Why Your House Can’t Be on HGTV

That’s right, you just got the news: your house didn’t get picked to be on HGTV.  But why?! I get asked all the time what it would take to get a house on an HGTV show and the answer might surprise you.

What I usually tell people when asked in person, is that figuratively speaking, the stars have to align. There has to be a production company “casting” (aka looking for houses) in your area and then you have to check off all the boxes for whatever the parameters that particular show has set.

But as a general rule, here are things that might disqualify you:

1. YOUR PROJECT TIMELINE IS TOO LONG

Because we’re making a TV show, we have to follow all the construction and progress on camera. So if your project is a multi-year project (like many of my @builtcustomhomes projects are) it won’t work for TV. Sorry!

But hey, look on the bright side – chances are you’ll have a beautiful new house at the end of your project!

2. YOUR PROJECT BUDGET IS TOO BIG

Leave it to TV to make you feel bad about saving your money and investing it into your house. Ha! Similar to the timeline, if a project has too many moving parts, it’s impossible to follow it in a half-hour or 1-hour show. So if your renovation budget is over $150,000, chances are your house can’t be on TV.

Other than that, generally speaking, if you check off the needs for whatever show is casting in your area, you could be picked! And just so you know, another reason I’ve turned down families for my show is unrealistic expectations. I love ambition and I love a good pie-in-the-sky plan, but if I tell a family that something isn’t going to be possible and they don’t seem to believe me, that’s a big red flag that they’re going to be problem clients. And to all of you that have applied to be on my show – thank you! It means the world to me that you would consider me and my team. Keep applying!