HGTV’s Jasmine Roth Wants To Make Your Home Truly Unique | Forbes Life
Jasmine Roth is a television personality, national bestselling author, interior designer, builder, and the founder of Built Custom Homes.
As a staple in the HGTV community, Jasmine currently stars as the host of “HELP! I Wrecked My House” where she comes to the rescue of overzealous, do-it-yourselfers by redeeming their failed home improvement projects and customizing their new spaces. The show premiered in 2020 and remains one of the most-watched series on the network, with four seasons currently streaming on Max. She has also crossed into other titles on the network, hosting “Hidden Potential” and appearing on “Rock the Block.”
0:00 Intro
0:57 Finding DIY Disasters
2:40 Becoming a Builder
6:06 Trailblazing in a Male-Dominated Field
9:21 The HGTV Casting Email Was Not "Spam"
11:50 Jasmine Roth's Design Aesthetic
14:08 Inflation & The Current Housing Market
16:01 Cost Saving Tips For Home Renovations
16:54 Growing the Business of Built Custom Homes
18:46 Homes Are Emotional
20:38 'Brown is Back!' & Other Design Trends
21:34 How To Hide a TV & Why
22:17 Looking Ahead
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As a staple in the HGTV community, Jasmine currently stars as the host of “HELP! I Wrecked My House” where she comes to the rescue of overzealous, do-it-yourselfers by redeeming their failed home improvement projects and customizing their new spaces. The show premiered in 2020 and remains one of the most-watched series on the network, with four seasons currently streaming on Max. She has also crossed into other titles on the network, hosting “Hidden Potential” and appearing on “Rock the Block.”
0:00 Intro
0:57 Finding DIY Disasters
2:40 Becoming a Builder
6:06 Trailblazing in a Male-Dominated Field
9:21 The HGTV Casting Email Was Not "Spam"
11:50 Jasmine Roth's Design Aesthetic
14:08 Inflation & The Current Housing Market
16:01 Cost Saving Tips For Home Renovations
16:54 Growing the Business of Built Custom Homes
18:46 Homes Are Emotional
20:38 'Brown is Back!' & Other Design Trends
21:34 How To Hide a TV & Why
22:17 Looking Ahead
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Transcript
00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath, editor of Forbes Women. Jasmine Roth is an interior
00:08designer, a builder, the founder of Built Custom Homes. She is also on HGTV. You have
00:15seen her rescue DIY disasters on Help! I Wrecked My Home. I don't own my home, but if I did,
00:21I think I would be one of her subjects. Jasmine, thank you so much for joining us.
00:27Oh my gosh, I always tell people, like, you don't want to be on my show. No offense, but like, you
00:32don't want to be on my show.
00:34I don't want to, but I am prone to making lots of mistakes, let's just say. And I wasn't going to
00:39start with this question. But talking about being on your show, how do you find these DIY
00:44disasters? Where? Because I just watched one where there were holes in the wall. And this, this
00:50poor couple just kept taking on projects, and they didn't have time to finish them, which I can
00:54relate to that too. But where are you finding these stories?
00:59I think it's more common than we all think, right? I mean, we've all done it. We've all taken on
01:04more than we, bitten off more than we can chew, taken on a project that's way bigger than we
01:08thought it was going to be. The budget gets out of control, the timeline gets out of control, real
01:13life hits. These are obviously extreme examples on my show. But at the same time, I think, you
01:21know, there's a little bit, we all see ourselves in these folks that we find. But yeah, people
01:27apply to be on the show. And a lot of people apply to be on the show. It's actually not very
01:34hard to find families that fit the bill. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to wreck your
01:38house as well, right? So a lot of times it is a DIY gone wrong. But there's also folks who are
01:44completely, they have analysis paralysis, right? They can't do anything because they don't know
01:49what the next step should be or how much it's going to cost and the what ifs start piling up
01:54and they just stop. Or we have folks who maybe, you know, haven't maintained their home well. And
02:00that's a whole nother part of it. You know, if you're a homeowner, and you don't take care of
02:03your house, that can really ruin what might be your biggest investment. So yeah, there's a lot
02:08of ways to find yourself, unfortunately, on my show. And, you know, what we do as well is help
02:14people figure out how to not find themselves in that position again.
02:19We'll get into more crazy stories and construction stories. But I want to zoom out and step back
02:25because you got your undergraduate degree in business in entrepreneurship specifically,
02:30which I love. We love entrepreneurs here at Forbes. But you didn't immediately start in
02:34construction and building. How did you find yourself in this sector?
