Mike Holmes comes from pretty humble beginnings. Having learned construction at an early age, he pursued a career in the industry. By the time he was 19 years old, Holmes was overseeing his own contracting company in his hometown of Toronto. By a twist of fate, he wound up in front of the camera and in millions of homes around the world as the star of HGTV's hit series Holmes on Homes. More shows would follow, and it wouldn't be long before Mike Holmes went from average contractor to bona fide celebrity. His friendly demeanor and real-world knowledge has made him one of HGTV's biggest stars, but that isn't all he's known for. Here's what really happened to Mike Holmes. Keep watching to see what actually happened to Mike Holmes.
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00:00Mike Holmes never set out to be a TV star. It just turned out that way. Nonetheless,
00:05that success has not come without some bumps along the way. To find out more about his journey from
00:09contractor to hero of TV home repair, here's what really happened to Mike Holmes.
00:14Mike Holmes' foray into television was not by design. Holmes was a full-time contractor when
00:18he was hired to do some building work on the set of a Canadian TV show dedicated to DIY home repair.
00:24As noted by The Globe and Mail, the ever-opinionated Holmes began telling the people
00:27who hired him that they had it all wrong. Holmes went into one of his trademark rants,
00:31explaining that encouraging homeowners to do their own renovations was a bad idea,
00:35since they usually did a lousy job. In fact, he pointed out, a huge portion of his business
00:40came from repairing the botched renovations done by people who had no idea what they were doing.
00:44Right off the bat, I don't like this.
00:46After Holmes apologized for overstepping his bounds, the producer of the show got an idea.
00:50Holmes should star on his own TV show, repairing homeowners' DIY disasters,
00:54and the shoddy work of shady contractors. Holmes on Holmes debuted on HGTV Canada in 2001.
01:00By 2004, the show was averaging 250,000 viewers an episode, a considerable number for a Canadian
01:06specialty channel. The beefy, tough-talking contractor had accidentally become a TV star.
01:11The success of Holmes on Holmes kept growing, as did the popularity of its star.
01:15Already a hit on HGTV Canada, the show was eventually picked up by HGTV in the U.S.,
01:20expanding his reach considerably. By 2005, Mike Holmes should have felt like he was on
01:25top of the world. Yet, he was dissatisfied. Mike Quast, the TV exec who'd first discovered him,
01:30told The Globe and Mail that Holmes had become disenchanted with his producer.
01:33According to Quast, Holmes invited him and crew member Pete Kettlewell to his home for a meeting.
01:38Holmes laid out his vision to expand his brand. The TV show, he explained,
01:41isn't the be-all and end-all, but one prong of a larger enterprise,
01:44all with a goal of educating homeowners about the importance of hiring skilled tradespeople
01:48to ensure they wouldn't be begging Holmes to fix lousy work down the road.
01:52During that meeting in Holmes' garage, the idea formed for the Holmes Group.
01:55Quast designated himself vice president of business development with the goal of building
01:59Holmes' brand, while Kettlewell became vice president of production, responsible for
02:03managing the TV show. With Mike Holmes' media and construction empire beginning to take shape,
02:082006 brought him a huge opportunity. As The Globe and Mail recounted, Nestlé Canada was in the
02:13process of launching a new brand of its Nescafe instant coffee, and commissioned a poll asking
02:17Canadians to name the celebrity they most trusted. Holmes' name was at the top of the
02:21list. The company wanted Holmes to be at the center of an advertising campaign for its new
02:25product launch. Mike Quast, however, wasn't sure if Holmes would go for that, given that chilling
02:29coffee was a bit out of his wheelhouse. To feel him out, he asked Holmes what kind of coffee he
02:33drank. The answer? Nescafe's instant coffee. The ensuing campaign was a massive success,
02:38with Holmes' partnership with the company renewed multiple times.
02:41You wanna make things right, you gotta start right.
02:44As Holmes later told Sudbury.com,
02:46When they approached me about the commercial, I said if they can relate the commercial to what
02:49I do and keep it real, I'd say yes to it. Because the real truth is I drink Nescafe,
02:53and have for years. As The Globe and Mail reported, Mike Holmes' brand exploded in 2009.
02:59Not only was Holmes on Holmes now being seen by American HGTV viewers,
03:03the Holmes group also began an ambitious expansion that included an ultra-greenhousing development,
03:07a Canada-wide home inspection service, and a line of Holmes-branded workwear.
03:11However, the latter didn't have an easy path to the marketplace.
03:14According to The Globe and Mail, the Holmes group partnered with a Winnipeg-based manufacturer.
