Interview “Holmes on Homes: Mike, Michael, and Sherry Holmes Talk Family, Legacy, and Their New Show’
Cottage Life’s highly-anticipated new series, Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy, premieres November 12, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on Cottage Life brings a fresh take on the beloved Holmes on Homes franchise. This six-part series follows construction pioneer Mike Holmes as he works alongside his children, Michael and Sherry, to carry forward his legacy of “making it right.”
The Extra Mile had the privilege of chatting with the Holmes family about their commitment to quality craftsmanship, their journey as a family in the construction industry, and the heartfelt moments captured on and off the job site. From instilling core values to transforming homes for deserving families, the series offers viewers an intimate look at the Holmes family’s dedication, resilience, and passion for building meaningful connections through their work.
TEM (The Extra Mile) : Mike, a question to you, you know, you’ve been on TV for, I think, two decades now. What does it mean to you, personally, to build a legacy and pass it down to your children through this new series?
Mike: I’d like to think that anyone out there that is in business is building a legacy. And to me, personally, it’s really building a legacy as long as I’m involving my son and my daughter. That is when you pass the torch. When am I going to stop doing this, by the way? I don’t really know that I’ve been trying to retire and will I ever retire?
Michael: we’re trying to dial them back and give it, make it little easier on him, but you know, little bit easier on us. Not around giving up time all the time.
TEM: For, Michael and Sherry, I mean, what have you learned from your dad about entrepreneurship and just leading a family business?A ny specific lessons that kind of shape your approach?
Michael: I think the biggest thing, you know, speaking from myself, that I’ve learned is to make it right philosophy. It’s how you do one thing to do everything. So kind of looking at our end goal, how are we going to get there and taking every decision and basing it on, will this get to our end goal? Is this make me right the first time, even if it’s the hard decision?
Sherry: I think all the lessons I’ve learned, I’ve taken more in my personal life versus just in a career aspect. To me, it’s the things that he gets done every day, and I will not normally say all these things to you, so soak it in all right. One of the first things he ever told me is happiness is a choice, and it’s how you feed yourself on a daily basis. And it’s how he holds himself every day on a job site. And I like to emulate that in my everyday life wherever I possibly can.It’s just know, be happy, do what you gotta do to make it the best you possibly can.
Mike: If you don’t. enjoy doing what you do. You’re doing the wrong thing.
Sherry: Everyone’s got to work, so you might as well be happy doing it.
TEM: What insights or values do you find each of you bring to the table when you’re tackling these home projects kind of together?
Michael: That’s a good question. I think, you know, I look at my dad as kind of like the encyclopedia for code and knowledge. So he’s very insightful when it comes to like maybe a different way, a different approach that I might not be thinking. Um, Sherry is more of the creative.
Sherry: I think you’re kind of new and. And what’s the word I’m looking for? Innovative. Thank you. And so I’m going to come up with the right. That’s why I would agree with you. I think that’s very accurate. And I think the other thing for Dad is he’s also, he knows the history and how things he used to be. Like he could just throw all of that information at you.
Michael: Yeah, so collectively, we make a really good team because I feel like we cover all the bases.
TEM: So if you could describe, let’s say, the Holmes family, like you see in one word, what would it be and why?
Michael: Oh, edutainment. Two words and combine them. I’m kind of cheating, but it’s educational and it’s entertaining. It’s like, I know that’s the one word.
Sherry: Oh, I know this is tough. One word. I can’t stop talking. So one word is really difficult. I was gonna describe it. It’s a warm hug. That’s three words, but no, I can’t give just one hug. No warm hug. I can’t. It’s close, right?
TEM: Why? would you describe it? Warm hug?
Sherry: I think this new show specifically, it goes into our personal life a little deeper, but also the lives of the homeowners and the families that were helping. So I think it’s just such a feel-good show to be both be part of and to watch is, you know, we get to know a lot of these people and we do get involved in their lives and we’ve met their children. They’ve met our children and we just build this bond. And so I think when you’re watching, you can’t help but that warm, cozy feeling that happens sometimes.
Mike: And at the same time, it goes back to homes on homes and people want to learn more. You know, it’s beautiful at the end and it’s why we do is given that house back. It’s just wonderful. day is always a reminder to. why we do what we do. But going back to learning the little things that you need to know about your house, why should you do it this way, over how you should do it this way. Putting that all together just it’s probably the perfect television show.
TEM: Yeah, I really want to applaud you because you know we really get to see that emotional journey, especially for these homeowners at the end and it’s like, wow, you know, it’s it takes us for our journey too.
Sherry:You get that feeling too and it’s reciprocal because for us, you’re finishing a house and you’re so involved with people that you can’t help feel those emotions and it’s just a really fun process. You feel like a superhero at the end. So it’s lovely to hear viewer feels the same as well.
TEM: What do you you guys hope that people will take away from this new series and say whether it be the importance of family, both in life or in business?