02:39Yeah, I always say it was a happy accident. I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur from
02:44day one, I wanted to own my own company, I wanted to kind of have that opportunity to put my mark
02:51on the world, if you will. And so entrepreneurship seems like the right major for me in undergrad.
02:59That said, when I graduated, I went into business consulting. And that was a great
03:05springboard into, okay, what am I going to do? What is what am I going to have my big break to
03:10become an entrepreneur. But at least in the meantime, I was learning so much I was learning
03:15how to operate in corporate America, how to interact with clients and co workers and managers,
03:25how to be a manager, but also how to be managed. And also, you know, just all of the nuances that
03:30go into being successful in business. And so that was really a great background and experience for
03:37me when I did have the opportunity to kind of dip my toe into the construction industry, which
03:43my husband and I, you know, we're both in corporate America, we're working full time,
03:47we buy, we bought, we bought, we bought a piece of land, and we tried to do a project on the side.
03:55But as that was happening, we realized that we were in way over our heads, I probably would
03:59have found myself on my show had it existed then. But one thing led to another, and we're about two
04:05years into the project, and it just wasn't happening at the rate that we needed it to, it was a huge
04:10investment, outstanding for us. And so we actually decided that I was going to go and manage the
04:17project, I had had my real estate license in college, so it wasn't that far fetched. I also
04:22loved being there. And so I was like, I'll go, I'm just gonna, you know, give my notice at work,
04:27I can always go back. And I never went back. I never went back to work, if you will. And it
04:33really does feel that way. I mean, even though I work really long hours, and you know, owning a
04:37business is a whole nother just beast of it takes over your entire life, but in the best way, because
04:43if it's something you love, it doesn't feel like you're working. But anyway, so that was how I got
04:47into construction. And I knew nothing, I walked onto that job site. And I admittedly was like,
04:54Hey, I'm just here to learn. I'm here to help. I'm here to facilitate. And what a great, what a
04:59great learning experience as someone who, you know, eventually would become a manager in that space.
05:04Because that's still what I do. I still show up and say, I'm just here to learn. I'm just here to
05:09help you do your job as best you can. And yeah, so that's kind of how I got into it. It was an
05:15accident, but it really worked out. And but I do, I do feel like that, you know, those those initial
05:22years that I spent in corporate America really set me up for success in an industry that, you
05:27know, is otherwise not really not really operating that way. I think constant learning is always the
05:36key for anyone who wants to change industries, as long as you're open to asking questions and
05:41receiving the answers. I hear that from a lot of folks who have a shift, but and I always hate to
05:45ask the women question. But as the Forbes Women Editor, I do see the statistics of the gender
05:50breakdown in the construction industry and manufacturing and building. What are some of
05:55the challenges that you've had to navigate as a woman in construction and building? And what would
06:01you advise other women who want to follow a similar career path? You definitely can't ignore
06:07the statistics. But I also I will say that I've never I've never really I don't want to say I've
06:15never paid attention, but I've never let that slow me down. Right. And I think no matter what
06:20industry you're going into, if you feel and if you can prove yourself, if you feel like you belong
06:26there, you belong there. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of commitment. It takes a
06:33lot of consistency. And consistency is something that I think gets kind of lost in the shuffle
06:38where people are like, well, I've been working hard. Why is this not? You know, why am I not
06:42seeing my efforts rewarded? And with that, it's usually that you're right around the corner from
06:48it. You just have to continue doing what you're doing, being consistent. And, you know, when it
06:55came to this industry, I didn't really I didn't really notice that I was the only female, even
07:02though I knew it and I noticed it and it came up every single day and it was part of my day to day
07:07kind of interaction. It didn't slow me down because I knew that I could prove myself and I knew that
07:14I didn't need anybody's approval. I didn't need anybody's, you know, I didn't need to be the same
07:20as everybody else that I was working with. I just needed to do my thing and that that would be
07:25enough. And so while construction is not a industry that is, I mean, nobody said to me in school,
07:33do you want to build houses? I wish they had said that because I probably would have said yes.
07:37You know, do you want to be an architect? Do you want to be an engineer? Do you want to be in the
07:40supply chain? There's a whole, you know, world out there of commercial and residential building
07:45going on. Do you want to be a part of it? And as a woman, nobody ever brought it up as even an
07:50option. And I wish they had. And I hope that, you know, through my experience of not just working in
07:56this industry, but working in this industry in a very public way, I can bring light to the fact
08:02that there are many girls and women out there who would be wonderful in the construction industry.
