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Do the renovations include all the rooms or do they just do the rooms that they show? It confuses me because most of the people they work with don't want to do renovations themselves, and most of the houses need full renovations. But it seems that the Brothers only do certain rooms. What is the real deal??

I've given up trying to figure out this mess. After watching half a dozen episodes I came to the conclusion that some people will pay any amount of money in order to be on TV. The dumps that these homeowners buy for outrageous prices would cost about $85,000 in my neighborhood. Apparently no professional inspections are performed, so there are always *surprises*--no insulation! faulty wiring! wood rot! Generally about three rooms are renovated, while the outside of the property remains a dump. Fools and their money are soon parted, and this idiotic show proves it.

I completely and totally agree with you. They only fix the rooms that they show, and spend tons of money on furniture that for the life of me, I don't understand the reason.
So, I cannot see a 100,000 reno, and then spend 500 on a chandelier.
What about the rest of the house, what happens later on, they probably have to spend another 100,000 putting that house in condition to be lived.
I get very frustrated when I happen to see this program.

These shows are mostly taped in the metro Toronto area where homes like the "dumps" to you and myself sell for $700,000 and up...unfortunately, in large cosomopolitan cities like this (and probably NYC) you either live in a small old place close to work and amenities or you live an hours drive away in the burbs, spending time driving, increased gas costs and parking once you get into the city. Others just want the convenience of being closer to their jobplaces and being able to use public transportation like subways to get around. That's why we left that area for a small town 400 miles away; we have a lovely home on a lake with about 10 neighbours on a country road....people from the "big city" envy us and I'd never go back myself.

I only watch "Property Brothers" occasionally. Do the homeowners use their own furniture or is new furniture included in the renovation?

According to what they state in the program, they do get this new furniture for the owners. which in my mind, doesn't make a lot of sense, when that money could be used to update whatever rooms they are not touching.

rker321, Thanks for your info. I thought that was the case, but they don't say too much about furnishings and I wondered about it. I agree with you...they could use that money to work on the rooms they are not renovating. This show doesn't make sense to me. I guess that's why I don't watch it very often.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mriley,

I figured the furnishings were rented for the finale and then carted out for the home owners to figure how they were going to make the home look so good with their less glamourest furniture.

Maybe we should watch the credits. If the furniture is rented, I'm sure the rental company would want its name mentioned as advertisement.

I used to think so, but when they started to price out how much the cost of the furniture was, and in last episode I heard them say your furniture. I noticed because they priced a chandellier in the dining room at 500.00. and that stuck in my mind.

quote:

Originally posted by rker321:
I used to think so, but when they started to price out how much the cost of the furniture was, and in last episode I heard them say your furniture. I noticed because they priced a chandellier in the dining room at 500.00. and that stuck in my mind.

Did the chandelier look like it was worth $500? Altho there are many nice fixtures for less money, that isn't a "horrible" amount for a nice dining room light.

The chandelier may have costed 500.00 but was it worth it. You tell me, If the upstairs bedrooms need to have things done to them. Where is the value of that chandelier.
I confirmed that they do buy that furniture for the owners. what a crock. they only do certain rooms and on top, they over spend on the furniture that they give these poor people.
On this episode they didn't even do the kitchen. and spend 30,000 on the living room the dining room and an office. They paid for what they said it was a vintage desk. 420.00 that it could have been bought at the Salvation Army.

quote:

Originally posted by rker321:
The chandelier may have costed 500.00 but was it worth it. You tell me, If the upstairs bedrooms need to have things done to them. Where is the value of that chandelier.
I confirmed that they do buy that furniture for the owners. what a crock. they only do certain rooms and on top, they over spend on the furniture that they give these poor people.
On this episode they didn't even do the kitchen. and spend 30,000 on the living room the dining room and an office. They paid for what they said it was a vintage desk. 420.00 that it could have been bought at the Salvation Army.

