Celebrity realtor Todd Talbot takes fans inside his most personal series to date – constructing a cutting-edge sustainable home that was unexpectedly devastated by B.C.’s wildfires
The title of Love It or List It Vancouver host Todd Talbot’s new series sounds not unlike other home construction programs. In fact, that was exactly what The Passive House Project was supposed to be. For four years, Talbot and his wife Rebecca Codling were documenting their family’s efforts to lead by example, building an A-frame home with a minimal ecological footprint on the shores of Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna. “You should be able to reduce your energy consumption by 80 to 90 per cent from a standard home,” explains Talbot, about the concept behind a passive house. “It gets a little nerdy and sometimes I can see people glazing over. What I wanted to do originally with this show was to show people that passive construction can be understandable, accessible and cool.” Alas, although much of the series covers the construction of their “Eh Frame” house, this is not the story that the inaugural season of Todd Talbot Builds ultimately ends up telling.
A year after the devastating wildfires that engulfed the area — the Talbot family’s new home included — TV Week caught up with Todd about the journey he and his loved ones have taken to rebound, and bring this program to the screen.
TV WEEK: As your show is, at long last, about to premiere, what are your feelings around this project?
TODD TALBOT: Well, there’s a mix of emotions. We’ve been documenting it for four years. Now, Rebecca and I are talking about stuff that not only happened around the fire, but when we bought the property. It’s a reminder of, “Oh, that’s why we did this — it was so cool!” It’s an interesting process, going back in your phone, looking for video clips to highlight certain things that we might not have captured with the film crew. I also think this is probably the most authentic show that I’ve ever been involved in, and there’s something that I love about that. I think it’s a very revealing process. We tried to show the highs and the lows and the journey as it really unfolded. We started off with a very different spirit, mentality and focus, and the ending obviously was very different [from what we expected]. So, we had to consider how to frame that within the show and what we wanted to say about it.
Why was it important to still make the show, despite this devastating shift in circumstances?
The original impetus behind it was to showcase a super-cool, architecturally interesting build and a family’s journey through it. It was to explore in real time what it means to build a high-performance home, introducing net zero passive house construction, and all of these leading-edge technologies that are going to be implemented into all of our construction for numerous reasons. That was what I wanted this to be about, that is what we shot and that is what we sold. While it’s not lost on me that we were trying to build an ultra-resilient future-proofed generational home — and we didn’t make it — it doesn’t dissuade me at all from the necessity of this conversation. It actually makes me feel like doubling down. So, while it’s on a personal level a super-s****y thing to go through, and so many people were impacted, it does punctuate the necessity for conversation around how we stay safe in our homes.
Was it immediately obvious that you would have to restructure the story?
Oh, 100 per cent. We just had to step back and see, “How do we handle this?” Basically it came down to two questions. Do we just tell the story and then rip the Band-Aid off when the fire happens? Or do we want to acknowledge that this happened and go back to the beginning and journey through so that we can build to that spot?
The show feels very personal, with home videos of you and your wife being honest about how difficult this build was even at the best of times. What is it like to be so personal after years of playing somewhat of a character on TV?
I don’t want to disparage Love It or List It in any way, shape or form. It’s just a certain style, so you’re playing a character that is infused with your own personality. But there was always a piece of me that lamented the lack of authenticity. It just never sat right with me for a couple reasons. One is that a lot of people believe those shows wholeheartedly. I mean, parts of it are real, but it’s a show and it’s entertainment. And then the other part that always bugged me was that I never really was allowed to share what I was passionate about around real estate and construction. I had to stay in my lane and Jill [Harris, his co-host] had to stay in her lane.
What is it like now to share the builder part of yourself with viewers?
Honestly, I love that people get to see what I actually do and what I’m passionate about. That authenticity piece is super-exciting. Anytime you reveal the inner workings of your family and your journey, you open yourself up to criticism and judgment. But I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’m not overly concerned about that. I do want to make sure that we acknowledge that lots of people are going through this and are in way trickier circumstances than we are. If this opens people’s eyes to thinking differently about how they might construct their home, or even calling their insurance broker to check on their insurance policy, that would be great. I’m probably more proud of this than I am of a lot of shows that I’ve done.
How does the family feel about being so vulnerable on TV?
My kids have kind of grown up with it. They’re 13 and 14 now. When we started this, they were carefree and not concerned about what their friends might say at school. My son is particularly emotional about it. I think it affects him more than the other three of us. He has no interest in seeing this. He really does not. If we’re screening something, he’ll go in the other room. But Rebecca and I are on the same page, where we want to tell the story authentically as best we could.
Is there a lesson here? In surrendering, acceptance or family unity?
That’s a great question. I don’t really know. There’s definitely a “coming together”-ness. There’s a certain kind of sadness, but bonding of the family through this process. You are constantly reminded that while there is a financial loss and a loss of time, we can create something else. I am still probably in a little bit of the pragmatic mindset where I haven’t quite got to the philosophical. You never think this is going to happen to you. Even the night of, I actually didn’t think it was going to burn. I knew we were going to be evacuated, but you’re like, “It’s not actually going to happen.” So I think there’s just an acknowledgement that these things are real and they can actually happen in places that you might not consider. I don’t know. Maybe we circle back [to the question] for season two?
Todd Talbot Builds: The Passive House Project, airs Tuesday, October 8 on Cottage Life