Mike Holmes
Mike Holmes Trivia
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Trivia
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In July 2010, in association with the Assembly of First Nations, Mike Holmes announced a pilot project to build new housing units and retrofit some existing homes on the native reserves. Holmes says he wants to help address the "neglect and poor conditions for housing" in many First Nations communities.
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Mike accompanied the Canadian delegation to the Copenhagen Summit on Global Climate Change in 2010 as an official advisor.
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In June of 2009, Mike Holmes had been named the Parade Marshal for the Calgary Stampede.
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In early 2009, Mike Holmes opened a home inspection business in Toronto, Ontario called Holmes Inspections in response to all of the complaints he had received over the years about poor and unqualified home inspectors who could not identify major defects in the buildings they were making reports on.
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In an effort to prove that homes can be built to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient, Mike Holmes has been supervising the construction of a sustainable community near Okotoks, Alberta.
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He has been the spokesman for Nescafe coffee since 2006.
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His show, Holmes on Homes, had been nominated for a 2008 Gemini Award in Canada in the category of "Best Lifestyle/Practical Information Series"
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The first "hurricane proof" houses that Mike Holmes helped design and build was completed just before Hurricane Gustav hit New Orleans in 2008. It came through with flying colors.
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Teaming up with Brad Pitt's foundation, appropriatley called "Make It Right", Mike has donated his time and expertise to help build new homes for Katrina victims in New Orleans, Louisiana. The houses are designed to withstand hurricane force winds and flooding so that the owners will never have to suffer like they did after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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When a young fan, Zack Robichaud, who had been inspired by Mike to become a professional carpenter, was killed in a car accident, Mike Holmes and the Holmes Foundation donated an industrial quality table saw to the school where Zack was studying carpentry.
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Mike is a strong supporter of SOS Children's Villages. They work to provide housing for orphans throughout the world.
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In an interview in Los Angeles, he warned the assembled reporters that the subprime mortgage crisis is a perfect breeding ground for unscrupulous contractors. People will look to save money on necessary repairs and hire the cheapest person available. That always leads to more problems and more money wasted.
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He is spending the summer and fall of 2008 in New Orleans heading a project to stimulate new home construction and home repairs for the victims of Hurricane Katrina who are still recovering.
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He has serious complaints about television shows that lead people to believe that flipping a house is easy and anyone can do it. It usually leads to renovation disasters that requires someone like him to come in and fix.
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He started his first contracting company when he was 19 years old and had a crew of 13 working for him.
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On February 21 2008, Mike Holmes received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
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Mike Holmes was the keynote speaker at the National Aboriginal Trades Symposium in 2008.
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He founded the Holmes Foundation which grants annual scholarships to train skilled workers and to perform charitable renovation projects for needy community centers.
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Mike Holmes has joined with the organization S.O.S. Children's Villages in an effort to raise awareness and funds for orphaned and abandoned children around the world.
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When Mike Holmes traveled out to Los Angeles to do the "Ellen" show, he did not plan to do any home renovation when he arrived, but when he heard about the plight of homeowners Jennifer and Abraham, he decided to come to their rescue and filmed the two-part show "Pasadena 911" for his own show "Holmes On Homes".
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In 2004, Mike was nominated for a Gemini Award in the category of "Best Host or Interviewer in a Practical Information, or Performing Arts Program or Series", but lost to Shaun Majumder, the host of Shaun's Great Adventure.
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In 2004, Mike won the "Viewer's Choice" Award at the annual Gemini Awards ceremony.
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Mike was nominated for the 2006 Gemini Award for "Viewers' Choice Award for Lifestyle Host."
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Quotes
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Mike Holmes: If you're going to do something, do it right the first time.
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Mike Holmes: Make it right.
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Mike Holmes: (When he was asked about his experiences helping Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" Foundation in New Orleans) Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw the first time I visited the Lower 9th Ward. It was almost three years since Hurricane Katrina and the devastation looked like it had just happened. This was a vibrant area before the levees broke. There was no sign of rebuilding. No infrastructure. No plans in place to get people back into their homes. I offered the Make It Right New Orleans project my commitment to build a home that was not only LEED-platinum certified, but would also be able to withstand future hurricanes and floods. It was a huge challenge for me and my crew, but it was also one of the most inspiring and rewarding experiences of my life.
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Mike Holmes: (discussing the work that is being done by the "Make It Right Foundation" to rebuild New Orleans) It's going to be a long time before all these people get help. We've thrown a pebble in the pond. The ripple effect is starting.
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Mike Holmes: (Talking about the increasing popularity of "green" products) I like to see people go green, but what I'm seeing is it's becoming more about marketing. 'Buy this,' 'Use that,' 'Do it this way.' Green is understanding how your home will not grow mould, how the products you are using are friendly not only to the Earth but to you personally, what you're breathing in your own home.
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Mike Holmes: (Talking to people who are interested in flipping homes) You need to have the right people in to do the right work for the right dollar to do a good flip. If you do it wrong, you're simply giving the problem to the next person who buys that house.
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Mike Holmes: (Talking about the popularity of Do-It-Yourself renovation shows) I think the mistake is showing how simple it can be. "You can do it yourself." I'm totally against it. You might as well do your own brain operations.
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Mike Holmes: In my world of Holmes on Homes, we fix crap after crap because of house flippers that don't know how to do it right.
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Mike Holmes: (On starting a construction company to build eco-friendly homes) My philosophy is that we build 'em better, and brag about it.
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Mike Holmes: (On how his show "Holmes On Homes" was created) I had a big mouth. I got to know the executive producer of HGTV and I said, "You guys need a show like this..." and I went off. Then they said to me that they wanted a pilot right away and I said "not a chance," and then they convinced me to try it.
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Mike Holmes: (On why he doesn't name the unqualified contractors whose work he comes in to fix) It's really not going to help anybody. I would love more than anything, to tell the world, Joe Blow's a bad guy don't hire him. The problem is, until the laws change, they protect the contractors. They can change their name the very next day, so all we're gonna have is a bad list of bad names and it doesn't help anyone.
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Mike Holmes: I never thought of myself as a hero, I definitely think that somebody needs to do this work and that's a definite. And if it gives me the opportunity to help change the building industry and help make people aware, then I'm in. I'll do anything I have to do to make that happen.
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Mike Holmes: We're all looking for the best in our fridges and our cars and everything else, but what about our homes? This is our most expensive purchase and we're looking for minimum code.
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Mike Holmes: I don't think of myself as a celebrity, I think of myself as a contractor.
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Mike Holmes: It's simple: The more skilled trades people we have, the less bad workmanship will be out there. And the less I'll have to fix.
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Mike Holmes: Finding a good contractor is hard work. Don't go looking for services that claim to make that work easier for you - it's the hard work that you put into the process that helps get the job off on the right foot. Leaving that work undone, or leaving it to others, is a recipe for a bad job.
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Mike Holmes: Do you buy a car that has minimum tires, minimum engine, minimum seat belts? No we don't, we want to buy better. I think the issue with new homes and older homes is not knowing if the minimum code is enough. Well I've proved it over and over again that it's not.
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Mike Holmes: I've been fixing a lot of sloppy, lazy and dangerous work for the past two decades. I think it's time to expose the work of these so-called contractors and help some homeowners make informed decisions. I want to take the word 'minimum' out of the construction industry and stop the slow death of craftsmanship.
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