HGTV's Rico León Talks Bad Contractors And Saving Your Stalled Reno Project - Exclusive Interview
For every picture-perfect home renovation that you watch on TV, there are countless projects that turn into nightmares for homeowners and their families. From misappropriated funds to abandoned timelines and out-of-control budgets, the fallout that occurs when one chooses a dishonest contractor can be more than some people can handle on their own. Luckily, Rico León has been there before — and he's stepping in to ensure the job gets finished.
Inspired by his parents' painful exposure to the world of crooked contractors when he was a child, Rico is an advocate for discouraged families who are desperate to make things right. Through communication, empathy, and his expert insight into the world of construction, the star of HGTV's "Rico to the Rescue" attempts to jumpstart his clients' stalled projects while providing viewers with the wisdom necessary to ensure they never meet a similar fate. In this exclusive interview, we sat down with León to discuss his new show, his experience with lousy contractors, and his expert tips for ensuring your project doesn't require lawyers to push it past the finish line.
Communication is vital
"Rico to the Rescue" is said to be inspired by your parents' past experience with a crooked contractor. What advice can you give to homeowners who feel like they might be getting taken advantage of during a renovation?
Oh man, there's so many ... It's almost like talking about a relationship. There are so many variables when it comes to things that go south. Is insurance involved? Is mortgage involved? What's the contract look like?
What I've noticed — and this is probably everyone's biggest downfall — is communication. A lot of people like to vent. They like to say, "Oh my gosh, Rico, this person did this. This person, he made the walls horrible ..." There's many solutions, and what you don't want to do is go legal. What you don't want to do is blast their name on social media. They start suing you. The lawyers win, and you don't.
The best thing to do is to have a meeting with that contractor and say, "Hey, you know what? The past is the past. What can we do? What are the solutions moving forward? How about a 30-day plan? How about a 60-day plan? What are the things that we could do moving forward so I don't run your name through the ground and we don't go legal?"
It's tone. If you yell and say this and that ... Even on my show, I did the whole "Dog the Bounty Hunter" thing, where I was like, "Hey, you owe me." They run away, and then there's no solution. Then the homeowner suffers for it, and my job's harder. I have to take on more work.
Instead, it's, "Hey, I know your side of things. I've been in construction a very long time. Let's meet in the middle where I'm more of a mediator," and we say, "Are you willing to do this and this and this for the homeowner? Then the homeowner will feel good. They'll write you another check for $10,000, and then we can move forward, and I'll help."
That's the best solution because this market is like the Wild West now. Construction's the Wild West. Everyone's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Paul never gets paid. The best things to do are to be preemptive, have milestones, have money in escrow, possibly, where it's like, "The bank's going to give inspections every $30,000 that is spent to make sure that you're doing your job." Then you have somebody else helping the money side of things.
Meet the team
"Rico to the Rescue" also features chief estimator Matt Plowman and interior designer Poonam Moore. How were they chosen, and what special qualities do they bring to the table?
Great question. Matt and I have known each other for five or six years now. We worked in emergency restoration together for a company, and I was the main sales GC, and he was the main chief estimator. When I say chief estimator, he's the one that had the 85 pages that are line item-ed. He has more master certifications than anyone does in the state. He's insanely dialed in when it comes to scope of work, cost, working with insurance, getting amounts approved by insurance, and getting very detailed scopes of work to homeowners and investors when we're doing construction jobs. He and I have known each other for years, and we took our talents and started doing our own venture.
When it comes to Poonam, I never really worked with a lot of designers. What was cool is I've met so many designers, and I was like, "My show's about taking care of people, having empathy, and knowing there's a greater good and someone that's willing to sacrifice." If you're in it to just make a million dollars off of every job, that's not going to happen. Out of a lot of the designers I chose, she had the most empathy. She has a beautiful family. She's been doing it for a long time, and she's also a GC herself, so she'll grind if I need backup.
That's my trio. We have each other's backs. We all have our different skill sets, but when we work together, it's less stressful.
What was your favorite moment from the upcoming season?
It's the end. It's when you see homeowners that have gone through hell for the last year, two years. They haven't had a glimpse of hope. But when we go all out ... We got 12 people in that house working simultaneously to get things done. We're forcing inspections, like, "Hey, let's hurry up. Let's get this done quick." Our sense of urgency gets us to the sweetest part, which is the very end when I see the families breathing for the first time, where they haven't slept in their own beds in years. Imagine what that's like. But once they get home ... their kids have a place to play and the parents have a place to host parties.
The sense of relief is my sense of relief because I remember going through it myself. Even as a kid, when I went through it myself, it was like, "You can't have your friends come over." It's all these little things that people don't think about. But once they have that house, it's finished ... I'm tagged out. I'm on to save somebody else.
Reputation is everything
What should homeowners look for when shopping around for a contractor for their project?
Look for their projects. Be like, "Are you working on something now? Do you have a place that you've worked on in the last nine months? Shoot me an address. I'd love to do a drive-by. Do you have any homeowners that I could meet in person and ask them a couple questions?" [Do] a little bit of due diligence.
