Original subtitles

and may contain mature subject matter.

Viewer discretion is advised.

and may contain mature subject matter.

Viewer discretion It's just too much snow.

Everything was shut down, state of emergency.

I hate waiting around,

especially when there's so much left to do.

(Terry): I'll let you decide.

- It's probably gonna be a no-show today.

This window got to go in,

because we got another big storm coming Friday.

That strapping made it bad. No!

Spring is creeping up on us quickly.

Welcome to your new old home.

- Oh, my God! - Oh my...

Oh, wow!

(upbeat folk music)

(Randy):I'm Randy Spracklin,

third generation builder,

proud Newfoundlander.

My team and I are building on a giant cliff

in the Atlantic Ocean.

They don't call it a rock for nothing!

We fight the elements year-round

to get the job done.

It might be tough for some, but not for us.

Because when this is your view, it's worth it.

(suspenseful music)

(barking)

(reporter): Storm surge warnings in effect.

A very rapid accumulation of snow

since very early this morning.

Municipalities have begun to declare states of emergency

ordering residents to stay in their homes,

not to venture outdoors.

City plows have been hauled off the streets.

It looks like we'll be waiting this one out...

(suspenseful music continues)

- So, trying to get to the job site today,

it's impossible.

Hey, Grady, is it stormy?

- Uh, yeah! (Randy laughing)

(soft music)

(Randy): The big snowstorm, everything was shut down,

state of emergency.

We had 150 kilometre an hour winds,

plus we had, like, 80 cm of snow,

so big, big snowfall.

Everybody was trapped at home

building snowmen and baking cookies.

Here in Newfoundland, when someone's in trouble,

we always try to help them.

We had one window blow in,

I'm trying to shovel them out.

Wherever we can lend a hand is what we do.

We always look out for each other.

Family, friends, neighbours.

It's a Newfoundland way.

So this is what happens when you get stuck.

It's just too much snow.

This whole storm put a wrench into everything,

not only personal, but business as well.

Uh-oh.

We just couldn't get to the job site,

so we were just pretty much on hold.

We couldn't move anywhere,

and plus we couldn't get a hold of anyone.

So we're at my mom's lot now.

A lot of snow.

Might be 'til spring until we get actually at it.

(light folk music)

So that is an eight-foot basement

with snow halfway up it.

Not too good.

We love building in the winter. Why?

Everybody can build in the summer.

It's gonna be real fun, trying to get all this out.

Ain't moving that! (laughing)

Everything is frozen there now,

so we got a big mess.

And then we complains when it's plus twenty!

(laughing)

The next big thing is to start

framing up the walls for the walk out.

Then we can get the floor on,

and then we can actually do the upstairs walls.

(upbeat music)

But first, let's hope for some sunny days.

There's a lot of snow and ice to melt.

Plus, my mom's in a rental,

and wants to get in this place as soon as possible.

(upbeat music)

This is out of my control.

I hate not being able to move ahead.

This definitely threw a wrench into everything.

On the other hand, if it's a snow day,

I'm taking it with the family.

(upbeat music)

Am I gonna race you up the hill?

Go!

Give'r!

(Grady shouting) You beat me!

Work is busier than ever.

But in 20 years, this is what I'm gonna remember,

spending time with the kids.

- Yeah! - Say, one, two, three, go!

- One, two, three, go!

Woo!

(excited shouting)

(upbeat music)

(Randy): Besides my mom's new house,

we got three huge projects on the go.

There's the Gushue addition...

It's up there!

(laughing) (Nikki): Boo-yeah!

(Randy): We got it sealed for the winter just in time.

(saw whirring)

The Earles' place in Brigus still needs a structural beam

and a concrete floor, and then we can add the kitche.

But the homeowners want to move in right away,

so we're on a tight deadline.

- Wah!

(Randy): And up on the hill at the Mitchells' renovation,

it's opened up on the inside,

and the windows are ready to install.

(Nikki): Bam!

(folk music)

(Randy): After a week, the state of emergency

is finally lifted in St. John's.

That's where we get most of our materials

and shipments from the mainlan.

So Nikki and I are in town to do some major catch up.

We had to come in pick up the doors

for the Mitchell residence.

They would normally be delivered,

but we decided to come in and get 'em ourselves.

(Randy): We've been delayed a whole week.

