The Ben Mulroney Show - The Dilemma Panel - Husband insists on DIY Projects

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Guests and Topics on Today's Show Guest: Bryan Baeumler, Host, Renovation Resort Guest: Scott McGillivray, Host, Renovation Resort If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. We're doing the dilemma panel a little bit differently today because I've got two guests who are here who have domain expertise in a subject that I think is very important to me and very important to listeners of the Ben Mulroney show and and that is the subject of sort of the state of the trades in Canada. Why it's important? What we can do to make them healthier, bring more people into them. And I'm joined today by Brian Baumler, host of Renovation Resort, and Scott McGilvery, host of Renovation Resort.

Boys, welcome to the show. Thanks, Ben. Good to be here. Glad to see you. We do some other stuff too. Yeah. I know, if I had listed everything you do, we'd be into the next segment. Yeah, that's a few things.

Very, very busy. So let's talk about this first. Let's talk about Renovation Resort. Sure, yeah, we're excited. This is season two of Renovation Resort. Stepping it up a notch. The properties are twice the size as they were the first season.

But tell our listeners, if they haven't seen season one. Oh, okay. What's the hook? So Renovation Resort, we've got four sets of designer builder duos. So folks who are maybe even fans of, of shows on the home network for a long time, they come to this resort and they renovate these blank slates into these dream vacation

properties. They're competing against each other. Brian and I, along with several guests, judges are there to evaluate the work. Winner gets a hundred thousand dollars and all the bragging rights. And it's a super duper intense eight weeks with the backdrop of, you know, Canadians

vacation, uh, destination. And where, where's the location? We're on the Trent this year on the Trent Severn. So we're kind of North East of the, of Toronto, um, Frankfurt is the closest town. Yeah. Yeah. We're kind of off in the middle of nowhere. Um, Frankfurt is the closest town. Yeah. Yeah.

We're kind of off in the middle of nowhere. Brian and I start the whole show camping in the woods. Canoe country. It's canoe country. It's canoe. Yeah. That's great. And we're taking some of these contestants

are coming in and we're fully out of their comfort zone. Yeah. You know, they're, they, these are city folk. All of a sudden there's, there's skitters and you know, there's, there's critters and, and, uh, and they got production teams and everything. So we get to see them as we did when we started in the television industry anyway.

We get to see them come in overconfident and we watch the break. Yeah. We see them crumble. I've seen you crumble on TV. Yes. I see Brian crumble every day. Yeah.

Yeah. Well that's, I mean, you've met the reason. Oh. No, I'm so glad to see you. I haven't seen you in a really long time. And of course you've got so many other things on the go as well. You've got the, got talent stuff going on. Yeah. Yeah. We're, you know, we produce several shows,

really proud to be producing shows all across Canada here. And we've got renovation resort, obviously, Brian and I championing that show right now along with Scott's Vacation House Rules also launching this week. So it's a big week for us, but yeah, Got Talent, MasterChef, there's a bunch of shows. What happens when two alphas who do their own thing

so successfully come together and partner? Like who's the tie-breaking vote? Oh, are you considering Brian an alpha too? Scott's very competitive. Yeah. And I mean, we have spent the day saying this, I don't need to be. I'm comfortable. Yeah, see if the three of us were on Desert Island, the only thing that I could contribute to the team in order to survive is meat. That's it. Honestly, on day one I'd say, boys, there's no food around. I'm sacrificing myself for the greater good.

Hunters need gatherers. I don't even know that I could gather. That's why I'm just literally offering myself up for barbecue. Just meat. But one of the reasons I was so happy to hear that you guys were coming in today is because we're having a national conversation

about the trades. And there's a crisis looming in, and housing, for example, housing construction, that there are far more people about to retire from the trades than we are bringing in. And that's not the only crisis in housing. I wanna know from you guys on the front line, what are the crises facing the trades? Oh boy, this is gonna be long.

We got six minutes. How many days have we got? I mean, the first thing is that we don't have enough people coming into the trades. And some people, there was a stigma. I think that stigma has been removed or beaten down. Anyone that wants to come into the trades is more than welcome.

I think Scott and I and Mike and this whole industry on television have helped to do that. So we need more tradespeople. When AI shuts down, when the internet stops working, when the market crashes, you better know how to do something with your hands. And unfortunately for the next generation, that means you're gonna have to sweat

and carry some things and be dirty. But that is good, honest money. Yeah. And you can build it into a successful business. Yeah, I mean we've done okay for a couple of trades guys. Well, listen, they're saying like the average electrician and plumber is gonna be a millionaire. Oh yeah, that's the next band of millionaires.

