiring him. Then there are the homeowners who pay thousands and thousands of dollars before the job is finished (bad move), and then complain that they lost money.
Yes, there are some contractors who don't know what they're doing, yes, there are some who are out-and-out con men, and yes, there are some who hire sub-contractors who don't know what they're doing, but in defense of the honest contractors, retrofitting is not the easiest job in the world, so someone is bound to end up with a less-than perfect job because the contractor can only work within the limits that have been set for him.
Mike Holmes steps in, hands on hips, and says, "Tear it all out" and starts over again and everyone considers him a big hero, but if your contractor told you when you hired him that he was going to have to take down all your ceilings to do the wiring correctly and you'd have to move out of your house for two weeks and not be able to watch the job progress, you'd say, "No way, that's too expensive, I'm not doing it" so whose fault is it that the wiring ends up looking like a spider web and the ducts are installed at odd angles? If you'd let someone do the job right in the first place you wouldn't need to call Mike Holmes in to fix it later.
The real problem I have with the show is that after Mike tears everything out he changes the whole design of whatever it is he's working on. The homeowners want an exercise room and a bathroom in the basement but Mike doesn't like the way they laid it out, so he arbitrarily decides to make a bedroom too, and to put in this kind of lighting, and to move the bathroom over there instead. Or it's the kitchen that's messed up so instead of just fixing the plumbing he takes out all the cabinets, changes the layout, and picks out the colors and appliances that he likes or thinks they should have. The worst part is that he doesn't even let the homeowners into the workspace to approve any of his decisions! I don't like his attitude that he's better than them at deciding how they should live in their own home. He installs 20 recessed lights because he likes them and then he goes home, and the homeowners are left to pay the power bill. He uses spray-foam insulation everywhere, without considering that maybe someone might want to run another wire to a wall someday, which is next to impossible when you have no open space between the studs to run it through.
Just once I'd like to see Mike work within the same real-world confines as the original contractor, where he can't "tear it all out" and start over and do it the easy way; where he can only add new wiring to the existing wiring instead of rewiring the whole house; where he has to install a toilet where the drain already is without chopping up the concrete to run a new drainpipe; where he has to use the walls that are already there without being able to build new ones. That's when we'll be able to truly judge how good he is at "making it right."
Yes, there are some contractors who don't know what they're doing, yes, there are some who are out-and-out con men, and yes, there are some who hire sub-contractors who don't know what they're doing, but in defense of the honest contractors, retrofitting is not the easiest job in the world, so someone is bound to end up with a less-than perfect job because the contractor can only work within the limits that have been set for him.
Mike Holmes steps in, hands on hips, and says, "Tear it all out" and starts over again and everyone considers him a big hero, but if your contractor told you when you hired him that he was going to have to take down all your ceilings to do the wiring correctly and you'd have to move out of your house for two weeks and not be able to watch the job progress, you'd say, "No way, that's too expensive, I'm not doing it" so whose fault is it that the wiring ends up looking like a spider web and the ducts are installed at odd angles? If you'd let someone do the job right in the first place you wouldn't need to call Mike Holmes in to fix it later.
The real problem I have with the show is that after Mike tears everything out he changes the whole design of whatever it is he's working on. The homeowners want an exercise room and a bathroom in the basement but Mike doesn't like the way they laid it out, so he arbitrarily decides to make a bedroom too, and to put in this kind of lighting, and to move the bathroom over there instead. Or it's the kitchen that's messed up so instead of just fixing the plumbing he takes out all the cabinets, changes the layout, and picks out the colors and appliances that he likes or thinks they should have. The worst part is that he doesn't even let the homeowners into the workspace to approve any of his decisions! I don't like his attitude that he's better than them at deciding how they should live in their own home. He installs 20 recessed lights because he likes them and then he goes home, and the homeowners are left to pay the power bill. He uses spray-foam insulation everywhere, without considering that maybe someone might want to run another wire to a wall someday, which is next to impossible when you have no open space between the studs to run it through.
Just once I'd like to see Mike work within the same real-world confines as the original contractor, where he can't "tear it all out" and start over and do it the easy way; where he can only add new wiring to the existing wiring instead of rewiring the whole house; where he has to install a toilet where the drain already is without chopping up the concrete to run a new drainpipe; where he has to use the walls that are already there without being able to build new ones. That's when we'll be able to truly judge how good he is at "making it right."
the standard
unkqty-4648112 May 2018
Mike holmes and the crews he assembles comprise THE standard for home renovations and repairs. attitudes, explanations, budgets, and straightforward, no nonsense communication make his episodes enjoyable to watch several times over.
General renovations and electrical
dakota099218 July 2014
I love the show, lots of useful information in the illustrated situations. I recently graduated with an electrical engineering diploma from a local community college. One thing I learned (subject to correction) regarding covering an electrical panel with doors or other trim. From what I was told by prof's who have been in the trade indicate that this procedure is against the electrical code, therefore bordering on illegal practice. I stand to be corrected however but from an instructional viewpoint I would challenge this practice of covering the electrical panel (even though I personally would think it was acceptable and aesthetically acceptable).
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