If I had my druthers, I'd rather have a few rooms that are done beautifully and wait to finish the rest of the rooms bringing them up to par than to have ho hum stuff throughout the entire house.
Having said that, this whole show premise is stupid and not one that I would care overmuch about watching.

I understand what you are saying but these people are being taken to their max in the price of their home and their mortgage is going to include furniture expense that is not going to last 30 years.

quote:

Originally posted by rker321:
I understand what you are saying but these people are being taken to their max in the price of their home and their mortgage is going to include furniture expense that is not going to last 30 years.

Oh - I thought you meant the furniture and stuff was given to them. Guess you can tell I'm not a regular viewer of this show.
But, in a regular situation I'd still rather do things one beautiful room at a time rather than a whole house of so-so rooms.

"What viewers don’t realize is that the pricing showcased on the show of $40,000 to $50,000 for renovation are only for the three or four rooms previewed during the hour. The whole house is actually renovated but because time constraints, to renovate the entire house for the audiences watching in one hour would be too much information. After the viewing parts are fully renovated, the team goes back to the rest of the house to ensure buyers have their dream home." http://westlifebunny.newsvine....building-dream-homes

quote:

Originally posted by NMoline:
"What viewers don’t realize is that the pricing showcased on the show of $40,000 to $50,000 for renovation are only for the three or four rooms previewed during the hour. The whole house is actually renovated but because time constraints, to renovate the entire house for the audiences watching in one hour would be too much information. After the viewing parts are fully renovated, the team goes back to the rest of the house to ensure buyers have their dream home." http://westlifebunny.newsvine....building-dream-homes

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We have discussed this issue to no end, and we have been able to prove that what you are saying is not really what happens.
Many have seen episodes in which they actually discuss the rooms that they are going to renovate and that the furniture is included in the renovation price.
What has also been said that "Dearm House" concept is what you want to see in your home. it doesn't necessarily means that the house is completely renovated.
Today I saw an episode in which the renovated most of the house with the exception of the bedrooms and one bathroom. They renovated the dining/living and kitchen area and one of the bathrooms.
But what bothered me the most is what they said to the homeonwer at the beginning, which was things that the inspector found out that needed to be taken care of and for which they received a 5,000 cut in the total price.
And these issue were, House needed a roof, house had termites which I imagine it was taken care of.
But also two very costly issues that they didn't deal with because they weren't issues that needed to be taken care of inmediately.
One, was the driveway, it wasw pretty bad, and that driveway would probably cost around 6-7 thousand dollars, another was the inclination of the land that heeded to be leveled on the side of the house because when it rained, water would flow towards the house, and as we all know, that is not good at all. Yes, they could be done later, the roof, the termites, the driveway, and the leveling of the land, but, YOu have a ton of money in the future that you will need to spend in that house, to be able to really be a Dream HOme.

I am a confused now as the rest of the veiwers
I was assuming that they did the whole house and only showed a few certain rooms because of time restraints,LOL if it was only for a partial redo,then IMO is not worth the time and effort to buy a fixer upper

and new furniture? I think they should incorporate some of the Home Owners furniture to offset the cost

Will anyone ever get the truth? would luv to know the truth of how they operate?

You know in this program this morning, what they did looked very nice. and it was almost all the house. 90,000 reno. But what got me, was what they said that is was not inmediate, roof,(according to the inspections was bad), the driveway, (sure it can wait but if done about 6-7housand) and the most importand was the leveling of the land at the side of the house because water would go towards the house and of course the foundation. Of course the termites, but I am sure that the owners dealt with that.
Now, figure that one.
Yes, the expenditure of the furniture is something that I can't understand.

I like the show for what it is. For those people who complain about how it feels rushed and not every little detail of the reno is spelled out.... Those are the Bob Villa type shows that I personally are very boring some times. For what it is... I think it is entertaining enough and enjoy it.

quote:

Originally posted by anama:
I like the show for what it is. For those people who complain about how it feels rushed and not every little detail of the reno is spelled out.... Those are the Bob Villa type shows that I personally are very boring some times. For what it is... I think it is entertaining enough and enjoy it.