Couldn't get any material, couldn't get any supplies,

so that's why we're here today now,

so we can keep on moving with work.

We're constantly fighting to keep ahead of schedule

and keep on that deadline.

- It's the worst snowstorm I've seen in my lifetime.

So, Randy's out shovelling and plowing all these job site.

Five days trapped in the house, couldn't get out the road.

I figured, "I'm five minutes away,

maybe the boss will come plow you out." No.

(chuckling)

(upbeat music)

(Randy): In Newfoundland, you'd never know

when the next big storm is gonna hit.

So, it's straight back to the Mitchells' in Brigus

to get the windows installed.

It's gotta be three quarters on the bottom of that, remember?

The Mitchells' is a four-bedroom,

two-and-a-half-bathroom house.

And it's snowballed into a giant renovation!

So we've built two new additions.

One is for the mudroom, and one for a huge kitchen.

With the wall knocked down, it really opened the space,

making it bright and large. Great for entertaining.

This window gotta go in

because we got another big storm coming Friday,

and we need to make this place weather-tight.

It's gonna give it a ton of light,

and a sweet view of the ocean.

We're using strapping as a spacer for the window

to make it flush with the clapboard.

Strapping changes the dimension of the window opening,

so it might be a bit of a risk if it's not perfect.

This stuff sucks in the cold.

Don't wanna go. Froze up.

Like, really hard to come out.

It's not too fun.

The plus of it today it's cold, but like, there's no wind.

So that's a rare, rare occasion, to have no wind.

That means we're only gonna get more wind tomorrow and Friday

to make up for it.

All right. We got her all, uh...

caulked up and ready to go,

so let's try to get it up there.

Without breaking it!

The bow window, it's a little tricky thing to do

because of all the angles.

Tip it down, tip it down.

And we don't want to break it.

It was, like, fully custom, you know, made to fit.

Yep, my way, and make it fit.

If we break this, then it gotta be another

four or five weeks before we get another one.

Yeah. Still my way, I think.

(Nikki): We gotta go your way?

- Oh, yeah.

- Randy, the window's not gonna fit onto the strapping.

Shouldn't we just try it on the siding?

- Oh, yeah.

That strapping made it bad.

With the strapping, it kind of made the angles

go off a little bit.

So we might have to go back to Plan A...

Not plan B.

- The wind is startin' to pick up too,

so we gotta get it in.

(Randy): We're at the Mitchell' on top of the hill,

and we ran into a snag installing the custom window.

Saying you gotta go up that way.

(Paul): Up on that end?

- So we're having a little bit of an issue there, now.

We were planning on sending the window right onto

the building paper, but we're re-using the strapping.

I'm almost ready to lose that strapping.

- Out again. Take that off, I say.

- We're deciding to go back to Plan A.

Put the window in, then put it on the strapping,

opposed to what we just did. - I was right!

- We listened to Nikki on this one.

(laughing) - I was right!

Randy skipped Plan A and went to Plan B.

He wanted to use the strapping, but if he had

listened to the rookie,

the window would've been in on the first attempt.

Nobody wants to listen to the rookie, though.

(Randy): There's nothing worse than having to

take it out, and put it in, take it out, and put it in.

So... especially when you're dealing with

this kind of window. Every time you're handling it,

there's the chance to break it, and we don't want that to happn

so, uh, it's a big pain.

(Bleep), my fingers are cold! (laughing)

All right, round two. Let's do it.

(upbeat folk music)

Thumbs up on that.

We gotta have this all weather-tight,

because we wants to get the electrical done

and start insulation.

It'll be very close to hit the spring deadline,

but I think we'll make it.

Hope.

We got 'er done. Looks good!

With the window in, the electricians can now start

wiring for the new kitchen.

In the centre of Brigus,

at the Earles' 200-year-old house,

it's time to do some structural work.

We gotta get 2 LVLs on them and jack it up.

Who's doing the jacking? - Oh, Nikki!

- Scary. - Yeah.

We'll see. I'm going home.

(laughing)

(Randy): At the Earles', we're adding 340 square feet

to the back of the house. It's gonna be a new living spae

with a wrap-around deck.

On the inside, we dug down 10 inches

to gain some ceiling height,

and we tore down the old walls

to create a huge open concept kitchen and living space.

Is it getting straight yet, or what?

Today, we're doing a lot of structural work.

