Holmes on Homes | |
---|---|
Starring | Mike Holmes |
Narrated by | Mike Holmes |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 82 |
Production | |
Running time | 60 min |
Release | |
Original network | HGTV Canada |
Original release | 2003 – 2008 |
Related | |
Holmes Inspection, Holmes Makes It Right |
Holmes on Homes is a Canadian television series featuring general contractor Mike Holmes visiting homeowners who are in need of help, mainly due to unsatisfactory home renovations performed by hired contractors.
The series originally aired on Home & Garden Television in Canada, and also on several other Alliance Atlantis networks in Canada (including BBC Canada and Slice), as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and on HGTV in the United States. [1] It had previously aired in the US on Discovery Home until that channel was rebranded Planet Green on June 4, 2008. It was once the highest-rated show on the Canadian HGTV (HGTV having once claimed that an episode had received its highest-ever ratings), with shows airing upwards of 20 times a week at the peak of its popularity. It has won the Gemini viewers' choice award, a testament to the popularity of the show in Canada.
Originally, Holmes on Homes ran as a series of 30-minute episodes (with one one-hour special Whole House Disaster), but moved to a one-hour format midway through the third season due to popular demand. Several longer specials have aired: the one-hour season finale to the first season, Whole House Disaster; the one-hour Holmes for the Holidays at the end of the third season; the two-hour House to Home season finale for the fourth season; the two-hour specials Out of the Ashes and Holmes Inspection in the fifth season; the two-hour sixth-season episode Pasadena 911; and the two-hour Lien on Me in the final season. The latest episode is available for viewing on HGTV's website. [2] The first five seasons of half-hour and hour long episodes, as well as the "Holmes for the Holidays" episode, are also available for purchase on DVD. Season seven commenced airing in Australia on 1 October 2008 on the HOW TO Channel and in the UK on 24 March 2009 on Discovery Shed (formerly Discovery Realtime Extra).
The show's premise revolves around general contractor Mike Holmes visiting homeowners (initially in the Greater Toronto Area in the earlier seasons, but also to various locales across Canada and the United States, starting with the seventh season) who are in need of help, mainly due to unsatisfactory home renovations performed by hired contractors. A typical episode has homeowners describing their experiences with the previous contractor, including what had caused the original contractor to leave the work incomplete or with substandard work (often under Ontario building codes). Holmes would also go into detail to explain why the work he sees is substandard and needs to be replaced during the repair process. The original contractors are never named on the shows, although an episode of CBC Television's Marketplace has done investigative journalism behind a sixth-season episode and exposed the contractor alleged to have been at fault.[ citation needed ]
Typically, after beginning the repair work, Holmes and his crew of contractors often find that their small repair project has escalated into a larger one due to surprises that they find and are forced to fix; only on rare occasions has the show's crew not been forced to tear everything down and start over. However, in the end, Holmes presents the homeowners with a completely finished place, often with a few extra surprises.
Throughout the rebuilding process, Holmes often comments on the professionalism of the people hired for the job or lets other contractors talk about how to build things correctly. On some occasions Holmes has vented out his frustrations with previous contractors' substandard work in front of the camera. Particularly for projects involving new homes, Holmes often criticizes the developers for following minimum code and trying to save as many costs as possible.
Several episodes have deviated from this formula: a fourth-season episode explored the issue of mold in the household, and Holmes was brought in to investigate the matter after the homeowner had done some investigative work on their own; a fifth-season episode saw Holmes and crew build a common fence for 52 households, while a sixth-season episode saw Holmes and crew clean up and restore a house that had been rented out, and unknown to the homeowner, turned into a marijuana grow-op. The sixth-season Pasadena 911 two-hour episode also saw Mike and senior contractor Damon Bennett travel to Los Angeles to help out a couple in need after Holmes' own appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show .
Because the show is a television series, costs for the homeowners, who are likely to be strapped for cash due to the previous contractors' mistakes and/or frauds, are kept to a minimum (10% to 20% of the cost of repair). Some contractors hired on the show have even donated time, materials, and labor to help homeowners in need. The remainder of the work is funded by the TV production company, but in some cases, Mike Holmes personally contributes funds towards the repairs. [3]
Holmes was originally hired on Just Ask Jon Eakes , a home improvement show (also on HGTV and formerly in the US on sister network DIY Network) hosted by Jon Eakes, for some behind-the-scenes work. Mike Holmes approached the show's producers Scott Clark McNeil and Michael Quast with an idea for a new kind of home improvement show. Holmes did not intend that he appear on camera, but the producers made this a condition of the deal. Although submissions to be on the show were initially few and far between, with Holmes doing work on small botched jobs early on in the series, the number of submissions quickly ballooned by the show's fourth season. In its last season, the show was directed by The Holmes Group's Vice President Pete Kettlewell, who had worked on the show from the first season where he did the show's audio, produced by The Holmes Group's Vice President Michael Quast, who had been with the show since the fifth season, and also produced by Mike Holmes himself.
