However, this success has not been without some obstacles along the way; To learn more about his journey from Canadian contractor to hammer-wielding home renovation hero, here’s what really happened to Mike Holmes.
How Mike Holmes ended up on HGTV
Mike Holmes’ invasion of television was not intentional. Holmes was a full-time contractor when he was hired to do construction work on the set of a Canadian TV show that shared tips for renovating a home with your own hands. While on the job, the always stubborn Holmes started telling the people who hired him that they had done everything wrong (via The Globe and Mail ). Holmes went off on one of his rants, explaining that homeowners doing their own remodels with their own hands is a bad idea because they usually do a poor job. In fact, he noted, a huge part of his business comes from repairing failed home-renovation experiments by people who had no idea what they were doing.
After Holmes apologized for his “diarrhea of the mouth,” his article gave the producer an idea: Holmes should star in his own TV show, fixing homeowners’ self-made disasters and the poor work of questionable contractors. “Holmes in Homes” debuted on HGTV Canada in 2001; by 2004, each episode of the show was averaging 250,000 viewers, a significant number for a Canadian specialty channel. The tough and sharp contractor became a TV star by accident.
