Bryan and Sarah Baeumler tell TV Week why this new series stands out from the many televised renos they’ve pulled off before
Between their work commitments, Bryan and Sarah Baeumler rarely have time to kill, so committing to a show that puts the time between construction shows on-camera seems like a surprising decision. “I’m a glutton for punishment,” jokes Bryan when we sit down to talk about Building Baeumler, which takes us inside a hotel renovation in the Florida Keys, the expansion of their Bahamas resort and improving their cottage in Georgian Bay. “We’ve always had this urge to look at projects that are outside of our comfort zone, but more than anything, now we’re really focused on legacy building and what that looks like for our family,” says Sarah. “This next chapter is not the most linear path to take, but that’s what we also enjoy at the end of the season. It’s not going to [end in] a neat little bow with a beautiful, finished reveal. This is our life.” Ahead, TV Week gets the scoop on their latest ambitious, deeply personal endeavour.
These projects could all be individual shows, but instead we get to see them, combined with your home life and your relationship with your children. Was the thinking behind Building Baeumler adding the family aspect to it?
Bryan: I think it’s a natural progression, and it is real. Twenty years ago, I was on TV renovating basements, bathrooms and kitchens and then started the home-building series. It just progressed to a hotel, and the kids were around. I think for us, it’s just very organic. I mean, the kids are always at work.
Sarah: And nothing ever happens when you think it’s going to happen. So, when opportunities present themselves, Bryan and I are always like, “OK, it’s not the right time, but is this something we want to sink our teeth into?” That’s exactly the case with these projects. And we’re not a family that’s in the same place at the same time. We’re all over the map, travelling with our kids, and that’s what we wanted to showcase as well. It’s very natural and it’s where we are at our stage in life.
You brought up the legacy aspect of it. What is the difference between leaving a legacy and the previous work you’ve done?
Bryan: A week after we opened the hotel, the pandemic hit and we spent seven, eight months locked up in a 700-square-foot villa with all four of our kids, two dogs, a cat and a chicken. It was a very expensive seven months, but we were there on the island on the beach with the kids 24/7. We were eating healthy, we were outside all the time. You come back into civilization and you realize, there’s something to this: how you live, what you eat, what you do. And at the end of the day, when the bus gets us crossing the street or whatever happens, what’s left? Drywalling how-to videos and a couple of funny shows? What do we want to leave in our wake?
Sarah: You’ll see how we came to this decision, on-camera, because we had some wonderful meetings with mentors of ours. We were blown away by the work that they have done globally, and we had the opportunity to sit down with them and really talk to them about next steps. You’ll see that Bryan and I are not educating people how to renovate their home, but instead we are the ones learning. And when we talk about the legacy project, we’re walking the audience through these very intimate conversations about how we hope to leave this planet.
Is it fair to say that this opens your relationship up to us in ways we haven’t seen before on TV?
Bryan: Yeah, a little bit.
Sarah: We’re having conversations with our kids and with each other that I think many people around their dining tables are having. We’re just pulling back the curtain and letting people in on ours.
Bryan: It ultimately should be inspirational for other people to tackle things that seem too big. We’re not perfect and we prove it over and over again. But it should inspire people to tackle things they didn’t think they could. It’s just about education, learning how to do it and trying to have fun along the way.
Construction and renovation usually tear couples apart. What makes you two different?
Bryan: Well, we’re not dead yet. See what happens next.
Sarah: The hardest part, with respect to renovating, is that both partners may not be on the same page. Bryan, you do a wonderful job speaking on home shows about really having the difficult discussions about where the money is going to be invested, how it’s going to be spent, and what it means to properly plan and budget.
Bryan: It’s about being open to those discussions and having those discussions nicely . . . and admitting when I’m wrong. Well, that has not happened yet.
Sarah: Not yet. And I think taking that reset time, which we do, amongst all the builds and the projects. You have to be able to separate. That’s something we are still working on, how to not talk about the build or projects 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You bring the cameras in for all of this. Are you now so oblivious to them that it’s like, come document it all?
Sarah: I think that for us, and for the kids even, it’s been wonderful to have that relationship with our crew. It’s a very small crew. We travel with them. When we were doing the Bahamas project, they were basically living on the island with us.
Bryan: Like aunts and uncles.
Sarah: For our kids, they had said goodbye to grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncles to move to the Bahamas. The people they sat with at the dinner table every single night was our film crew. So, that rapport and relationship is very comfortable. And our film crew is very respectful. They understand boundaries.
What can people learn about the way you approach life and work, specifically based on what they see in this new show?
Bryan: Carpe diem. You’re only here for so much time. You might as well make the most of it. Don’t hide in your basement watching TV all day.
Sarah: And it might not always be comfortable, but that’s OK. When you’re put in those situations where you’re not comfortable, that’s when you really grow. So, take the risks. It’s usually worth it in the end . . . but budget well!
Building Baeumler airs Sunday, October 5, on Home Network