CanadianContractor.ca Interview With Mike Holmes Video 7 - Commentary

Once again, here's the video. The video is CanadianContractor.ca's 7th video in the interview series they did with Mike Holmes.



In this video, Mike Holmes talks about the "crap" they sell at places such as Home Depot (my former employer), Lowes, and all the other big box stores. He gives the specific example of green drywall, which is often used for bathrooms due to its water resistant paper covering. It's also minimum code and cheap. The biggest problem with green drywall is that its not mold resistant, so why would we want to use it in a bathroom which is barraged with moisture? Especially when there are better options out there. The better options are more expensive, but Mike feels that the extra money is well worth the investment. He states that if homeowners and contractors alike insisted on using the correct products as opposed to the cheap ones, the big box stores would have no choice but to meet the demand of its customers. For Mike, it's all about building the house "from the outside in, and not the inside out," meaning the first priority should be the structure and composition of the home (the outside) - build the home to withstand the elements, resist mold, resist burning, and resist rot. After giving precedent to the outside, builders can then move inside to the design and aesthetics of the home. Homeowners will often put their focus on what the home looks like as opposed to what's behind those beautifully painted and tiled walls. As Mike Holmes always says, who cares about granite countertops and hardwood floors if your roof is leaking?

I recall several "live chats" with Mike Holmes where fans asked him about products he uses on his show such as Bluwood and Pinkwood. (I even saw a commercial the other day on television for a new product called Yellawood, which is a pressure treated pine. If Mike Holmes had his way, construction sites would look like day care centers with all the colorful woods!) Several fans asked him where they could find such products since they weren't carried at their local Home Depots or Lowes or other hardware stores. Mike referred them to their prospective websites and implied that if there was a demand for these premium, far superior products, then they would be more accessible at big box stores.

Long story short, in Mike's eyes, a good contractor (the 10% of contractors according to Mike) will educate his clients about good products, explaining the benefits of investing in such products. Educated clients will in turn choose better building materials, which will not only make the contractor more money, but will also increase the demand for better products in places such as Home Depot, thus eliminating the "crap." Everybody benefits - there is really no downside to choosing quality over cheap, because as the old saying goes, the cheap always comes out expensive in the end.