In these shows Holmes goes to some house where the homeowners perhaps suspect a few problems with their house. Holmes then inspects the house and, low and behold, the house is an entire mess. The wiring is dangerously done, there is no insulation, there are leaks everywhere, squirrels are living in the attic, there's asbestos everywhere... so then Mr. Holmes comes in and makes it right.
The show is entertaining, but also very scary. I can't imagine what it must be like buying a house. Holmes will address horror stories of how families move into a house, one that fully passes an inspection, and just four days later they discover that they need 100,000 of repairs. Scary indeed. Now there are some little details I would be able to handle in buying a house. For instance, on the house we rent I noticed right away when first looking at it that the siding and trim was not put on properly. The result? This spring the house started leaking water by the interior top of our kitchen window. I can't imagine the mess inside the walls of this house. But that's one little aspect of the house. I wouldn't have a clue when it comes to many of the details that Holmes notices. The guy is pretty good. Though, in fairness to home inspectors, they aren't allowed to punch holes in the ceiling to check a pipe, whereas Holmes just makes himself at home.
There are no houses that are spared from poor construction. For instance, many older homes are full of structural and wiring problems. Plus, all homes built before 1985 have the danger of asbestos. But my favourite shows to watch are when he goes in to fix a newer house. You know the type, the fancy Ancaster houses which a big contracting company literally races through to build and then sell for $500,000 plus. When we lived in Ancaster Becca and I would shake our heads at how fast these homes would go up around us. We agreed that there must be a lot of problems in them. Low and behold, in one episode of Holmes we were watching he was working on a house that looked almost familiar. It turns out is was a newer house by a park that we frequently used to walk by! The house was a complete mess, but sadly I dare say many of the houses there, all built by the same companies, are.
Now I'm sure Mike Holmes drives many contractors nuts. They must wonder what it's like to walk up to a job with 10-20 people running around doing your work for you. And then Holmes always shows up at the end as the big hero. That's not at all how it actually goes. Knowing many carpenters, I can tell you that the job is full of long hours, stress, and small budgets to work with. But Holmes... oh no! Not him! He has a crew to die for, and then money is no expense either (at least to him). There was one show that it was apparent that the shingles and sheeting needed to be replace. Holmes calls up a company to do it, but then he has them put on 5/8 blue-treated plywood on the roof just to make sure "it's done right." Um... 7/8 OSB is perfectly fine. 5/8 blue-treated plywood costs a fortune, and is completely over the top. Yet Holmes is there talking about how well he's fixing the problem. The final bill to fix the roof: $19,500!
So where am I going with this? I guess I'm torn on Mike Holmes. On the one hand I really appreciate how he gets to the root of the problem and is very thorough with his inspections. He is very fun to watch and I am learning a lot from him. On the other hand, people must keep in mind that what he does is not realistic, and that he spends way too much money on products when it is completely unnecessary. I would never get him in to fix a house of mine.
I could never afford it.
But, I must that I get a chuckle when our Ancaster friends, the ones with fancy cars and 1.5 kids, spare no expense to have Holmes "Make it Right."