As a result of the show's popularity, Holmes had been able to start up the Holmes Foundation, a charity organization which helps raise awareness of skilled trades.
Although Holmes serves as the show's host, he brings with him several other equally skilled contractors who are regulars on the series (although not all appear in all seasons):
The construction crew in the seventh season is as follows:
The following is a list of past crew members who have appeared in earlier seasons:
Several other tradespersons running their own companies also make regular appearances on the series.
Home renovation expert Jon Eakes has also appeared as a guest in one episode, and the winners of Handyman Superstar Challenge are invited to make a guest appearance on the show (Jordan MacNab in season 6 and Kevin Howe in season 7).
Episode 1: Whole House Disaster (1-hour) - In this classic one-hour special, Mike Holmes and his team save a couple from losing their family home, which had been ravaged by a crooked contractor.
Episode 2: Sweet Home Abandoned - With a dream home two-thirds complete, a family was abandoned by their contractor and is forced to live in a motor home on their front driveway. Mike Holmes supervises the house to completion and moves the family back into their beautifully finished home.
Episode 3: Site Unseen - When Mike Holmes arrives to investigate a mysterious leak, he discovers that the two-story addition is sitting on a dirt foundation and is in serious danger of collapsing. Mike quickly secures the structure and pours a proper concrete foundation, saving the house.
Episode 4: Tiles and Tribulations - A couple bought a recycled wood-product tile for their kitchen, but after just one week, the tiles began to bow and the grout started to crack. After numerous arguments with the installer, Mike Holmes is called in to install a proper porcelain tile floor.
Episode 5: Faulty Showers - A couple paid top dollar to have their kitchen and two bathrooms renovated, but the tiles began to crack and fall apart just one year later. Mike Holmes starts from scratch by tearing out the bathroom and finds a very dangerous surprise.
Episode 6: Window Pain - After four contractors try and fail to fix three very leaky windows, Mike Holmes is called in to fix the leaks once and for all. He restructures the roof and properly installs new windows and an eaves trough.
Episode 7: Kitchen Catastrophe - When a shady contractor guts a family's kitchen and then stalls for six months with numerous lame excuses, Mike Holmes steps in to mediate and gives the home owners a brand new kitchen in just one week.
Episode 8: Flimsy Floor - When a brand new kitchen addition floor buckles during a party, a "quick-fix" by the contractor fails to solve the problem. Mike Holmes secures the floor's joists, adds braces and reminds us that structure is just as important as design.
Episode 9: Cold Comfort - After a contractor failed to properly insulate a new addition, a bedroom became cold and unlivable in winter. With a court case pending, Mike Holmes tears open the ceiling, insulates properly and finds numerous other problems that need fixing.
Episode 10: Attica! Attica / Crappy Capping - In part one, Mike Holmes repairs an attic with water damage in a new housing development. In part two, Mike helps finish a shoddy window job by installing proper insulation and capping.
Episode 11: Botched Basement - After a renovation to lower a basement floor goes bad and the contractor skips town, Mike Holmes makes it right by installing an interior weeping tile system and fixing a dangerous electrical mess.
Episode 12: Soggy Sorority - The roof at a sorority house had been leaking for a long time, so Mike Holmes picks up where many contractors had failed before him. He supervises an all-new flat roof installation, builds a new rooftop deck and learns about sorority life in the process.
Episode 13: Additional Grief - After an expensive kitchen addition and back deck fails to pass city inspection, Mike Holmes steps in and does the job that the previous contractor couldn't.
YouTube playlist for full episodes of Season 1 (link active as of 2020-09-19)
The third season saw a move from a 30-minute format to a full-hour format partway through the season.
Note: Holmes for the Holidays was filmed during the second production season, but is considered as part of the third airing season, although it is not included in HGTV's rotation due to it being a Christmas special. (Included on Season 2 DVD set)
The fifth season saw an overall change in look, due to increased production values (the filming crew, unlike the first four seasons, were equipped with widescreen high-definition cameras, although the show continues to air in standard-definition on HGTV). The season also saw the Holmes crew expand from a few experienced contractors to encompassing younger apprentices as well.
Note: The last four episodes of the fifth production season were aired as part of the sixth airing season on HGTV Canada.
In a change from previous seasons, Mike travels across Canada to help homeowners in other parts of the country, although a number remain within Ontario. Season seven is also notable for the formation of The Holmes Foundation, a charity organization affiliated with the show that promotes awareness of skilled trades (both to homeowners looking to hire them for renovations and to youth as a career choice), and its first project, the episode Lien on Me. Season seven will also have a special "behind-the-scenes" episode.
Best of Holmes on Homes is a 2012 remix TV series featuring clips from Holmes on Homes, brought together on a common theme, to illustrate home problems. Mike Holmes narrates the show. [4]
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