We're sistering the ceiling joists

and installing a support beam.

Nikki's here, and Paul, who's an expert in this area.

- Come on, pump it.

This here is the last little bit of structure

that gotta be changed.

Then we're moving on to interior finishes,

and the project starts coming together.

It's kinda like a turning point.

- Today is a big day.

The ceiling beams, that's carrying the second floor.

They were sagging, they were old,

and you can actually see where they were joined togethe,

starting to break. We want to make them

structurally sound, and no worries about anything

happening down the road.

In these old homes, the wood's been sittin' there

for 200 plus years.

It definitely don't like to be disturbed,

so, when we're trying to jack it up,

you're gonna hear a lot of creaks, bangs.

You definitely gotta stay on your toes

and watch your head.

- Back on the rig, there.

- Oh.

- No, wrong one, Nikki! Next to you!

- This is Nikki's first time actually on the jack,

and like, trying to straighten, like, an old house.

So, the creaking and the banging is, uh...

she's like, on pins and needle.

(loud creak) - Oh!

- Every time it cracks, it scares the (bleep) out of me!

(laughing)

- We're using the jacks to level up the ceiling joists,

and then we're using some temporary posts to carry

the load until we get the new ceiling joists sistered on.

(upbeat music)

We're all good there, now? We're all nailed off stuff?

- Yeah. We're all ready to go, take the jacks out.

- Let's hope she don't fall! (laughing)

Got her? (suspenseful music)

- I gotta be honest, I'm worried this house is gonna fall down.

It's 200 years old, so it could be disastrous.

(Randy): Number one down.

- Ready?

- Mind that, it's all good. Let it out.

(Randy): Cracks and bangs of an old house.

Last one.

(Randy): Dun, dun, dun!

- Ahh! (Randy and Paul laughing)

- So, I gotta be honest... They got me pretty good.

They definitely scared the crap out of me.

- Thumbs up on that. Looks mint!

Now it's time to reinforce the ceiling

where the old wall used to be.

So we're putting in a steel I-beam

to carry all the weight of the second floor.

We gotta put the metal beam up, so it's me, Paul, and Nikki,

but then we gotta call in reinforcements,

'cause that beam is like 300 pounds.

So, Harv and Al will come over and give us a hand.

We're using metal just because it's stronger

with that kind of span,

'cause we're trying to maximize on that,

so we don't want anything to actually intrude

on his headroom, so...

metal beam, small, and you won't even know it's there.

The metal I-beam, we had to order it,

so it already came in pre-cut,

so we don't want this to not fit.

When metal don't fit, it gotta go back and get re-fabbed,

and come back again, so, uh, cross our fingers!

Ready? Let's go!

Ready? Go.

Go. (struggling grunts)

- Back to you.

(Randy): When we get the metal beam up,

then it's really like an open concept.

- Ready?

Almost.

I'm in the pocket.

Watch out you don't slip!

- We're jammed up or something.

- I'm all the way back.

(struggling grunts) No!

(upbeat folk music)

- Randy, are you all the way back?

- I'm all the way back.

(struggling grunts) No!

We're over at the Earles'

installing a 300-pound beam into the ceiling,

and it's not going well.

The beam will fit.

The problem is, we're so much on an angle,

we can't get actually around the wires that's over there.

So, we got to make a little chase for them

to try to tuck it so the beam don't actually

pinch the wires together.

It definitely ain't going back down,

so it's goin' up! (chuckling)

(light folk music)

Mint. Ready?

Watch out you don't slip.

(Nikki): Good job, Spracklin. You the man!

- Choo! (laughing)

Jack 'er up!

- So now that we got this beam installed,

it'll blow your mind, the difference it makes

having all the walls gone, beam up.

Now you can get the full effect

of the look we're going for with the house.

It looks amazing. - Done!

The house still standing, no creaks, no bangs!

So, we took that 200-year-old house

that was all small and cramped

to a big open concept so, uh...

it's looking good!

Now I know the Earles' house is not gonna collapse,

we can move ahead with all the interior work

by starting with the electrical.

Since we dug down the floor 10 inches

to gain some ceiling height,

we're gonna install the electrical

in the floor before we pour the concrete.

I would just go from there to there,

and whatever that is.

(indistinct chattering)

A good plan for electrical is super important,

especially when we're doing a slab on grade,

'cause when we get it in the spot,

we can't move it after it's poured.

