All American Handyman – Week 3 Recap

It was “From Clutter and Chaos to the Dream Garage” week, and the Handyman contestants were whittled down to 7 after this week’s exciting, albeit somewhat predictable elimination. Here’s the Holmes Spot recap for week 3 of All American Handyman…

In this week’s “fix-it” challenge, the contestants were given 90 minutes to replace a broken window. Simple enough for any competent handyman or woman, right? Wrong. The kicker was that the new window was larger than the old one, and the Handyman hopefuls had to cut into structure to make the new window fit.
The contestants started out strong, but Mike and Scott noticed a lot of mistakes as they observed their work in progress. 

 Mike was not impressed by Scott C. (“Sarge”). His work was a tad rushed and “imprecise.” As time began to run down, Mike observed Sarge putting the new window in inside out, and then upside down.

Sonne decided to build the new window’s structure on the floor instead of building it in place and ran into problems when the structure wouldn’t fit into the wall’s frame.

Julia was once again working at a snail’s pace and continued to fall behind the other contestants. As usual, she failed to finish her project.

Rodney ran into problems when he overcut the wrong piece of structure, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. In the end, he was missing the jack studs, rendering his header useless. However, Scott told Rodney that he admired how he made a mistake in the beginning, but kept on going without getting discouraged.

Carol got flustered under the pressure as Scott, Mike, and Anitra observed her work. The more frustrated she got, the redder her face turned. Mike asked her if she needed any help, but Carol felt intimidated by his “tone” and essentially shooed him away. She even accused Mike of giving her attitude during the judging process, putting Mike on the defensive.

Michael failed to put any cripples/jack studs under his header, leaving it unsupported and pretty much useless. He acknowledged his mistake, stating “You can’t win them all.”

There were some contestants who did well, however. Chris L. impressed Scott when he “beefed up” his header with glue and nails. In fact, Mike called Chris L.’s structure “perfect.” However, Chris L. failed to finish the project in the time allotted. Scott H. was also observed to be doing quite well, and worked at a good pace. He finished the project with flying colors.

In the end, Scott H. was the clear winner to the judges and contestants alike. He “slaughtered it” according to Scott. His project was pretty much perfect and he was awarded the round 2 “build-it” advantage. Mike’s only criticism? “The window’s dirty,” he pointed out with a smirk on his face.

Round 2’s “build-it” challenge was to create a well-organized garage oasis in 3 hours, using a variety of organization accessories. The garage was to include a work bench and need to have enough space to park a car in. Ryan Ostrom, chief marketing officer from Craftsman, once again served as guest judge.

The teams for the build-it challenge were randomly selected.

Team 1 – Scott H. and Scott C. “Sarge”

Team 2 – Carol and Sonne

Team 3 – Michael and Chris L.

Team 4 – Rodney and Julia

The teams were judged on teamwork, how they utilized the available space, and how they used the accessories they were given.

Scott H. won the advantage in round 1. The advantage was a two minute head start to get all the organization accessories his team needed. The accessories included Craftsman VersaTracks, various hooks, and racks. Scott H. and Sarge’s strategy was to use their advantage to take everything they could, leaving the other contestants with very slim pickings.

During the challenge, Carol and Sonne had a hard time seeing eye-to-eye. Within a short amount of time, however, they found their groove and began working well together. When Mike and Scott entered their garage to judge it, they noticed a poorly constructed shelf which lacked proper support. The shelf was also dangerous because a person could easily hit their head on it. Overall, they did a lot of little things right, displayed relatively good teamwork, but didn’t execute the project well as a whole.

Scott H. and Scott C. created a fairly well organized garage, but didn’t use the big wall to its full potential in Mike’s opinion. They also didn’t make good use of the glut of accessories they accumulated with the two minute advantage Scott H. earned during round 1. In the end, they admitted to using the advantage as a way to sabotage the other teams as opposed to helping themselves win the challenge. In Mike’s words, they “didn’t take advantage of [their] advantage.”

Rodney and Julia’s team had a lot of problems. Rodney formulated the project’s plan “in his head” – not a good idea when you’re supposed to be working as a team. Rodney used Julia as his own personal “go-for” yelling “JULIA!” over and over and over again during the challenge. Julia did not step up and take any kind of leadership, instead, she allowed herself to be used as more of an assistant to Rodney. In the end, the work bench they were supposed to build together was weak and structurally unsound. Mike also found the makeshift bike hook constructed from a small piece of VersaTrack and a piece of wood laughably awful. In fact, he pulled it off the wall and took it with him on his way out.

Chris L. and Michael did very well throughout the entire challenge. They built a solid workbench, and made good use of the VersaTrack, although it was a bit randomly placed on the wall. All in all, they executed a good plan, and created a fairly good shelving unit. However, Mike noted that the shelving unit was very deep, and cripples/jacks should have been used to support the deep shelves.

Chris L. and Michael were judged by Mike and Scott to be the top team in the build-it challenge. This win was the third win in a row for Chris L.