Yeah, that's the next band of millionaires. There's a bit of, you know, I think the whole real estate industry is getting pressure from many different areas. For a long time, there has been a challenge with replacing the skills that are in our industry with new up and coming younger generation, getting people into being electricians or plumbers

or master carpenters in the skilled trades. We just don't have enough people to replace the stock of labor that's there. What is the average age of a brick layer is like 78 years old. Yeah. Like it's just, you can see the crisis coming. Now, ironically, all at the same time, we've got geopolitical issues coming. We've got potential tariffs on products.

I'm already seeing it on things like appliances and finished products. Those are going up in price. So people are pulling back. It's really like real estate's never seen so many things happening all at once. And that's not it. I mean, we are now seeing unprecedented north of 80% of young Canadians under the age of 40

have given up on home ownership ever in their lives. So we are quickly heading back to the feudal system where all of a sudden when we get to 90, 95% of the population that does not own their home, we have now lost control of the cost of housing completely. You're the jester, renting from the king. If the number of people coming in is too low, then would one way of accelerating it be,

I had a listener yesterday who's a tradesman and he said, he said there's the ratio, a rule of one to one for master to apprentice is one to one. And he said, you gotta remember, these guys have to go to school. That's where they learn. They come to us for the nuance, for the protocols, the processes.

So is that something, he threw that out as a good idea, I would check with you guys, is that a good idea that should be explored? I would say five to ten to one is, you know, a master in his trade, whether it's a red seal or licensed or not, someone that's spent 10 or 15 years building those hours and getting that experience, you can train as many people as you can train. You know, as long as you can supervise them and train them, I think anything we need to do to get more people into the trades, and I think it's not a matter of like,

hey, do you wanna be on your knees and laying bricks for the rest of your life? It's, hey, do you wanna be on your knees for 10 years and then own the company, and then own the trucks, and own everything? There's so many ancillary businesses around. You can be a tradesperson on a yacht in the winter. And a lot in the winter. Yeah.

You know, and a lot of them are. Well, I see your tan. Wow, I like this. I see, I'm looking at your tan. You're tan. Yeah, I don't have a tan, I'm just naturally darker. Yeah. No, but, and you know, I think you made a good point,

credit to television shows like yours that show the upside opportunity. Let's bring it to mainstream. Because to be fair, I think when I was growing up, the implication of if you went into the trades, it's because of any number of reasons, most of them negative, right? Right.

Like you couldn't get into university or couldn't afford that lifestyle, and therefore this was the avenue open to you. And we have to change the conversation that no, it is a proud, valuable, and valued Oh yeah. a way to grow a business. If you look back at the history of the trades,

a lot of it had to do with new Canadians who didn't necessarily speak the language. So this was something they could do where they didn't really have to talk to anyone other than the other trades. And now it's, you know, we live in a world. Interestingly enough, they're all multimillionaires now. Yeah, they're like billionaires.

And their families, they've created generational wealth for their families for generations to come. Yeah. And we've spent the last few generations outsourcing manufacturing, outsourcing ownership of corporations, outsourcing all this stuff, waving flags made overseas, claiming patriotism.

And here we are now with this economy, we're missing people, we're all these things. Well, all these things can come together. The buy local, buy Canadian, betting on entrepreneurs. I mean, you know, the buy local, buy Canadian, uh, betting on, on entrepreneurs. I mean, that's, that's what the trades are. Right. And, and, and the, with a successful, uh, uh, trade community, um, will have the tools to solve a lot of the problems that we're dealing with today.

A hundred percent. The challenge, one of the challenges, just the narrative as well, though, you know, you've got a lot of folks looking for instant gratification. And so we need to get people back to thinking long-term careers. Brian Baumler, Scott McGilvey, they are my guests here on The Ben Mulroney Show. Coming back, they're gonna solve your problems

in The Dilemma. We've got a lot of questions that need to be answered and these are the problem solvers. Don't go anywhere. This is The Ben Mulroney Show. Welcome to The Dilemma panel. No question is too awkward. No problem too petty. This is the Ben Mulroney Show.'s your host, Ben Mulrooney. Welcome back to the Ben Mulrooney show. Welcome back to the Dilemma panel and my two guests know a thing or two about

solving people's problems. They've been doing renovations on TV and in real life for years. They're hosting the second season of renovation resort on home. And and they join me now please. Please welcome as if I have an audience. Ryan Balmwood and Scott McGilvery. Welcome guys. All right, so let's jump right into Dilemma number one. Dear I said, please welcome us if I have an audience. Ryan Baumann and Scott McGilvery, welcome guys. Welcome back. Woo! Look at that audience. All right, so let's jump right in to dilemma number one.