I know everyone's excited to get the house started. You're going to run into a billion good salespeople. Strong handshake, America. "You're going to love them." But take your time. Do due diligence. Ask them [about the] hierarchy. "When things go south when it comes to this, this, and this, who takes care of it? What happens?" Throw bad scenarios at them, like, "What happens if this takes three months? How are we going to move things forward?" Throw certain scenarios to see what their reaction is to it. That's going to be a big determining factor.
Honestly, reputation's everything. The good old days of the strong handshake and "I trust you" — those days are gone. You have to do your due diligence. Contractors need to have a social media presence. They have to show their work, because it's too easy to lie if you don't have those things. I want to see five-star reviews. I want to see happy people.
Don't get me wrong — there's guys out there and ladies out there that are phenomenal and do a beautiful job and have no website and have been in business for 25 years. But it's going to be a lot harder for you to sell in this economy because there's so many people getting screwed when it comes to construction work. Too many contractors are mismanaging money and taking the money, and now homeowners are scared to move forward with construction jobs because they're only hearing about the nightmares.
As a contractor, you need to do tons of due diligence. Make sure that you have references. Make sure that you have a breakdown of how you're going to spend the money — not how much money you make, but a breakdown of, "The first $40,000 goes to this, then the next 40 goes to this, then the next 40 goes to this." Then you hold on to that last check until you're happy, and we're done.
A show people need
Most reality home reno shows focus on dream home makeovers rather than logistical nightmares and stalled projects. Do you think viewers will take something more from "Rico to the Rescue" than the average renovation program?
There's shows people want. This is a show people need. This is the good, the bad, and the ugly that's always pushed under the rug, and that's why people get in trouble. That's why people go legal. That's why contractors take money. That's why things go south, because no one's creating solutions and showing the truth of how this industry is, especially with this economy.
I'm East Coast. I'm more real and I tell the truth. Sometimes, homeowners don't choose me because I might not be the smoothest sales guy, but I tell them the good, the bad, and the ugly. Then, three months later when they signed with a guy who said all the things they wanted to hear, they call me back and say, "I made a mistake." I say, "I get it. It's because that person wasn't honest with you."
The world needs a contractor and an advocate who's honest with them versus [one who] just tells them what they want to hear. It's not a show people might want, but it's a show people need.
What are some of the different types of bad contractors that homeowners might encounter? In your experience, are there any ways to distinguish bad actors from the real deal?
It's insanely hard. Please do due diligence. Please ask them a million questions and ask for references and ask them how many projects they're working on right now. If it's too many, assume they're all moving slowly and assume he or she's going to take money from your project to finish another one.
There's a lot of questions that homeowners need to ask, but it's almost impossible to tell if they're good or bad, because people are professional liars. People believe their own BS. They're like, "I've been doing this for 30 years." It's like, "Well, dude, you're 41 years old. You started at the age of 11?"
Everyone's saying these things, and it's so hard because we get charmed. I'm guilty. I've had contractors that are hyperconfident — "Let's kill it. I'm amazing. I'm the best" — and they steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from me. It's those lessons that I've learned, and I'm hoping homeowners don't go through what I went through. That's why I wanted to do this show: to let everyone know the good, bad, and ugly, and how to prevent these things from happening. Because it's happened to me, and it's horrible.
Everything can be solved with communication
When a renovation project goes off the rails, families and businesses suffer. What effects can hiring a subpar contractor have on individuals that some homeowners might not be aware of?
That question has multiple answers because every state's different, work authorizations are different, situations are different, and scopes of work are different. Are you working with a general contractor or handyman? Are you GC-ing it yourself and having different subcontractors? There's so many different variables when it comes to that. Again, it's having a good layout when it comes to money and having a good layout when it comes to scope of work and milestones. These simple things are what make the world go around and move forward.
But it's very hard. It's like going into an industry — it's like you just passing your bar and I throw you the biggest case ever. You're learning things for the first time, even though you heard the good, bad, and ugly of the industry.
What can you tell us about the market conditions in Denver? Does your show feature any situation that'd be all too familiar to Denver residents?
All of the episodes are based in Denver. We went all the way from Jefferson to Parker to right in the middle of the city, so we've gone through every kind of scenario and every kind of job scope that we've gone through.
I'm seeing a lot of the same thing. A lot of the same thing is lack of communication and no due diligence when it comes to the money. You could have a good person be a contractor, but it doesn't mean that they're good with communication or money management. Sometimes the homeowners are unrealistic, and they want to micromanage and they want to say this and this, or they change the scope in the middle of the job. It's like, "Well, if you change the scope, that throws everything off, but are you going to blame the contractor for it or are you going to take responsibility for it?"
Everything can be solved with communication. Every house I walk into is solved by me hearing both sides, giving them the ultimatums, and creating a plan to move forward. That's literally what people need to do moving forward: having the talk, keeping the nice tone that's not combative, and saying, "How are we going to work things out in the future so we don't have to involve legal and dragging names through the ground and every horrible scenario? Let's figure out a way that we don't do that."
New episodes of "Rico to the Rescue" air Saturdays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HGTV.
This interview was edited for clarity.