I agree, I like the show to see how a house can be remodeled to become the house you are looking for...

I highly doubt that homeowners are financing furnishings into their mortgage. I don't think the lenders would approve of such a loan. Most are probably taking the proceeds from the sell of their previous home and using those funds to make the purchases. Some may be taking a second mortgage at the time of purchase with a shorter payoff time.
I also suspect that there is another designer (behind the scenes) doing most of the designs. I just don't see Jonathan coming up with some the kitchen designs that I have seen on the show.

Property Brothers seems to be a show that some people love to hate. Must be something addictive about it to make people continue watching it.

Hate to dissapoint you, no, I don't watch it at all any more, when I realized that they state that they will provide a "dream Home" and only re do some of the rooms in the house they bought and yes they do expend money on the furniture, where that money comes from I am afraid I don't know, but the program doesn't give it to them.
I don't blame them they do a job,It is the producers of that show that I have a problem with.
In my opinion the premise of the show providing the Dream Home is not there it just doesn't exist.
As far as "HATE" that is a very strong word to apply at a little TV program. don't you think?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rker321,

quote:

Originally posted by rker321:
Hate to dissapoint you, no, I don't watch it at all any more...

As far as "HATE" that is a very strong word to apply at a little TV program. don't you think?

Hey, that's pretty funny. Your posted started with that very word! Must not be that strong a word.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: santa_fe,

You caought me there, but I know you know that the meaning was different.
Hate to tell you is quite different than I hate you, or I hate something.

yup I agree LOL

rker simply used a figure of speech -

Steph, if you read back on previous, extensive threads, you'll see that we confirmed (from participants) they use a background (off-camera) designer plus local designer(s). Incidentally, Drew isn't the participants' realtor. We also know they don't do the entire home for the stated budget, either. Incidentally, they use local gc's.

rker, thought you might be interested in something. Researching an unrelated topic (don't spend my time worrying about PB) and happened, accidentally, upon some info regarding gc licensing in Toronto. Didn't spend much time but it sounds as if anyone receives a license, if they have a regular business license, pay all the applicable fees and certify that they'll use licensed subs. Sounded as if this was sop for Canada and possibly elsewhere. BTW, business licenses are basically obtained by paying the fee.

Toronto had recently (in the last few years, IIRC) added a "building renovator" license, requiring applicants to study/understand only 1 section of the building code and submit to a 30 minute verbal exam. One successful applicant mentioned that the examiner spent the entire 30 minutes chit-chatting and asked him 0 questions. Said it was basically pay the fee - as before.

JMHO, as usual. BTW, the above info's all available online - some of it from the PB's own documentation.

Thanks tsr for confirming my suspicions. So in others words the show is a scam. If they don't do the designs and they don't do the real estate transactions, why do they even have a show?
Just by watching this show and Love It or List it, I know that Toronto has a lot of problem properties and building code issues. Some of the updates done on those shows are updates that should have been code and inspected decades ago. Knob and Tube wiring? I think my city banned that in the 70's.

I don't know if anyone posted this before but did anyone catch Jonathan hogging the camera at the NBA All Star Game Celebrity Edition? He played on the winning team and as they awarded the MVP trophy he "slid" in front the two recipients. He made sure he got his mug on camera.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: steph1111,

I can totally see Jonathan doing that. Out of the way, MVP recipient! They're are all about pr, IMHO. Can't believe tptb gave them another show. Well, unfortunately, maybe I can. And those two were the "celebrities"? On the D-list team? Whatever -

I would call PB a drama, Steph. If you research their backgrounds, you'll learn that their father was an actor, their brother writes and produces with them and they (IIRC) were both child actors growing up in Vancouver. That's the primary family business - not real estate.

Can't speak for other posters but my feeling from previous threads is that many/most of us would simply be happy if they'd drop the off-camera pretense or charade and admit that they're using other professionals behind the scenes and that PB is reality television, not reality. (Please excuse the run-on/rant, lol!) As viewers, most of us (I believe) realize that one of the farthest things from actual reality is reality TV.

