One thing people ask about all the time is: “How did you get on the show?” Here’s what I’ll tell you:
- It’s a multistep process. The first step (when we did it) was to download an application from the HGTV web site. Get ready, this isn’t a 5 minute, fill in a couple blanks and be done form. It took Stephanie and I 12 hours working on it together. One of the things they ask for besides the form itself are pictures and stuff about your family and tastes. Here was ours:
- The application actually goes to HighNoon productions. The folks there are the ones that actually do the casting and filming. They’re all super nice folks. Anyway, after a couple weeks we had a Skype interview with them. I don’t remember much about it. Most of it were questions that had already been covered on the application. I believe it was pretty much to see if we were interesting enough to have on TV. Lucky for me my wife has enough personality for both of us. ….We must have done okay.
- The third step happened after our Skype interview. Apparently we were presentable enough to send down to the folks at Magnolia in Waco. I don’t know what their process is, but one day a month or two after our Skype interview I got a call from the guy who pretty much runs everything down there. ….Super nice guy. I’ll stop and say this right here. The folks at Magnolia are all first-rate. It’s a pretty big machine but it runs very well and everyone has the highest integrity. Anyway, I had a bit of a phone interview. Again, I’m not sure what sold us, but I believe it was the fact that we didn’t have any type of timeline. Get started in a week – no problem. Get started in a year – no problem. Beyond that we talked budget. Again, I think flexibility was the key. We were blessed to have some wiggle room on the budget and I think the fact that we wanted a 1st class renovation was a key selection point.
- From there it turned into budgets, estimates, and contracts. From the time we submitted our application to actually starting work was about 15 months and then it took another 4 months to actually do the work.
- I won’t / can’t talk about how everything works behind the scenes but I will tell you that it’s pretty much what you see on TV. Yes, Chip & Joanna are very involved. Yes, they are super nice people. Yes, Chip is always goofing around, No, we hadn’t seen the house before the reveal.
All in all a very fun experience!