08:08And I hope that they find their way there. And I hope that we can pave new paths for folks to join
08:15this industry in an easier manner. Right. And so that they don't feel like they're so outnumbered
08:20and so that we can just be part of the construction industry. Why not? I know my daughter. Right. She's
08:25four and a half. She watches our show. She's part of she'll tell she'll tell you. She's the first
08:29tell you I'm on mom's show. I'm like, OK, that's great. And she is. She's like, we build houses.
08:34But in her mind, we do build houses and women build houses and women drive heavy machinery and
08:40they have warehouses and they wear a tool belt. And that's just that's her reality. And that's
08:45all she'll ever know. And to me as a working mom, like, that's so cool. Right. That's something that
08:51you can't take away from her and that will never be changed. And so if that's her reality,
08:55it can also be a lot of other people's reality. I love that you talk about using your platform.
09:01You do have a very public platform, but I want to make sure we get clear on how you went from
09:05point A to point B. So you found your company. And I think I heard somewhere that you got the
09:11email from HGTV and you thought it was a spam email. Can you talk to us about how you entered
09:18the wild world of real estate on television? I was just doing my thing. And with that,
09:26you know, I'm a huge I love magazines. I love Pinterest. I love I love Instagram. I love all
09:33of these places where you can see people being really creative. Right. And I've always been
09:38kind of a consumer of all of these beautiful images and inspiration. And, you know, somebody's
09:44doing a project and they share their process. I love that. And I always wanted to be not just
09:48a consumer, but a contributor. So I started posting. I started posting on Instagram.
09:53It was a while ago, so I don't even think you could put videos on Instagram yet, but I started
09:57posting on YouTube. Hey, guys, it's Jasmine. This is what I'm working on today. I don't know how
10:01it's going to turn out, but stick with me and I'll let you know tomorrow. And so I had I was just
10:06putting information out there because I thought it might be helpful. And so at some point,
10:10somebody from a production company that was working with HGTV saw those videos and I had a
10:16project I just finished as a hashtag Beach Build. And so they had found me through a hashtag. I had
10:22about 1500 followers on Instagram. I mean, I was not by any means like an influencer, but yeah,
10:29I got an email that said, hey, you know, we've seen your stuff online and we're really interested
10:34in talking to you about an HGTV show. And I mean, I was a second away from hitting delete. And I was
10:39like, is this is this real? Is this real? And I remember calling my mother-in-law and I was like,
10:43I got this email. Do you think it's real? And she was like, I don't I don't know. She's like,
10:49do you think it's real? And I was like, I don't know. It's like, I guess I'll call them. It can't
10:52hurt. Good thing I called them. But yeah, so it was definitely not something that I was intentionally
10:59searching for in the way that I was saying I want a TV show. But in the big scheme of things,
11:06I want to contribute. I want to be part of this creative, you know, really
11:12this great community of people who work together and are building and I want to be part of that.
11:17And so the big scheme of things, it was my goal. But I don't know, I didn't know that this was how
11:23I was going to get there. That's so interesting. And of course, on your shows, you are executing
11:29your vision. And I think something that's so interesting is you started out, we were just
11:33saying as a learner. So how did you develop your vision as an interior designer and a builder? Is
11:39it as you said, kind of pulling from different sources of inspiration? Or did you sit down and
11:44study? You know, how did you, how did you come up with the Jasmine Roth visual identity?
11:52I think that, you know, anybody that's in this industry, just inherently does have a strong
11:58point of view. So I have always had a strong point of view, whether it's in business, whether it's in
12:05my personal life. And as I stepped into building, I started to develop what was my own personal
12:12style. And then taking that style, and using it for my clients on their behalf, and using what
12:20their personal style is, but kind of using my own point of view on top of that. That's, I mean,
12:25that's the funnest part of my job, right? I get to be so creative. And it gives me this great
12:33outlet for all of my ideas. So at the end of the day, I'm just a very curious person. And my husband
12:37will tell you, like, my ideas outweigh my opportunities within our own home, I can only do
12:42so much on my own house. So thank goodness I have this outlet, where I have, okay, I want to make,
12:47you know, I want to take a huge wall, and I want to paint this mural on it, it's going to be a word
12:51search. And like, maybe I can do that in my own house. But if I can't, at least I put it, I file
12:57it away for the next project. But yeah, I think having a strong point of view and having the
13:01confidence to trust yourself that like, your point of view is unique, and it's worth it. And
13:07it's going to be something that people gravitate towards. And luckily, I've, again, I've had that
13:11platform, and created that platform to share what it is that I'm trying to put out in the world.