The bottom team was judged by Mike and Scott to be Julia and Rodney. Their lack of team work combined with some poor craftsmanship sunk them into last place. Mike stated that Julia looked “bored and tired.” Because, according to Mike and Scott, she wasn’t progressing in her skill level, and that she worked abnormally slow when compared to the other contestants, Julia was eliminated from the competition. Rodney was spared from elimination because he was deemed “creative” and “eager” and therefore had the most potential for improvement.

That’s the All American Handyman week 3 recap! If you missed week 1 and week 2, you can read the Holmes Spot recaps, or you can go to HGTV and watch the full episodes.

ALL AMERICAN HANDYMAN CONTESTANTS - WEEK 3

 

 

 

All American Handyman – Week 2 Recap

 
Another exciting week of All American Handyman has come and gone, and yet another contestant has been forced to hang up his tool belt, whittling the handyman hopefuls down to 8. Here’s the Holmes Spot All American Handyman week 2 recap…

Week two, “Crying Babies and Playground Battles,” subjected the remaining 9 contestants to two ridiculously hard challenges. In the “fix-it” challenge, contestants were to complete four common tasks: 1) replace a doorknob, 2) repair a broken screen, 3) patch some drywall, and lastly 4) replace a light switch with a dimmer switch. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. The kicker was that the contestants had to work quietly, as they could not wake a simulated baby in a crib several feet from their working space. The “baby” was a microphone attached to a flashing light. If the light went off, the contestant was disqualified from the challenge.

Sonne was the first to be DQ’d, waking the baby within the first five minutes of the challenge. Although the other contestants took great pains to be as quiet as possible, one by one they fell, leaving only thee contestants standing by the end of the allotted time: Carol, Scott H., and Michael. Mike and Scott examined the work of the three remaining handymen, judging the quality of their work and the cleanliness of their workspace. They judged Michael to be the winner, mainly because he was the only contestant to finish all four tasks without waking the “baby.”

In the “build-it” challenge, contestants were given 4 hours to build a swing set. Mike stated that the contestants were being judged on the following criteria: 50% teamwork, 50% creativity, and 100% safety. Michael, who won the advantage in the “fix-it” round, grouped the remaining contestants into the following teams:

Team 1 – Scott H. (Team Leader), Michael, Rodney

Team 2 – Paul (Team Leader), Carol, Scott C.

Team 3 – Chris L. (Team Leader), Julia, Sonne

Ryan Ostrom, Chief Marketing Officer for Craftsman Tools was introduced to the contestants as the surprise guest judge.

At the end of the 4 hours, three distinguishable playground swing sets were certainly present, but not one got the pass from Mike. As the contestants entered the warehouse, a pile of wood pieces from their swing sets were piled bonfire style in the middle of the floor, signifying a job not well done.

The criticism for Team 1 was that they did not read or follow the safety instructions included with every piece of playground equipment they were to build with. As a result, there were major safety issues.

The criticism given to Team 2 was similar to Team 1: safety. Their sloppy swing set left both Mike and Scott unimpressed.

Lastly, Team 3 somewhat impressed Mike by installing most of the railing on the inside of the swing set, making for a safer railing. They also installed a safety guard in front of the swings, and demonstrated fairly good planning. However, as the time wound down, they rushed and installed part of the railing incorrectly, and Mike was easily able to pull it apart with his bare hands.

In the end, Team 3 was judged to have the best built playground. At the bottom of the pile, up for elimination was Team 2. Scott explained that there were several “fatal flaws” that led to their team being on the chopping block. Primarily, they displayed a lack of communication and leadership, which in turn led to sloppy work (nails poking through the boards, for instance), as well as many safety issues.

 

Scott C. “Sarge” was called to the carpet and asked whom he though should be sent home. Scott C.’s answer to the judges was that he thought he should be sent home, because he felt he was more of a cheerleader than a leader. Scott C. stated that if he got to stay, he would never make that mistake again. For that reason, Scott C. was not eliminated and spared another for another week, leaving team leader Paul and Carol on the chopping block. In the end, Paul was sent home, because essentially the breakdown between the team members was due to poor communication, and as the team leader, Paul was held responsible.

One interesting thing, this episode of All American Handyman was (as far as I can tell) the network debut of Mike’s new tattoos. During the build-it challenge, Mike rolled up his sleeves, exposing his half-sleeve tattoos for the first time on TV (or at least the first time on TV that I’ve seen). See Mike Holmes Tattoo Watch 2012 for more information.

You can also read my All American Handyman Week 1 Recap, if you missed last week. Or, you can watch the full episode on HGTV.  

 

ALL AMERICAN HANDYMAN CONTESTANTS - WEEK 2

 

 

Other Photos From Week 2 (HGTV)

 

 

 

 



 

Canada's Busiest Contractor - A Blast From The Past!

What can I say? It's been a pretty slow news week in the world of Holmes. There are no more playgrounds being built, and I'm eagerly awaiting Mike's birthday next week so that I can post his super awesome birthday present. Mike's also been taking a Facebook hiatus for the last week, which has kind of left a void of new content for the time being. But never fear! We here at the Holmes Spot have hopped in our time machine and traveled back in time to the year 2008. The article is from the Edmonton Journal, and discusses Mike's busy life as Canada's most trusted contractor. Not a whole lot has changed from then to now. Mike's still a pretty busy guy.

