Remember Norm Abram?

The guy who made Bob “I’m not a contractor” Villa look smart? Neither have most of the home improvement shows lately. It’s either hot designers in fashionable attire, or it’s Aussie carpenters straight out of Home Improvement Hunks of 2010. Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes though gives me hope that at least one show gets back to the genre’s blue collar routes. Ladies, he’s the man you wish your home improvement weekend warrior man was. Typically, he walks through abandoned renovation projects where contractors messed up royally as he matter of factly tells people what’s wrong... in that uniquely Canadian way, eh: “Pull the cabinets. Pull the toilet. Pull the floor.” A lot of the shows talk about making sure things are up to code etc., but Mikey covers what people should’ve looked for ahead of time, showing you can learn a lot from seeing what not to do during big projects.