13:17And it's all part of this creative community, right? I'm surrounded by so many people that
13:22inspire me, that I'm able to kind of pull from, oh, they did this, but what if I did that? But
13:26if I did it more like this, you know, kind of constantly have that going. But yeah, no,
13:31it's definitely a creative, that part of this business is very creative. The rest of it is all
13:36very, it's analytical, it's, you know, budgets, it's timelines, and it's all of that.
13:43I'm glad you mentioned budgets, because I was actually looking at a report from May that
13:47indicated that homeowners still are doing home renovation projects, but they're often doing
13:51smaller projects, and they're doing less, but they find themselves spending more even on these
13:56smaller projects, because inflation is so high. What are you hearing from your clients and the
14:00people that you interact with, with your show in terms of price constraints, and what they're
14:05concerned about when it comes to these budgets? It's a challenge right now. We are in a market
14:12that encourages home renovation, where there's, you know, a lot of us who are homeowners, first or
14:20second time homeowners. And again, you see HGTV, you see all of these folks online, they're on
14:27TikTok, they're on Instagram, they're knocking down walls and putting up new cabinets and all
14:31this. But at the end of the day, it's really expensive. Materials are expensive, labor is
14:35expensive. And it's inflation, it's supply chain issues. It's also a lack of, we don't have the
14:43supply as far as skilled workers go. So we don't have as many skilled workers as we did, say, 10,
14:4915, even 20 years ago. So to find someone who is really good at building cabinets, or laying tile,
14:56or all of these different trades that I work with on a day to day basis is really hard. And
15:01so homeowners are finding themselves in this scenario where real estate is as expensive as
15:06it's been. And so you're forced to buy a home that probably needs some work. Yet on the flip
15:13side of that, you can't really afford to do the work. And so that's why I think people do find
15:17themselves in these DIY disasters. But also, you know, just trying to save up and figure out a way
15:24to do these renovations, and sometimes do them on a lesser budget. So yeah, it's a challenge.
15:30I work through every single day, we're just trying to figure out, okay, what is your budget?
15:34How are we going to spend that budget? How are we going to increase the value of your home,
15:39but also not, you know, overbuild for your neighborhood. And there's a lot that goes
15:44into it. There really is. It's a tough market right now. Obviously, cost saving advice differs
15:49from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, as you just said. But are there one or two tips
15:53that you would offer to the Forbes audience if they're considering a renovation and they want
15:56to cut back on the cost? Are there one or two things they can do? Yeah, I'd say cross the board.
16:03And this is always my advice, but it's still good advice. Paint. Paint is a great way to update a
16:11space. You get a lot of bang for your buck. You don't have to paint. You can hire a painter or
16:15you can do it yourself. But a fresh coat of paint really does make such a difference. And it changes
16:22how we feel about our spaces. It changes how, you know, just literally it makes it smell fresh
16:29and new. So if you can do nothing else, I recommend paint. Now, in terms of your business,
16:36so not just the HGTV show, but Built Custom Homes, how are you finding clients in this
16:41environment? I mean, you mentioned housing prices are just it's such an overheated market.
16:48Is it the show? Is it that people are still buying houses and still need your help? You know,
16:52what's what's the inflow like? Yeah, I think, you know, there are, there's still a high demand as
16:58far as people who have either been saving or have figured out a way to maybe refinance their house
17:05to fund a renovation that they know will then add value to their home. So in the long run,
17:10if that's their biggest investment, they will have that value kind of banked in their home.
17:17But yeah, no, we're still we're still very, very lucky to be in high demand. I offer virtual
17:24consulting, which is a wonderful way to interact with people all over the world, not just this
17:29country. And it's so interesting to see, you know, what everybody is struggling with. It's not always
17:35home construction, right? Some people need advice on storage solutions they want, you know, maybe
17:41somebody is pregnant like I am, and they want their nursery finished, but they just can't get
17:46to it, you know, and so being able to offer advice and use, you know, my experience to interact with
17:54people all over the world has been an awesome opportunity. And then I do take clients on
17:59through my show right now, we're actually currently casting in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.
18:06And so that's exciting. And so people are applying to be on the show. And that's an amazing way for
18:12me to be able to connect with folks that have either wrecked their house or in the process
18:17of figuring out what they're going to do next with their homes. You mentioned that you're pregnant.