We're running all the wires,

so you gotta have plugs and lights

in the new addition.

In the island, you gotta have power.

There's gonna be a stove.

So all them wires that are gonna be

put in the floor now, that's gonna be the main feeds

for the power to them lights, plugs, etc.,

later, so do it all now before the concrete.

Then we don't have any tear-up later.

I'll make, like, a little chase in both places.

You can haul the wire back this way.

Or you can haul the wire back that way.

- Okay. Sounds good.

(Randy): With the electricians hooking everything up

at the Earles' house... - Watch out for that cord

on the stairs. - All good.

- ...my crew and I are back at the Mitchells'

installing new windows on the second floor.

To look at it right now, you'd say it's a beautiful day,

almost like it's summertime,

but it's really, like, freezing cold.

The wind is starting to pick up.

It's supposed to be gusting to 80 the next half hour,

or hour or so, so it's gonna be cold.

- So, all the strapping is froze to the ground,

and so you gotta beat it all apart

to get it to come up to take it and use it.

It's all full of snow and ice, so...

(Paul): Didn't you hear?

Snow and ice makes everything nice.

(Nikki): And I tried to knock it off as best I could.

- Now, our cold is a little bit different

than the rest of Canada's used to,

where it's so cold and damp, it just chills you to the bone.

When you realize our minus ten feels like your minus forty,

you know, you get a real quick reality check.

- So, the other challenges we have

when it's, like, minus fifteen, really cold out,

is we need touch up paint for our clapboard

that we're putting on. Every cut we make,

we gotta touch up with paint.

Minus fifteen, water paint,

it's gonna freeze, so we make a little insulated box.

Good way to keep paint from not freezing and, uh,

at least then we can keep on working.

And even in the summertime,

we can use it to keep our beer cold.

Perfect little box!

(upbeat music)

We work 12 months of the year to get the job done,

and not a lot of builders in Newfoundland would do that.

But as my old man says, "It's better to use a shovel

than an excavator." Pfft.

- I got lots of clothes on, double layers,

good, good quality gloves.

- One hoodie. That's all you need!

(laughing)

- My nose is here, but it's running down that way.

The boys are adjusted to it. It's taken me a little longer.

- If you're sat around, you're gonna be frosty.

If you keep moving, you'll be nice and toasty.

- Wedges, Paul.

- Even it up.

(light folk music)

(machinery whirring)

Yeah, beautiful day.

(Randy): Down at the Earles' house,

it's a miserable day outside,

so it's a good time to go on the inside.

The old ceiling was only six feet high,

and we had to dig down by hand

to gain ten inches of ceiling height.

The homeowner wants to move back in in spring,

which is not far off.

The next big step is pour the concrete slab,

but first, we gotta get it level.

That's gonna be the tricky part.

- I don't love jackhammering, but it's gotta happen.

It's gotta be done. We gotta get rid of this rock.

(Randy): This house has a giant piece of cliff

running underneath it.

You may find big chunks of rock in the foundations

of these old Newfoundland home,

because if you couldn't get it out,

you just built around it.

If that moves, the island is sinking!

We're experts at busting the rock,

but it's the winter weather that we can't control.

We're melting a little bit of ice.

That's the worst with pouring concrete in the winter

or after having a lot of freezing temperatures,

so we're just melting it to make sure that we got

no voids when the concrete goes over it.

When the ground underneath the concrete freezes,

it expands. In spring, when the ground warms up,

it shrinks, leaving voids underneath the concrete.

You definitely don't want a void

pouring concrete, 'cause you'll end up with a crack

or it even could settle, so...

you'll end up with, like, a big hollow space

in your floor, which we don't want.

(upbeat folk music)

This is Nikki's forte. She got a big fright

when she first turned it on.

- It blows out pretty quick,

so I wasn't expecting such a... whoosh!

(laughing)

It's working. Everything's going good.

It's totally melting the ice.

Hopefully, the cement finishers get here today.

- We definitely gotta get it done.

They want to enjoy it in the summer,

so we gotta get it done in the winter.

(cell phone ringing)

(Randy): Hello?

Uh, not too bad.

Yeah.

(Terry): Look, it's minus 18, see?

It's really cold.

We don't usually pour concrete that cold, right?

Like, we don't want no freezing on that concrete.