03:18A stickler for quality, Holmes was insistent that he had final say on the design of products,
03:22rather than just slapping his moniker on the company's existing merchandise.
03:26Once the Holmes workwear products hit shelves, however, they were being marketed as, quote,
03:29a premium version of the existing line, as opposed to its own standalone brand.
03:33Those issues, however, were ultimately sorted out. A decade later,
03:37Holmes Workwear continues to be a successful venture, consisting of a wide array of items,
03:41ranging from canvas work pants to tool belts to fire-resistant coveralls for welders.
03:46Mike Holmes lent a hand in the wake of the devastation that Hurricane Katrina
03:49unleashed on New Orleans. As Holmes told Toronto Star,
03:52it all started when Brad Pitt founded his Make It Right Foundation, with a mission to build
03:56new homes for residents of the Lower Ninth Ward whose homes had been destroyed.
03:59There was one issue, however. Holmes holds the trademark to Make It Right and even has
04:03it tattooed on his bicep. Rather than seek an injunction, however, Holmes offered another
04:07solution. Pitt could use the name, and Holmes would provide his expertise. Holmes said,
04:12"[He had his vision of doing it when I talked to him,
04:14but he knew he didn't know enough about it.] That's where Holmes came in,
04:17bringing his crew to the Big Easy to rebuild a home, which was filmed and aired as Holmes
04:21in New Orleans." During Mike Holmes' time in New Orleans, he became downright evangelical
04:25about the advantages of eco-friendly building products and techniques. He told The Globe and
04:29Mail,
04:30"...Everyone's talking green. Well, let's really go green. Why don't we change the
04:34building process? If no one else is going to do it, I'm going to do it."
04:37Build a home that won't burn, won't mold, that's termite-resistant.
04:40In fact, Holmes went on to become a big proponent of net-zero homes,
04:44houses that are, quote,
04:45"...sustainable and energy efficient," as he wrote on the HGTV Canada website.
04:49A net-zero home, he explained, produces its own energy locally,
04:52with an end goal of producing as much energy as it uses, if not more.
04:55In order to achieve this, Holmes wrote,
04:57"...the building envelope must be highly efficient,
04:59with all cracks and gaps completely sealed to ensure there's virtually no air leakage."
05:03Especially crucial with windows and doors, building a green, energy-efficient home
05:07requires an investment up front. But it's an investment that will pay you back every month,
05:11for as long as you live in it. It really is the future of housing.
05:15In 2009, Mike Holmes ventured into the world of publishing with the launch of Holmes,
05:19the magazine to make it right. He said in a press release,
05:21"...this is the magazine homeowners need to help them with their renovations.
05:25It's the magazine I was searching for and couldn't find.
05:27So I had to make my own magazine and make it right."
05:30The magazine didn't last long. According to the Toronto Star, Holmes got into a dispute
05:34with the publisher, Dauphin Media Group, which led to the magazine folding in 2011.
05:38Things became even worse when the publishing company ceased operations in 2012,
05:42leaving behind unpaid rent and ticked off subscribers who'd been waiting to be reimbursed.
05:46As Mike Holmes' group director of communications, Liza Drozdov, told the Star,
05:50their sole involvement in the magazine was, quote,
05:52"...regulating a portion of the editorial content."
05:54Meaning Holmes himself didn't really have all that much to do with the publication. Drozdov said,
05:59"...Mike feels terrible about it, but it's not his fault. He didn't get any of that money."
06:03As Holmes on Holmes maintained its massive popularity with viewers in the U.S.,
06:06Mike Holmes continued to remain a wildly popular TV presence in his home and native land.
06:11In fact, a 2010 feature in Reader's Digest listed him as among the 10 most trusted Canadians.
06:16The list put Holmes in some pretty celebrated company. Other Canadians to earn the trust of
06:20their fellow citizens included Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox, Queen Elizabeth II,
06:25who technically isn't Canadian but is the country's constitutional monarch,
06:28and celebrated CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge. Holmes took the number two spot on the Reader's
06:33Digest poll, with the publication noting that his work, quote, "...brings a sense of security
06:37that people appreciate." Topping the list, by the way, was Dr. David Suzuki, founder of the
06:41David Suzuki Foundation and veteran host of long-running CBC nature documentary series
06:45The Nature of Things. In 2012, the Holmes group lost one of its three founding members when Brian
06:50Quast, who was then-CEO, parted ways with the company. According to a news release about his
06:55departure, the split was an amicable one. A new CEO, Julius Brinkman, was hired. When he left a
07:00mere two years later, his exit was far more acrimonious, and actually led him to sue Mike
07:05Holmes and two Holmes Group co-directors for a hefty $3.1 million. As the Calgary Herald reported,
07:10Brinkman alleged that his contract had been breached when the company failed to pay him 5
07:13percent of the $15.5 million he'd raised, and also didn't reimburse him for expenses that were,
07:18quote, "...reasonably incurred." Other allegations in the suit included claims that Holmes' company
07:22had allegedly, quote, "...failed to establish a benefits program in which he could participate,
07:27as well as having created a working environment designed to frustrate his efforts."