In 2008, Americans were just starting to get to know Mike through his show Holmes on Homes. Of course, today he's just as much of a hero here in the good ol' USA as he is up north. (In fact more than half of the readers of this blog are American!) And of course, Mike's biggest fan (me!) is American as well. It only goes to show what a few short years can do.

The article also talks about Mike's books and his side job as host of Handyman Superstar Challenge, the Canadian forefather of All American Handyman, which is ironically hosted by two Canadians (Mike and Scott McGillivary).
Get your flux capacitors in gear and enjoy this Holmes Spot BLAST FROM THE PAST...

Canada's busiest contractor

Canada's most trusted contractor is also Canada's busiest contractor.

By The Edmonton Journal February 25, 2008

Canada's most trusted contractor is also Canada's busiest contractor.
As if being inundated with requests to fix shoddily built homes on this side of the border didn't occupy enough of his time, Mike Holmes is filming two different shows for HGTV Canada, writing a second book, and being called upon to help Americans make sure that their homes are also up to snuff.
Somewhere else in his 24-hour days, Holmes is moving forward with his plans to build Holmes-approved new houses across the country and attempting to get more young people into the homebuilding sector.
Like the Energizer bunny, he just keeps on going and going and going.
After a number of successful appearances on the Los Angeles-originated Ellen DeGeneres Show -- he is the talk show's resident contractor having already helped one Ellen viewer who was left with a contractor on the run, a huge new mortgage, and construction bills piling up -- Holmes will soon pop up on ABC's 20/20 news magazine.
"I just got back from New York and was on 20/20, which will air at the end of September. They came here and filmed me here, I went there and filmed in the studio and I went to a homeowner's home devastated by a contractor," says Holmes. "It's all about how do you get into this position and how do you get out of it."
And Holmes notes that builders on the other side of the border can be just as bad as the ones that he finds problems with here.
"Most definitely, the home construction is just as bad there. I think the show is what makes everyone aware of it -- Holmes on Homes is climbing very fast in the States," says Holmes.
On this side of the 49th parallel, Holmes is busy filming a new season of Handyman Superstar Challenge with Jim Caruk -- he notes that they started with 20 contenders and on the first day there were just 10 left -- and season seven of Holmes on Homes. New episodes will debut in the beginning of October, with six new shows from season six followed by the beginning of season seven.
One of the highlights this year was a plan to take the Holmes on Homes crew across Canada and try to fix at least one home in each province, but to Holmes' chagrin that didn't come about.
"The whole hope was to go right across Canada, but we needed an extra $3 million to do it -- so we ended up settling to do four outside of Toronto. It's not what I wanted, but at least I got to do some (work) outside of Toronto," says Holmes. "It's too bad it wasn't more."
Two of those four shows have been filmed, the first in Saint John, N.B., and the second in Calgary. After shooting on Handyman Superstar Challenge wraps up, the Holmes on Homes team will head to Northern Ontario and then Vancouver to finish the four non-Toronto shows.
"When we filmed in Saint John, the mayor came out, and we got the red-carpet treatment. They gave me a 'building inspector of Saint John' award -- I could not believe the number of people that came to the site. In Calgary, the mayor came out and I got the key to the city, which was a hat," says Holmes, referring to the traditional white cowboy hat given to honoured dignitaries.
In between all this, he's about three-quarters of the way through penning his second book, which is about selling your current house and buying your next one.
"The first book (Make It Right, Inside Home Renovation) is doing phenomenal. It's still as strong today as it first came out. I wish I could give everyone in the country a book -- it's all about the homeowner, it's not about me," says Holmes.
But even with all this on his plate, Holmes continues to fight to get more women into the business and is working with Canadian colleges to get more young people into the construction trades.
"I have two full-time female apprentices on the show. They're very eager, very hard workers. I'm impressed with the women I've met across the country: electricians, carpenters. I love it. It's really going to wake up the men (in the industry) and keep them honest," says Holmes.
And as far as his mantra of doing it right and the stunning amount of shoddy construction work he has had to repair, Holmes had one last thing to add.
"I can't say it enough: you steal a pack of gum, you get arrested. If you steal $100,000 from a homeowner -- and just because you've done a week's amount of work -- the legal system says you can't be charged with fraud, which means you won't get arrested and nothing is going to happen with you," says Holmes. "Let's fix this now.

© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

Mike Holmes and Scott McGillivray visit JJ and Melanie in the Morning

It might have been a chilly 7 degrees outside the Flow 93.5 studios in Toronto, but Mike Holmes and Scott McGillivary of  Canada's Handyman Superstar Challenge and its American counterpart  All American Handyman  were heating things up. In this March 2011 radio chat, Mike discusses his proclivity to cut through other people's BS on his shows, stating "I know you cannot take the strips off a tiger, I am who I am." Mike Holmes definitely knows how to use a tool belt, AND looks good in one too. As far as who's the better handyman... sorry Scott. You know who our vote goes to.

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