I was wondering if any of the contractors that Holmes fixes are actually held accountable for the poor work they did. I hope that all of them are put out of business, and some home owners should get their money back!!! I also wish they would say who the bad guys are so no one else will use them.
There should be another show where they force the contractors to watch Holmes on Homes and make comments. I'd love to see how they would spin what they had done.
Yeah, I remember that one. That was the one where they could a live under a tile floor in the kitchen so if the sink or dishwasher overflowed anyone standing on the floor barefoot would have been injured or killed.
I think that was in the episode Kitchen Coleslaw where Frank from Solutions Electrical said that Damon uncovered a wire that was just burried right under the floor and he said "if you have a dishwasher with an overflow you're livening up the whole floor." He called for the previous electrian's license to be pulled because the work was very shoddy.
Mike explained that on a show - shoddy contractors can change their DBA with a visit to a county office, so naming names wouldn't do much. XYZ Home Repair can be gone in an instant except - maybe - for tax records. I also think Mike's attitude is more "the damage has been done, lets fix it right and get on with it."
I saw an episode once where Mike Holmes pulled a "Mike Wallace" and showed up at a contractor's office with the camera crew in tow. I think it was one of the half-hour episodes that Discovery channel ran during 2008. Holmes' website tells how the show went from a half hour to an hour in the third season. HGTV may never run those episodes since they don't fit the pattern they've established.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for a day. Light a man on fire & he's warm for the rest of his life!
andy2008 on Wed Jan 27 2010 13:50:38 I saw an episode once where Mike Holmes pulled a "Mike Wallace" and showed up at a contractor's office with the camera crew in tow. I think it was one of the half-hour episodes that Discovery channel ran during 2008. Holmes' website tells how the show went from a half hour to an hour in the third season. HGTV may never run those episodes since they don't fit the pattern they've established. _____________________________________________________________________
That's what I figured...thank god for torrents!!!!
They can't do that unless they can prove that a contractor went in there with a clear intent to defraud the home owner. If they can't prove that a fraud took place then it's a civil litigation and not a criminal litigation.
Well like one of the other posters said Mike has the attitude of the damage is done, let's just fix it right. But you do have to be careful in a case like that because when dealing with television especially, the contractor they bad mouth, can come back with a slander lawsuit or liable, saying that was not the work they did, they messed it up for the show. Also it is hard to fight the contractors in court since they can either change the DBA of the company and claim that it was previous managment and they had nothing to do with the work. or the homeonwers are too in the hole to afford a lawyer, or the contractor can simply claim, they did they work, the person was just unhappy, an argument of quantity over quality.
I saw one episode the other day where the family's whole garage/den had to be taken down and Mike found one two by four that had been signed by one of the student assistants admitting it was his first job. I was disappointed when Mike covered the guy's name with his thumb when showing the board to the camera. The people tore up the woman's towels to clean up concrete and used her couch as a stepladder. If that had me home sick and catching them standing on my light colored couch they would have found that a chunk of concrete or a handy two by four makes a good head decoration.
So you think it's okay to ruin the home owners' property because your boss says it is? You would really have to be told to use a ladder instead of the couch to reach a high space?
I do remember one episode where Mike mentioned that the contracting company was currently under investigation, and another episode the homeowners in a neighborhood contracted fence project were looking into a lawsuit (figuring out who paid cash and who paid by check).
so some people are held accountable, I just think the majority of companies are not held responsible.
I saw one today where Mike said most of the laws protect the contractors and NOT the homeowners. He's in Canada, so I don't know if it's the same in the U.S. but I suspect it is. In fact, I'd surmise it's maybe worse here.
This show always upsets me. I look around at my house and wonder what's lurking there, ready to go wrong. And no Mike to the rescue for me!
In the US you really have to do your homework. Electricians and plumbers have to licensed but code can vary from locale to locale. Lots of roofers and carpenters work without licenses. Another poster got it right. If you go after ABC contractor; they close and are back a few days later as BCD contracting and so on.
There is a show on HGTV Canada called Cowboy Builders that is very similar to Holmes on Homes. It is a British show where they hunt down and confront the shoddy contractor in addition to fixing up the person's house. They really rub the contractor's nose in the dirt - they even put his/her contact info on the screen for a good 30 seconds before the end credits.
So if you're looking for the satisfaction of seeing contractors chewed out, check this one out.