07:30Holmes himself never commented on the lawsuit. Given that the legal action didn't generate any
07:34further news reports, it would appear the matter was settled privately, outside the courts.
07:39While Holmes' magazine proved to be a bust, that didn't deter him from making further attempts to
07:43immortalize his philosophy and knowledge in print. In 2006, he published his first book,
07:48Make It Right, inside home renovation with Canada's most trusted contractor.
07:51He followed that up with a 2011 tome specializing in attics and basements,
07:55and another in 2013, focusing on kitchens and bathrooms. In 2015, Holmes unveiled his magnum
08:00opus, The Holmes Manual, described as a must-have guide for homeowners that answers their most
08:04common questions. Holmes dropped by Canadian talk show George Trompolopoulos Tonight to
08:09promote the book, and explained that the impetus for his manual emerged after spending years being
08:13stopped by viewers in public asking him questions about the specific issues they were having with
08:17their homes. He explained,
08:19It just made sense. Let's do a manual."
08:21And this way, instead of reading the whole book like a lot of people seem to not want to do
08:25anymore, they want an answer now." Mike Holmes' children, Sherry Holmes and Mike Holmes Jr.,
08:30first started appearing on screen in 2013's Holmes Makes It Right. The siblings have been
08:34a part of their father's myriad of television shows ever since, including the likes of Holmes
08:38Next Generation, Holmes 911, and Holmes & Holmes. Mike Jr. took center stage in 2014's Mike's
08:43Ultimate Garage, a two-hour special that put him in the driver's seat to build his dad a
08:47sweet 1,800-square-foot garage-slash-man cave. As Mike Sr. told The Ottawa Citizen,
08:51relinquishing control to his son took a Herculean effort.
08:54It was very hard. I'm the guy that's on a site from beginning to end.
08:57It's the first time I've walked away and had someone else finish it."
09:00Meanwhile, Sherry accompanied her dad when he went to New Orleans,
09:03happily serving as a member of his construction crew. As she told The Times Colonist,
09:07I would do it again in a heartbeat. Mike Sr. added,
09:09I love working with my kids, watching them build on what they know and get better every day.
09:14Mike Holmes and his various TV series have been a staple on HGTV for years,
09:18but he had the opportunity to broadcast to his biggest audience yet with Home Free on the Fox
09:22Network. In its review of the series, The Hollywood Reporter outlined the premise,
09:26nine couples competed to build the ultimate dream home, restoring a ramshackle house in
09:30Atlanta for a needy family, with the poorest-performing couple eliminated.
09:33Or so they thought. What actually took place was that the eliminated couple won the house
09:37they'd just renovated. That wasn't Holmes' only experience with U.S. network television.
09:41In late 2020, a press release announced Fox was picking up Holmes' Family Effect,
09:45a new series in which Holmes and children perform surprise home makeovers for people
09:48who are leaders in their respective communities. Holmes said,
09:51I am absolutely thrilled about bringing Holmes' Family Effect to Fox.
09:54Furthermore, in 2021, Holmes teamed up with Windy City Rehab's Alison Victoria
09:58for Rock the Block's second season.
10:01Since first entering the realm of television back in 2001, Mike Holmes' shows may have evolved,
10:05but his message has remained remarkably consistent. Holmes' commitment to quality
10:09workmanship has been unwavering and is woven in the fabric of all his shows. In 2019,
10:14Holmes took another big step when he parted ways with HGTV and inked a big deal with Canadian
10:18media conglomerate Bell Media, corporate owner of Canada's CTV network. Holmes said in an
10:23announcement,
10:24I'm absolutely thrilled about this new partnership with CTV. I look forward to bringing new content
10:28to CTV's portfolio of networks and spreading the make-it-right message with even more Canadians
10:33across the country. While financial details of the deal weren't publicized, it's safe to assume it
10:37took big bucks to pull him away from HGTV, his television home of nearly 20 years. According
10:42to Celebrity Net Worth, Holmes' wealth is estimated to be in the $30 million range.