- No.

All right, well I'll, uh, I'll get back to ya.

This is what I was worried about,

you know, being so cold and stuff.

I was thinking that this morning when I got up,

it was that chilly. He don't want to do it,

as you can tell.

I don't know, man.

music)

(Randy): We're hoping to get concrete poured

at the Earles' today, but it looks like

it's too cold.

It's probably gonna be a no-show today.

(Terry): Look, it's minus 18, see?

It's really cold.

We don't usually pour concrete that cold, right?

I'll let you decide, all right?

- The problem is if we do pour,

like, we're so cold, you could get a lot of freezing,

and then the concrete's no good.

If it was a 10 by 10, you know, a small floor,

we'd probably risk it, where this is so big.

We got everything right at this stage,

it's no good to fold it up now.

It'll be... It'll be a (bleep) job.

So, we don't wanna risk it.

So then there's next week, which is (bleep).

So every time we're set back is definitely,

you know, the budget is a factor.

And you know, less time, less money,

and it's only burning up time.

Now what?

(Paul): Go ski-dooing. - Go home and drink beer.

(laughing)

(seal calling)

(Randy): A delay at the Earles' means I can go back across town

to the Mitchells' house.

Not a bad day, boys! Yeah?

Most of the Mitchell project is opening up the main floor.

We're also doing some work on the master bedroom

on the upper floor.

So, we're on the second level here now,

and the master bath is getting a facelift.

The big trouble we got here is we took out that window,

so they got no natural light.

Because of the new addition,

we had to remove the window in the master bathroom.

Otherwise, people could watch them having a shower.

Nobody don't want that.

What we decided, we're gonna put in a sun tunnel.

A little plastic dome that sits on the roof

and got like, a... kinda like a tunnel

that comes down and gives a lot of natural light.

I gotta call him now to make sure

he gets that sun tunnel.

(Paul): Sun tunnel's here.

- No, that's the hard pipe.

That's no good.

We just couldn't get the sun tunnel

down the road,

so we had to get one shipped

from the mainland a few weeks ago.

So this is the sun tunnel

that we're putting up in the master,

just to try to get more light.

This is our hard pipe one,

but we need a flexible,

'cause we gotta go around obstacles, so, uh...

This one gotta go back, and we gotta get a new one.

'Cause we gotta be over on this side,

he wants it to be right in the washroom,

so we gotta go down, go over, and then come down.

As we're shingling, this gotta go in place, so...

Yeah, we gotta get this switched out.

We had to get it shipped in from the mainland,

and we're going to be waiting like a week

just to get it across on the boat.

That's the stuff that rots me.

That's misery.

(upbeat music)

Sometimes you just can't get ahead.

Uh-oh.

Delays with the weather,

delays with the concrete, delays with the shipments.

Never comes easy.

But after the weekend, we finally got some good news

over to the Earles' house.

Aw!

I hate waiting around,

especially when there's so much stuff to do,

but that's what we do!

Wait for concrete!

Today is a big day. We're going to get concrete!

We got delayed the last time because it was way too cold.

Today, sun is shining.

It's still a little bit cold, but not as cold.

So with the break in the weather,

we're in the plus now, not in the negative.

So we're safe to pour concrete.

Yeah!

We lost two days so, you know,

every day that flies by, it's getting closer

to our deadline and, you know,

we wants to meet that.

(truck beeping)

(upbeat music)

We got concrete!

Ah, we shouldn't say that too fast yet.

It's not in the house!

You got the concrete finishers...

...go from room to room

and start actually working their way

from the front to the back

until everything is nice, and level, and finished.

(upbeat rock music)

Give it another couple of hours,

we'll have a nice concrete floor

to be able to work off.

Once we get the floor poured,

we'll put a subfloor on top of it,

so just like a brand new house,

only 200 years old!

(Nikki shouting indistinctly)

(Randy): I think I hear her.

I thought you wasn't comin' over that?

- Come on, now! Come here!

(Randy laughing)

(Randy): Oh, listen to her, huh?

(upbeat folk music)

- Good job done today.

Big relief, and all looking good.

We're able to go on to the next step:

Get the subfloor down, be able to put

the rest of the walls, the little pieces in.

Now we're moving forward!

(cheerful music)

We had a hard winter,

but spring is creeping up on us quickly.