Michael: Yeah. There’s a lot of takeaway. One is that make it right philosophy again. Like, I think we can always go back to that. It’s like whether it’s a relationship, a friendship, you’re making dinner, you’re building your home. Do it right the first time. There’s that. Then there’s the educational component of the show, which is teaching people, know, why do you want to build it right in your home? Why do you want to do it right the first time rather than, you know, maybe cheaping out and creating a wall assembly that’s not going to perform as properly? Then there’s the entertainment side, where I think it’s like, you know, there’s these beautiful stories like we were talking about. And you see that from the homeowners. And we get very involved because, you know, to be a part of some of these journeys is really special.
Mike: Put it this way, if my kids like the homeowner, or if I like the homeowners, they really do get a lot. They win the lot. If they don’t like them.
Sherry: I mean, I would still say they win the lot. Yeah.
Mike: Well, they still win the lot. I love our homeowners. That’s because we pick. good deserving hands.
TEM: So different viewers who are interested in building a career with that being a construction, like what advice would you give them to uphold the make it right standards? And Sherry, maybe you can also kind of talk about being a woman in the construction industry.
Mike: First, it all takes, you have to love what you do. If you don’t love what you, you will suck at it. It is just a simple, it’s not. I can’t say that enough. How many people are, I gotta go to work tomorrow. I gotta get up. You’re not happy. So if you don’t like what you’re doing, you’re not going to be good at it. If you love what you’re doing, you’re going to be great at it.
Sherry: You’re going to excel and get much further in your career path. You would if you’re just dragging your feet every day.
Mike: You never thought that you would be, she would be representing women in skilled trades.
Sherry: But I never thought I’d be a woman in the skilled trades either, to be fair. I never thought it was a viable career option for me as a woman. And I now realize how incorrect I was because we can all do anything regardless of our gender. And I think, you know, working construction really taught me that because even when I got pregnant with my eldest daughter, I thought I was going to lose my job. I thought my dad’s going to fire me for being pregnant because that’s how I just envisioned. I was like, how do I have a child and a family and work on a construction site? That just doesn’t make sense. But it does because you can still do everything. And again, I’m sorry I’m speaking a lot, but as a woman in the trades, I think our biggest setback is anxiety and being afraid of doing something that you don’t see every day and something out of the norm for you. Was I scared to pick up my first tool? Absolutely. I terrified of a skilled saw. But if you don’t try new things, how are you going to figure out what you like and what you could be great at in life?
Michael: For sure. For sure. And you know, for anyone looking to get into a career in the skill training. just try it first. We are big advocates in post-secondary education, know, getting a degree in something passionate about, but taking that time to find out what you want to do. This is why we’re a big fan of skilled trades, Canada, skilled world skills. It’s like the Olympics, the skilled trades, and you have the opportunity to go to these events, try different trades, or, you know, during high school, doing a co-op, seeing maybe I do like work with my hands, maybe I don’t, but I think that’s the first step of you that you want to take. If you’re thinking, should I get into the skilled trades in career?
Mike: Some of the colleges out there have these options and opportunity programs. In other words, you can go into Conestoga College, touch wood, touch electrical, touch plumbing, a little bit of welding, and what this does when I say touch, you get to play with it. You get to learn it, and all of a sudden you really like it. You can go right onto that. I’ll tell you right now, welders make big money. There’s not enough welders.
Sherry: And welding is cool, and also women actually sell that welding.Just just for the heads up. And at Conestoga College, I actually have a program called WIST, Women in Skilled Trades. So it’s just women in the classroom, it’s where you can learn and get comfortable without having the anxiety of men.
Mike: And they get the same opportunity. They touch everything and then can lead themselves in the direction or do what Sherry does in a lot of the girls that we retire WIST and go on their own after a few years of learning all kinds. You know, thinking did. How many of our positive ones? We cut it tough. Yeah, we cut it tough. Katie. Yep. Bailey.
TEM: My final question for each of you guys, you know, we’re here all about going the extra mile. So how do each of you go the extra mile, whether that be in your professional or personal life?
Mike: It goes right back to make it right philosophy. If you don’t go the extra mile, if you don’t give it all you got, what are you doing?
Sherry: Listen, no one’s going to do it for you. No one’s going to work as hard for you as you can, you know, and for me, I try to keep that in mind a lot in my personal life, because we’re all juggling a million different things and trying accomplish it all at one time, but it’s one foot in front of the other and you got to put the effort in or you’re not going to get it.
Mike: Yeah, I got to tell you, I’ve a lot of construction and wherever I go, all I do is like you’ll see me, I’m looking around, I’m looking at structure, looking at the finish of the drywall. That’s what I do.
Sherry: I don’t like him coming to my house.
Mike: My crew has become so top notch that even when I’m not there and I come back in, everything is perfect. It means they know, oh, don’t look at that, you know, no, no, they fix it. They won’t let anything pass and it’s perfect. What we do is perfection.
Michael: Yeah, for me, I go the extra mile for my family. have a daughter, wife, we’ve got another kid on the way, don’t spoil that. It’s important to kind of when you go the extra mile oftentimes, it’s uncomfortable. You kind of start to live in that discomfort because you’re doing a lot of new things because the extra mile isn’t necessarily the easy way. However, that’s where you find the growth and that’s where you find the beauty is in that extra mile.
Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy, premieres November 12, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on Cottage Life