Have you ever watched a design show and thought to yourself – how lucky are those home owners that get to have their house or room redone for free.

Reasons why Reality TV design shows give you the wrong Expectations when Renovating Your Home

1. Time Frame –

This is the first time the designer is seeing the house meeting the homeowner: Well that actually may be true, but it is not the first time the designer is seeing the space. If it was not the actual designer who appears on the show, the rooms have been measured and photographed, by their design assistants., . The designer and their team have been working on the home for a minimum of a month, in preparation of filming the show. Basically the entire design has been laid out, ordered and ready for installation by the time the crew is on set. So, whoa-la! Everything is on site… like the perfect size cabinets and counter top show for the new kitchen. It’s also why you don’t usually see them doing a lot of shopping on an hour long show, when they are doing one home per episode.

Completing the project in a week? Again this could be true, but two things are happening; the family has moved out of the home and there is an imminence amount of people working around the clock to get the project done on what I call; “TV time”

According to a couple who was on Love it Or List it –Our renovation took roughly 7 weeks to complete, though we believe some of the renovations done on the show are completed in even a shorter window. We had further good fortune when some friends of ours offered to put us up for the duration of the renovation, as it is a requirement that you move out of the house while work is being done. As depicted on the show, the only time we got to see our house after the work began was for the “homeowner visits” filmed with Hilary. They even got the square footage wrong in the episode, saying it was 1,500 square feet when in reality it is 2,300, so you really do have to take the information on these shows with a grain of salt. hookedonhouses.net

When you see a large project get finished quickly on television, what you don’t see is all of the scrambling that goes on behind the scenes to get the job done on time, Hurst notes. Oftentimes contractors are working around the clock, which is not common practice. “On screen, they show you three or five people working, but it’s really like 30 people in the background working.” Another factor that compresses the time frame on television: Contractors are limited in the materials they’re able to use. “Essentially, you are stuck using products that allow for quick installation, which may not necessarily look the best,” Hurst says. This includes using laminate wood flooring instead of real hardwood flooring. www.kiplinger.com

HGTV Extreme Home Makeover (Just a few of the people working on the project)

Dino Tudisca, a second-generation contractor with more than 25 years of experience in both new construction and remodeling in Eastern Connecticut, talks about his experiences with the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” show. says, Even with all that, the TV camera eye misses a lot and the cut the viewer sees may have a bit of “magic” applied to it. For instance, after we finished our first Extreme Makeover build, we spent the next two weeks to fix the drywall and repaint the inside of the home. It looked great for TV, but didn’t meet our finish standard. So we did the right thing and made it look good. When you look at all the elements involved in planning a renovation reality series, it’s easier to comprehend how such a large project is completed in a short time frame. While the shows are valuable for information design ideas, keep an open mind when planning your own renovation and set realistic expectations for project timelines. www.proudgreenhome.com

2. Budget –

It is not a realistic amount that is being shown on television. Simply because on most of these shows, the contractors are donating their time to gain the exposure, by being on a national show. I know I would… Large companies are also donating materials, such as paint, tile and laminate flooring for the exposure, or may be considered a donation. I have read an articles that furniture was used to stage the home, for the reveal of the home and the homeowners were able to buy the furniture, otherwise it did not stay in the room after production.

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Networks often partner with advertisers that provide free materials, and some contractors that appear on these shows will work at discounted rates in exchange for the free publicity. Rich Carl, project manager for iKitchens Etc., in Falmouth, Mass., knows firsthand because his company was invited to appear on a remodeling reality show in 2010, but declined because the pay was significantly lower than what they’d usually charge. “We priced out the job for a cabinet installation using our standard rates. The general contractor [who’d been hired by the show’s producer] came back and offered about half [that amount], saying that we should give a lower rate for ‘promotional considerations,’ Carl recalls.

In a statement to Kiplinger, HGTV, which produces several popular shows, including “House Hunters” and “Love It or List It,” had the following to say when asked about the behind-the-scenes quirks that aren’t disclosed to viewers:

“Our goal is to respect the home-buying, selling or renovation process, while still creating fun and entertaining programming for viewers. When we’re telling a real estate or renovation story for television, we may abridge and adjust timelines to help manage production and time constraints. In some cases, a program is a competition series or a crazy experiment designed to play out the ‘what if’ fantasy of our viewers. Today’s viewers are savvier than ever and know that the development of an entertaining program does require the occasional use of a creative license.” www.kiplinger.com

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