That's a good thing.

With the weather changing,

it's perfect timing to work on the outside

of the Gushues' house.

We built a two-storey addition

onto this 150-year-old home.

The main floor is a new seating area,

and the top floor is Tim's new study.

It has wraparound windows,

the perfect place to enjoy views of the harbour.

The outside of the house is getting an update as well.

We installed all new siding,

and we extended the roof to make a covered porch.

Next up, we're getting rid of the old deck

and building a new one.

It'll be a great spot to hang out

and look out over the ocean.

- That's it!

- The snow is gone, spring is starting.

A little bit windy today.

Being right on the water, the deck had a lot of rot.

We were hoping to save some of it,

but it's too far gone.

Down she comes!

(indistinct chattering)

It's done.

(soft music)

(Randy): Across town, I'm carving out some solo time

in the wood shop.

It's the weekend, a perfect time to finish up

a custom piece for the Earles.

So this is a custom door

that we're doing for the Earles' residence.

It's gonna be a screen door.

It would be three to four weeks to get it in from the mainland,

or even longer, so...

we can make it in a couple of days.

(upbeat music)

We're in the final stages of the Earles' project.

On top of the list is to finish the door.

It's pretty enjoyable making this kind of stuff.

You know, they'll find something they like,

and we'll bring it to life,

and they'll be able to use it every day.

They rest of the team definitey

knows how to do this kind of thing.

Like, like Paul is the one

that kinda started putting it together,

and I'll do the finishing touches.

Everybody loves working in the shop.

It's something my grandfather passed down to my father,

and my father passed it down to me, and the rest of the team.

- This is a nice colour!

- So, my company is a family operation.

It's just not me and my dad.

My mom, Betty, loves to jump in and help out too.

- I'm giving Randy a hand to paint the door

for the Earles.

Any time he needs any help, I'm here for him,

and I enjoy that.

Family's very important.

Everyone keeps close, and there for each other.

And I'm proud of him for what he got,

and what he's doing.

(tearfully): Very proud.

Oh, well.

Yeah, that looks good.

(Randy): Down on the harbour,

we're back at the Gushues' house.

Now that the addition is built,

the siding is on, there's one big project

left to do.

Al and Paul are rebuilding the front deck,

or as Tim likes to call it, the front bridge.

The blue and white mix is a nod to Tim's love of the sea.

I can't wait for him to see it.

- Just gonna move them patio blocks back

and do two more just like that.

- Good progress today. We got a lot done.

Another day and we'll have it all finished so, uh,

Paul's doing a mint job!

In the middle of Brigus,

we're full steam ahead at the Earles'.

Since the concrete was poured,

all the electrical's done, the drywall's finished,

and now it's ready for paint.

We also opened up the wall on the second floor

for more light, and view of the living room below.

Now this place looks like a house,

instead of a construction zone.

The homeowners, Fred and Pam,

are dying to move back into their new old home.

So, it's time to bring in some extra help

to finish things up.

At my shop, I'm meeting Sam and Sasha

to go over the final touches for the Earles.

They're interior designers from St. John's,

and love helping me out with projects like this.

They can make any space look catty.

So, this is a 200-year-old-house,

and we're getting near to the end.

We did a new addition, about 300 square feet,

all windows on the back, a lot of light coming in,

beautiful space outside, open concept inside.

But we need this place from a house

to bring it to a home.

- Randy, it's gonna be so nice! That sounds so good!

- They're gonna love that. That's gonna completely change

the look of this place. - Oh, definitely.

- It's a lot of fun, working on old homes.

You don't really know what you're gonna discover,

which might be scary to some,

but it's also a lot of fun, right?

- Older homes are where I think I'm usually most inspired,

because you're so like,

"What's gonna be behind this wall?

What are we gonna get here?"

- You can't perfect old homes. - No.

- Even if you wanted to.

- That's the character of old homes.

I think the best part about an old home

is it should not be perfect.

- We met with Pam and Fred.

They're so lovely! - So lovely.

- I feel like she's a woman that loves

beautiful, beautiful pieces.

She likes soft colours,

but she's also not afraid of a little pop of colour too.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So let's start with the kitchen.

I think we really need to focus on for her baking,

so we want to have like, a nice area,

a nice countertop space to work with for that.