Incidentally, while they're at it, perhaps they could acknowledge, complement and show appreciation for the many professionals behind-the-scenes who make them look good. How about a simple thank-you?

Considering that it probably requires five (5) 10+ hour days to produce 1 hour of television and checking out their personal schedule (see their FB pages, if you care), it's physically impossible for them to complete all of those tasks constantly recited in their canned PB lines.

So, if you like them and their shtick plus the drama or simply enjoy viewing the reno process or checking out the completed renos, by all means, watch PB.

Stepping off soapbox now. All of the above is JMHO, as usual.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SurfNow,

quote:

So, if you like them and their shtick plus the drama or simply enjoy viewing the reno process or checking out the completed renos, by all means, watch PB.

Glad you posted your research, I agree with you 100% If you enjoy the revelation, be my guest but if you are looking for veracity in a program that states that they will give you a dream home and then present what they do in the program, frankly, I think that they should be call on it.
I don't think that they are to blame is the production company that is at fault.

Thanks, rker.

I would normally blame their production company, too, but I doubt tptb would prevent them from being honest with their fan base. Honesty hasn't hurt other HGTV personalities, e.g. Jody Gilmour, Scott McGillivray -

Although the show's technically produced by a Canadian production company, those two plus their other, writer brother run a production company. Haven't double-checked the PB producer credits (I do have a life!) but it wouldn't surprise me if they're involved.

That said, have to love the way they hide behind tptb instead of simply disclosing the truth.

If I happen to see notice the information, will post back.

JMHO, as usual.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SurfNow,

They have a new show now, I probably won't see it because I don't see HGTV in the evenings only Sat mornings and that is only repeats, so I will wait until they put those repeats on Sat.
hopefully they have a different premise than their previous one.
I read some of the comments on the new show and the selling part reminded me of that show with Sabrina and the Realtor that gave the sellers a piece of his mind as to why their house wasn't selling so that part is not new.

There are so many comments on this thread and throughout this message board where the poster opinions seem very naive. If you live out in the middle of nowhere where any high paying job is a two hour commute than obviously home prices, second hand furniture prices, etc. are going to be a lot lower. It's called supply and demand and the concept is rudimentary. If the average salary in your area is $35,000 you can't afford to live within a metropolitan area.


In my area $4,000 is the average price for a good quality sofa, but the average salary for an experienced florist is $57,000 a year. So its all relative. Stop whining about what other people pay for things, you have no idea how much money they make, and whether these prices seem fair to them.

I agree with the majority on this show and will not watch it.The brothers are insulting and ugly.Why is it still on hgtv

I would never watch their show. They are terrible at what they do and are really not even cute!

How can people fall for the Property Brothers promises of fixing up their dream home? They somehow manage to talk them into buying the worst properties for the biggest price and promise to turn the dump into their dream home. Then after talking them into paying 3 times what the house is worth and uop to $70,000 more than asking price, they redo usually 2 rooms and leave the rest of the house in shambles. I don't get how people can fall for this. Evidently they watch the show and see how it is. And the run down dump of a house is always very old and lots of "hidden problems". Well that's what you get for buying a house in that kind of condition. They are like used car salesmand selling someone a car that was only used by a "little old lady driving to church on Sunday". They willl say anything to get people to buy a run down mess of a house for much more money than most sane people would pay for it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mamajchis,

Cannot watch this show. The Brothers are rude!

Mama, I presume this show is fake, like the other shows of its ilk.

So relax, the couple has likely already bought the house, and has plans for the reno.

They're just on the show to get the designer help, and stretch their demo budget.

When work is done on these shows, some items are promotional so the couple doesn't pay full going retail rate, some things they might get for free all together, and they get the design help. That all helps them get higher-end items for less and/or get more work done for the money, than if they weren't on the show.

You honestly all that work could be done for that budget in the real-world?

Just watch if knowing the details aren't really how it would happen. It really is easier that way.