18:22Congratulations. And as we think about expanding houses and expanding families, you and I were
18:27talking before we started recording about how emotional a home is. So I'm wondering, how do you
18:33as the builder and designer interact with clients that have a strong vision? And how do you
18:39expectation set and deliver what they want while also staying true to your point of view as a
18:44builder and designer? Yeah, I think, you know, for many of us, our homes become almost like a member
18:50of our family, right? They feel like just an extension of our family, because for many of us,
18:59again, it's our biggest investment, but also it's a place where you can be yourself.
19:04And it's a place where you can let your personality shine. And it's a place where,
19:08you know, so many of us feel safe. And that's the goal, right? You want to feel safe and happy in
19:12your home. And I think, you know, for my clients, sometimes just that idea is what they're struggling
19:18with. They're not necessarily struggling with the nuts and bolts, or maybe they are, but
19:22they're also struggling with the concept of how do I make my home feel like it's mine?
19:27How does it make it feel? How do I make it feel like it's my family, like it's our space? And so
19:32helping my clients, you know, it just really fill their home with things that make them happy. So
19:39when you walk through the door, there's something right there that makes you smile. Or there's
19:43something right there that reminds you of a good time that you've had. Just filling our homes with
19:48personality and those unique touches. That's something that I think I really can help my
19:53clients with in a really special way as a mom, as a wife, as a sister, as an entrepreneur,
19:59as a friend. And, you know, as someone that maybe they've hired for me to work with them,
20:04I take that role really seriously. And so being able to go in there and understand
20:08what's important to them, what makes them happy, what makes them, you know, at the end of the day
20:13feel relaxed or calm or however it is that they're trying to feel in their house. If I can hit that
20:20nail on the head, then I know I've done a good job. I just got a two minute warning from the
20:24booth and I want to end with a few fun questions. We're more than halfway through 2024, but what is
20:31a design or home building trend that we can expect to see in the next six months that you see already
20:37kind of brewing? Oh, yeah. OK, so let's talk colors real quick. OK, so grayish green is the color
20:45that's coming in big time for the end of the year. It's not gray. It's not green. It's grayish green.
20:52So you'll see a lot of that. You'll see it in bathrooms. You'll see it in cabinets. You'll see
20:55it wall color. You'll see it all over, maybe tile as well. The other thing I will say is that brown
21:01is back. It's not that gray is out, but brown is back in a big way. And so we're going to be seeing
21:06a lot of trends that we saw in the early 2000s are kind of coming back in. They're repeating
21:11themselves, but in a very different way. So that doesn't mean if your house is still not renovated
21:16from the early 2000s to just leave it. That's not the answer. But there are a lot of the same
21:21materials that we're seeing repeating themselves. So, yeah, look for that as well. If you could wave
21:26a magic wand and get rid of a current design trend, what would you excise from all of our memories?
21:34This is always a challenge. This is a tough one. I'm really into I'm really into hidden TVs right
21:41now. So if I could wave a magic wand, I would try to figure out a way to hide every TV in every
21:48project. And that's kind of my that's what I'm working on, at least in my own home right now,
21:53because I hate having this like big square on the wall. I love TV. Don't get me wrong. I have a TV
21:59show. But I wish I like when it's part of the design and it feels really intentional. So that's
22:04what I've been working on. And finally, if we were to speak one year from now, and I hope we do,
22:09what do you want to be able to tell me about either your life, your business, your show or
22:13all of the above? What do you hope to have accomplished within the next year?
22:17You know, I'm in the middle of a lot of life transitions and moving my family to Utah,
22:22moving my company to Utah, moving my show to Utah. I'm having a baby in the next couple of months. So
22:28I just hope I'm still around in a year. No, I'm just kidding. I just hope I can make it through
22:31all of that. No, I think, you know, having this platform, this opportunity is amazing. And I would
22:38encourage folks to set goals, set really big goals, but leave yourself open to the idea that
22:46it might not you might not reach that goal the way you thought you were going to. And being
22:49flexible is so important. So, yeah, I hope we can talk about, you know, where I was and say,
22:55well, how did you get here? How did you end up here a year later? And I don't know what that'll
23:01look like. But I'm definitely open to all of the different ideas and opportunities. I think that's
23:06how, you know, we can grow and progress in our careers and just through life. So, yeah, I just
23:12hope that we can have another conversation where we can talk about how everything went down.
23:18Jasmine, I hope for that as well. But in the meantime, good luck. Have a safe delivery.
23:22And I hope to talk to you on the other side of everything. So thank you so much.
23:26Thank you so much.