- There's gonna be a new island built,

it's gonna be pretty big, 'cause we got a whole lot

of space, and it's gonna be two tiers, one counter height,

and the other one table height. - Oh I love that!

So we can maybe bring in that colour that Pam loves,

that robin's-egg blue there.

- Beautiful. Love it.

And then we could also do maybe some antique chairs

around the island.

Maybe paint those a pop of colour,

something else for you to paint! - So much colour.

I'm gonna wear out so many paint brushes!

- Yeah! (laughing)

- Into the living space,

this is where it's really important for us, I think,

with the styling of the room.

- You got a lot of walkways, you got a lot of windows,

a lot of doors. I think it's important to float

all the furniture in the middle of the room

on a nice, large rug

with maybe some colour. - Yeah.

So we'll face it towards that feature wall.

- Yeah, we're gonna put shiplap on it.

- Oh, perfect. - And we're gonna put it

on the stairs as well. - Excellent.

Love that tie-in.

So then also the other thing is I think we need to bring in

a little bit of some navy in,

some darker tones to kind of ground it a little bit.

- Exactly, so we can do that in furniture,

and in the pillows, and things like that.

- So that's where we'll bring

our colour in, through that side of things.

Oh, that's gonna be such a big transition for them.

I can't get over how it's gonna look.

- I almost wants to live there now.

- Randy, it's not for sale! - I know, right?!

(laughing)

(Randy): Before Sam and Sasha can start the finishing touche,

we got a lot of stuff to do.

On the outside, we're finishing the new deck.

The siding's getting painted,

and we're installing the red screen door we built.

On the inside, it's coming together.

The new engineered flooring is in,

the baseboard and trim are being installed,

and we got a brand new staircase that's going in.

The custom island is on its wa,

and it's gonna be the focal point of this kitchen.

And to finish it all off,

we're installing the new backsplash and fixtures.

It's taken a lot of work to get to this point,

but it's finally ready for the homeowners.

Well, almost.

(bleating)

(Randy): I'm so excited that the $120,000 reno

on the Earles' 200-year-old home is almost done.

I got Sam and Sasha getting things ready

so Fred and Pam can move back in.

- This house is extremely old,

but you want to keep that character,

but you also want to bring in a little bit of a fresh feel.

- Randy really opened it up,

and really made it really quite bright.

In the extension you have like,

a really new, modern fireplace,

but then you have this beautiful old hutch

that we've given new life,

but it still is an older piece,

and we're not disguising that.

- The colour of the space was really important,

because the client, Pam,

loved duck-egg blue.

Like, she was duck-egg-blue through and through.

- Yeah.

- So we took that design colou, and went with it

through the whole house.

- We really wanted to bring

the colour in the kitchen through

to the new space, to just kind of

make that cohesiveness.

There's lots of different textiles

going on in the space.

A lot of wood, there's painted wood,

the chairs are beautiful patterned upholstery.

- Oh, they're so beautiful.

- The beams that are in the ceiling,

the original beams that are there,

there's a lot of texture coming through the ceiling.

And then also the shiplap.

So we're bringing in the horizontal

and the vertical beams. So it just kinda of changes

that little bit of feel, little bit of texture,

and adds interest to the space.

And then we just tied everythig in, again, that was Pam.

(laughing) - Yeah, yeah.

It's totally very Pam, yeah.

- Her husband too, but mostly Pam!

(birds chirping)

(upbeat folk music)

- Pam and Fred are going to be totally excited

to come in and see the transformation.

What we started with and what it's become,

it's amazing!

I think we're ready to show 'em.

Pam, Fred, welcome to your new old home!

- Wow. Ooh, wow!

(bright music)

It's beautiful. - Wow.

- Absolutely beautiful. - Absolutely. What a difference.

- It all came together, and look!

- Ceiling height.

You know what it was like before,

and ceiling height is number one.

I'm going from having to duck in the doorways

to like, I can just walk straight on through.

- Coming into this old house was a lot of low ceilings,

so we had to rip up all them old floorboards, the big logs.

It's not like you could bring in a mini excavator

into an old home with low ceilings.

So it was a lot of manual labour,

but look how rewarding it is.

(Pam): And the beams in the ceiling,

they look really nice. - Yes, yeah.

Two hundred years old, you know, they were pretty crooked.

We actually fixed all of them over there.

- It looks amazing.

(bright music)

Oh, wow!

