For Dave Depencier, it’s not what his clients know that causes problems, it’s what they think they know.
Dresden resident Depencier, is the star and host of Reno My Reno, which debuts this Thursday at 9:30 on Cottage Life Television.
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During the show Dave and his crew, Anthony Andelis and Derek Marsden attempt to fix cottage renovation plans which have gone awry.
In the season’s opener, Dave tackles the sun room of a cottage in Pembroke.
“The husband sent his wife away for a weekend and planned to have the room finished when she got back. When we got involved there were some crazy ceiling tiles and he had given up on the drywall. It was being partially held up by a couch he had pushed against the wall.”
In two days, the Reno my Reno crew had the room finished and looking better than the owners believed possible.
For Depencier, the owner and general manager of Depencier Builders in Dresden, doing the show has been “an absolute blast.
Working with the production crew, incorporating my ideas into the project and helping the homeowners learn some skills has been great,” he said.
Typically, the crew will keep at least one of the homeowners; “the one who’s most responsible” Depencier joked, on site through the process.
“We get to show them where they went wrong and we even get the couple involved in doing some aspect of the project so that they can know they’ve contributed,” he said.
With only two full working days, the pressure is on his crew but Depencier says it always works out in the end.
“We’ve completed 12 of the 13 shows and we’ve been able to do some amazing work,” he said.
It did take some time to get used to having a camera record everything as it happens but after a short time everything jelled.
“The people from Mountain Road Productions (producers of the show) are really talented professionals in their own right,” he said. “They’re so good at what they do that I didn’t have to make any real adjustments beyond getting used to them being there.”
Depencier was recommended to the producers through a friend in the Ontario Home Builder Network.
“It’s a great concept and anyone who watches the show will learn something about what to do and what not to do.”
The show is available on both Bell and Rogers satellite packages as well as TVCogeco.
For more information on the show including full schedule information, go to http://tv.cottagelife.com/.