Dear Ben, my husband is obsessed with home renovations. Oh, there you go. On the surface, that might sound great, but every time he starts a project, it spirals out of control. What begins as just painting the bathroom turns into tearing down walls, rewiring lights, and weeks of chaos.

We end up spending way more money than planned. Our house is constantly construction zone and it's putting a strain on our relationship. I've tried suggesting we hire professionals who stick to smaller projects, but he insists on doing it all himself, quote, to save money and because he enjoys it. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but I'm at my wits end.

How do I get him to see that his DIY dreams are becoming a nightmare? Signed, Ellie. Now I've seen both of you, like there is stress that comes from any sort of, messing up with someone's home space, right? So that can put stress on a relationship, and this is clearly that.

So what would you, Scott, what would you say? Well, first of all, I would say this sounds like a perfectly normal renovation to me. Yeah. You know, it goes over time, over budget. It's really hard to start a project and not fix all the problems as you start to dig deeper and deeper.

So I understand that piece, but planning obviously would, it sounds like it's a tool that would probably help this relationship. Yeah. And you got to plan it out properly. If you're going to do the bathroom, you got to figure out the entire scope of the work. Get some quotes, get everything sorted out.

Make sure you do have the proper budget. The danger of kind of picking at the loose thread with renovations is you have no plan. You're at the mercy of whatever's happening. We have electrical problems, we got to deal with it. We might have to pay someone too much because it's last minute. So I would say just say, stop where you are,

decide where this renovation is going to end, agree on it, and might have to pay someone too much because it's last minute. So I would say just say stop where you are, decide where this renovation is going to end, agree on it and then move forward. And that's I think Ellie's issue. I don't think her issue was like him taking on one project. It seems like as soon as he's done with one, he starts another and I don't think he's consulting Ellie. Yeah, Scott made some great points here. All that rings true when you're planning a renovation, but I'm going to approach this from the therapist. Yes from the renovation therapist side Ellie has Ellie really analyzed what role she is playing

Because because I've I may or may not have been in this situation Where it's like he's just going over the top. It's like What role is she playing? Is she enabling him? Is she forcing him to increase the scope or change things or continue? You know? See I would look at it from his eye. Like what is motivating you to constantly fix things and expand on those things? In other words I think what we're all saying is they need to communicate better. They do. Ellie, you need to talk to your husband,

tell him to put down the drill bit or the. Yeah. You know the saw, I don't know what you guys use. Distract him somehow. Just distract him somehow, Ellie. The thing to remember in a big renovation, you're either going to get in a fight with your spouse or with your contractor.

So if you're both. Usually both. Yeah. If you're both, you're doomed. Yeah. All right, dilemma number two, dear Ben's panel. My wife and I are having a disagreement about our twin boys getting jobs.

They're both 15 and have never worked a real job. I'd like them to get an afterschool job, but just for a couple of hours, my wife hates the idea and she wants them to focus on school. It's not about finances since we do well. To me, it's about them learning a lesson and how to make their own money and save it. I think it will also give them some freedom and a taste of adulthood. I

started working when I was 12 so I don't think 16 is too young. Who is in the right, my wife or I? Brian when did you start working? Put those kids to work. I opened my first business at 14. There you go. I mean I was it was the Moon River handyman. We picked up your garbage, we mowed your lawn, we painted your shed, we did it all. So you painted their shed. Okay, I thought you said something else. Yeah, we did all kinds of stuff.

But I would say get those kids to work. It's not just about the money. At that age, you're not paying rent, but with our kids, even with allowance when they were younger, we would say, okay, you get 50 bucks the month, but half of that's gonna go to tax, and 10 of that's gonna go to food,

and so here's your five bucks you're left with. I think it's an important lesson for kids just to get financially literate and get some education on that, to realize the value of a dollar, but also the schedule, to learn like, hey, you're not here just hanging out with mom and dad, or flipping through memes. You have to go somewhere and adhere to a schedule and be accountable to someone who's not your parents exactly

And Scott, you know to me I've noticed in schools There's far less homework for my kids than there ever was for me I mean I had minimum three four hours sometimes five hours of homework at night It was absurd right, but they don't have a lot to do after school They have some. And so for them to go somewhere and learn about the balance of responsibilities, I think it trumps the money, trumps that anything else.

It puts them in a, in a place where they have to figure things out on their own. Yeah. I think the responsibility is critical. I mean, my kids are getting to the age. They're 11 and 13. We talk about jobs. Put them to work.