(Randy): Take it all in!

- Love the shiplap wall. Looks amazing!

The rugs, and the throws, and the pillows,

it just, it brings everything together.

- This room really came together, though.

- This room is amazing.

- The high ceilings, to be able to take out this exterior wall,

a lot of windows, a lot of bright light.

Can you remember the old place before?

- This was the outside wall, right here.

Really dark and dingy.

But it's totally different now. So bright.

Beautiful view of the garden from every angle.

(Pam): Yea. Looks beautiful.

(bright music)

- We got your beautiful island.

We know you love to bake. - Oh.

- So we got a little surprise in the doors for you.

- Surprise? You're gonna have to show me!

(laughing)

- Ah! - Oh! That is amazing!

That is excellent, because I find it hard

to lift it up and down. That looks great.

I love the kitchen and the island,

and I just love the flow of the kitchen,

like the spaces, the way Randy designed it out,

put the island in here, you can easily flow.

- So you remember how the old kitchen was?

- Oh, yes. - Oh, yes!

It was very hard to maneuver around here.

This was the outside wall.

- And it was very dark here.

You don't want to bake in the dark,

so all this light is gonna be very motivating for baking.

- An absolute total difference altogether.

- So, wanna have a look in the dining room?

- Absolutely.

- Oh, wow.

Oh, it looks so much better.

- It's amazing, this old fireplace, you know,

with the old metal that was on the front of it,

it was hiding all the nice, beautiful aged brick

which it actually added to the room.

- Oh, it looks beautiful. - Yeah, the old brick is great.

- To add more storage,

we actually built this underneath the stairs.

- Excellent. - Nice pull-out.

Waste of space, really. Why not utilize it?

And to be able to take that wall down,

now it looks open to look in at the nice fireplace.

- Beautiful. - Yep. Lovely.

- We talked about leaving the wall up, and then we said

we were gonna take the wall down,

and that made the biggest difference.

It just opened up the whole house.

- Nice place to sit down and have a Sunday dinner.

- Oh, yes. For sure. - Absolutely.

- Looks amazing.

(bright music)

Well, to think we thought about

not doing a renovation and buying a different house

instead of renovating this...

Certainly wouldn't do that now.

(laughing) - No, no, definitely not.

- No. Really, really nice.

- It certainly comes together well.

- Yeah, it's beautiful.

- It always feels good to save an old home.

You know, a lot of people would probably look at this,

tear it down, but I love everything about an old home.

It's got a lot of history, got a lot of character,

and to be able to save it and bring it back to life

is what we enjoy.

(upbeat folk music)

Hey, guys! Come on in.

- Hey, how's it going? - Hey, Paul!

- Hi, how are you?

- Have a scone. That's payment!

(laughing) - Lots of good ones.

(Randy): Our team is always, you know,

it's a team effort, and everybody kinda

came together on this one.

This is what it's about, teamwork.

We make a beautiful place!

- Oh, we're happy.

I can't, I can't say enough good.

- Walking into this place now

and seeing it completely finished,

it's a happy pleasure,

because you don't get to experience

this kind of renovation every day.

- With all the work and the renovations

that we done to this place, and the structure

with the foundation, like, even though it's a 200-year-old

home, it'll help it last another 200 years.

(indistinct chattering)

And like, you go through you got the...

(laughing)

- Brigus is known for the name plates

on the front of the homes, and so as a final touch,

I figured I'd make something special for Pam and Fred

and actually put a name plate on the house.

(upbeat folk music)

After this, you know, this house is all done,

and they're gonna sit down and enjoy it,

we'll move on to another project

and renovate another old house.

It's what we do!

(Nikki): Cheers to that! (Fred): Happy days and big fish!

(all): Happy days and big fish!

(upbeat folk music)

(Randy): Next week, on Rock Solid Builds...

Getting concrete down here is a big ordeal.

We're gonna need a boat. SS Nikki.

- Dead honest? I'm a nervous wreck.

- Oh, oh, oh. - That screw can't hold!

- The weather is coming. We're on a race against time.

(thunder booming) Holy (bleep)!

Another delay. Another day gone.

We're just a few days from Tim and Valerie

moving back in.

(Nikki): What a difference. A huge difference.

(Valerie): Oh Randy. It's absolutely beautiful.

(Randy): Oh my.

Subtitling: difuze