homefor your
Contractor-turned-
celebrity has built his
success on honesty,
integrity and a passion
for doing things right
By Mark Cardwell
A DECADE AGO, Lady Luck smiled on Mike Holmes. A
big and chatty contractor from Toronto who started his
own business at age 19, he was hired to build a big straw-bale custom home for Michael Quast, a local television
executive who produced a home repair show and other
lifestyle programs for specialty channels such as HGTV.
During a break in the building, Holmes started telling
Quast about how sick he was of fixing botched jobs done
by so-called professional contractors—debacles that often
left people’s financial and personal lives in ruins. “I went
on a 30-minute rant,” recalls Holmes, then 38. “Michael
never said a word. But when I was done he said, ‘I want
you to do a pilot right away for a show about it.’ I said, ‘Are
you nuts? I’m a contractor, not a TV guy.’ But I thought
about it and, three months later, we shot our first show.”
Ten years and hundreds of episodes later, Holmes is
an international celebrity and an icon of integrity and
professional workmanship. Launched to stardom with
Holmes on Homes, a TV reality show in which the contractor restores the homes—and lives—of homeowners
who have been fleeced by unscrupulous builders, he has
translated his name and fame into a one-man entertainment empire with a humanitarian mission.
President of the Holmes Group, a multimedia production company that makes and sells everything from
TV shows, books and a magazine to DVDs, work wear
and sundry items—all of them starring Holmes or
stamped with his registered logo, Make It Right—he is
also a tireless promoter of the building trades and a passionate advocate for improved building standards and
energy-efficient housing and communities.
36 ;e Costco Connection FEBRUARY 2011
Holmes around the world
Those efforts aren’t restricted to Holmes’ home and
native land. In addition to his work with international
