Following dad into the family business isn’t always easy. When your dad is Make It Right contractor Mike Holmes, you better be prepared to roll up your sleeves.
Two of his three kids, Mike Holmes Jr. and Sherry Holmes, are part of his regular work crew this season on Holmes Inspection. The series returns for a second season Thursday on HGTV.
All three were on hand at a work site in the northwest corner of Toronto a few weeks ago, gutting a 50-year-old suburban bungalow that had been contaminated with asbestos and lead products, a too familiar find in properties of a certain vintage.
“Anytime before the ’80s they used asbestos in the plaster,” says Damon Bennett, the crew supervisor Holmes refers to as “my general.”
Holmes is on a mission to save the environment one house at a time, limiting grey water drainage and channelling new sources of energy and power.
“Do you really want to bring arsenic into a house?” says Bennett. “Mike’s leading the way in trying to change the industry.”
Holmes, 47, couldn’t be prouder that his children have followed in his footsteps. (Another daughter, Amanda, works in the office).
Sherry Holmes says her dad took her to work sites at an early age and was always building stuff for her, including a handmade Barbie house. “It had hinges and opened up and everything,” she recalls.
Working for her dad isn’t always easy, she admits. He’s a demanding taskmaster and treats her like the rest of the crew.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she says. “I’ve worked hard to be accepted into this man’s world.”
Her brother, 21, says he was more into school and not so much into construction as a young teen. Holmes Sr. says his son had a “black belt in Nintendo.”
The elder Holmes, who did his first plumbing job at 12 and had his own construction crew at 19, couldn’t understand his son’s initial reluctance to get his hands dirty.
His son is now motivated by all the exercise on the job. Hauling gravel, wood and drywall has him in shape, although he also works out at the gym. After all, people expect him to have his dad’s Popeye forearms.
“I have to live up to the image,” he says.
Both kids say being involved in efforts to build homes in New Orleans were life changing experiences.
“When we went to New Orleans, I somehow fell in with the construction crew,” says Sherry Holmes, who had previously joined her big sister in the office. “I worked harder there than I have ever worked before.”
Holmes says both kids wanted to quit half way through the New Orleans experience, which was hot and gruelling.
A month or so later, however, Holmes says most of the crew wanted to go back.
Holmes hopes to inspire other kids to get into the construction business with his next TV venture: Mighty Mike, a cartoon series based on his childhood adventures.
“I was always building tree houses and stuff,” he says. He hopes to have it up and running within a year.
He’s surprised by all the children who watch Holmes Inspection and his other shows. (The original, Holmes on Homes, began in 2000.)
“I saw an opportunity to do a cartoon and teach ... kids to get into the industry.”
His children are now at an age when they’re buying their own houses. His son recently picked up a bungalow that is quite the fixer upper.
“It’s a lot of work coming home after a full day’s work,” he says.
Even Holmes himself admits there’s some truth to the old adage that a contractor’s home is never finished. That’s where Bennett got smart.
“I just bought a condo,” he says. “The last thing you want to do at the end of the day is work on your own place.”
Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.