Yeah, put them to work. I mean, I had, I started delivering the paper. I remember before we moved from Leeside and I was nine years old and I had to, my brother and I had to deliver the newspaper. I had to do that up with the, I had to deliver the liberal when we lived in Richmond Hill. Um, and then I got a job, there was a garden

center at the corner. So I was working at the garden center on the weekends, did some landscaping and then my first sort of real job was a lifeguard at 15. Yep. Right. It was a junior guard. Um, so I've definitely have been chatting

with my kids about this. They're little or you could use them as duct cleaners. Yes. Yeah. It's a great idea. Right? Right? Fantastic.

I mean, you could say. You've put. There's lots of things they can do. I love Fantastic. I mean, you could say, you've put- There's lots of things they can do. I love it. I love it when, you know, like a 15 year old kid in the neighborhood comes to the door and says, I want to cut the grass this summer, or I want to do, I'm like, here's three jobs I can give you.

You know what, you're new to the windows, you're going to do the grass. I love it. See, the kid with the grass, you're supposed to say, I'll tell you what, I'm going to consider it, but I want you to throw today in for free. Just show me what you can do. Oh, wow.

I never called him back. So the answer is Colin, you are the right, you're doing. Oh, wow. I never called him back. So the answer is Colin, you are the right, you're in the right, your wife's completely wrong. Kick the kids out of the house to send them to work. Mark this date on your calendar. It will never happen again. All right, we got time for one more.

Hello there, I'm struggling with how to handle my feelings towards my 23 year old daughter's boyfriend. She's smart, independent, has a good head on her shoulders, but I just can't seem to warm up to the guy she's dating. It's nothing dramatic. He's not disrespectful or abusive, and he hasn't done anything objectively terrible. But something about him just doesn't sit right with me. Sometimes it's little comments that make me feel off,

or the way he seems to take her for granted. Other times, I feel like they just don't bring out the best in each other. The last thing I want is to damage our relationship, or push her closer to him, just because I disapprove. But I also feel like I'd be dishonest if I kept pretending everything's fine when I have real concerns. How do I express my feelings in a way that doesn't create a rift between us?

Is it even my place to say anything? And that's signed anonymous. Well, I would say- So we don't know if this is mom or dad. Yeah, we don't know if it's mom or dad, but I'm looking at this and she says, how do I express my concerns? I say, I don't know that you can even put your finger

on the concerns that you have. Like you're saying it's a feeling, it's a vibe. I've? I say, I don't know that you can even put your finger on the concerns that you have. Like you're saying it's a feeling, it's a vibe. I've got a gut feeling I don't like this guy. I don't know, yeah. I mean, and your daughter's 23, you may, exactly, you may be right, you may push her in the direction that you're trying to pull her away from. Yeah, you don't wanna become the bad guy,

I would say, number one. No. You don't wanna be like, I don't like this person you're dating, because then they marry them or something, and that's always there. But I think it's valid to ask your child questions like yeah do you feel this person brings out the best in you yeah I think that's it you guys your daughters are a little young for this but I have absolutely beautiful 18 year old daughter that is terrifying as a 50 year old father

you know heading off to university and she's had a boyfriend now for two years yeah did you properly vet this guy? I did. I, I took him out behind the barn. I taught him how to protect himself from my daughter. No, he's a, he's a wonderful kid. I, you know, I Sarah and I both sit and we listen to them communicate and they have such a healthy style of communication. I'm like, where did they learn this? You know? So he's a great kid. We're I'm like, where did they learn this?

So he's a great kid. We're lucky on that part. But if you're a parent and you get that gut feeling, you can't get in the way of love. That will push your kid away. What you want to do is make sure that they're safe. At 15 years old, your 15-year-old daughter, yes, you want to monitor that situation,

make sure that she's safe. But I don't think addressing it directly having been through those teenage years with with the daughter that's that's not going to end well. There we go, anonymous we have solved your problem just listen to us and everything is gonna go well. Gentlemen thank you so much for joining us, remind me when is the show on? We've got Sunday nights renovation resort season 2 at 9 PM and Monday nights, 9 PM, Scott's vacation house rules. And you can stream on SAC TV. Yeah, there you go.

Real quick, top of your heads, one word answer. How many shows have you been on and produced? You got a number. 17 or 18. Scott? A couple dozen. I'd say at least 15. At least 15.

I mean, I love you guys, but I kind of hate you guys. But I thank you so much for coming. And really appreciate it. I hope to see you again soon. Continued success. Thanks, Ben. Thanks for having us, Ben. Thanks.

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