All of today's insanely-rich home renovation TV personalities – Joanna and Chip Gaines (combined net worth $50 million), Tarek and Christina El Moussa ($15 and $25 million net worths, respectively), Nicole Curtis ($8 million), Jonathan and Drew Scott (combined net worth $200 million), Bryan and Sarah Beaumler (combined net worth $20 million)… and a dozen others – owe their entire careers to one man:
Bob Vila
For our younger readers who may not know that name, allow me to fill you in…
In 1978, a then-unknown contractor named Robert J. Vila won an award from Better Homes and Gardens magazine for restoring a historic home in Newton, Massachusetts. The magazine story caught the eye of a television producer named Russell Morash at Boston's PBS affiliate WGBH. [For those of you who are watching the HBO show "Julia," YES the same Russell Morash who made Julia Child famous, also discovered… Bob Villa!]
In 1979, Bob and WGBH launched "This Old House." Unlike today's shows that perform an entire home renovation in a single 22-minute episode, "This Old House" focuses on just a handful of homes all season long, performing renovations over multiple episodes. It was slower-paced, but viewers invested in the show's projects. And its host.
"This Old House" was a massive hit out of the gate. And thanks to his easy-to-follow home improvement talents, pleasant demeanor, beard, and soon-to-be iconic plaid shirts, Bob Vila became a superstar. He hosted 235 episodes of "This Old House," departing after the 10th season in 1989.
Why did Bob leave? There were several reasons, but a significant factor was money. And I'm not implying that Bob was greedy. You have to understand that "This Old House" turned Bob into one of the most famous celebrities in America. That's not an exaggeration. And in the early seasons of "This Old House," at a time when Alan Alda was making $300,000 per episode of M*A*S*H, and John Ritter was making $150,000 per episode of "Three's Company," Bob Vila's salary per episode was $200. That's not a typo. In a 26-episode season, he made a TOTAL of $5,200. That's the same as making around $15,000 per year today after adjusting for inflation. It wasn't until later seasons that his salary was finally boosted to a still-meager $800 per episode. That's roughly $20,000 per season, or $50,000 per year in today's dollars. Bob easily could have made more money just being a full-time, standard home contractor without a TV show. But he knew how to capitalize.
One of the first things Bob did after leaving PBS in 1989 was sign a MAJOR endorsement contract with Sears. Specifically, he was hired to promote Sears' Craftsman tool brand. Even younger readers may be now recalling Bob Vila from these once-ever-present commercials:
Sears Battle
In 1990, Bob wisely launched his own series, "Bob Vila's Home Again," which was syndicated by CBS for 16 seasons through 2005. The show's primary sponsor was Sears.
In 2005, Sears was acquired by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert. One of the first things that Lampert wanted to cut was Bob's multi-million-dollar contract that was set to run for four more years.
Even though he was under contract with the retailer through 2009, weeks after Lampert took over in 2005, Bob learned that Sears was looking to kill his deal. Even after agreeing to a 75% pay cut, Sears wasn't satisfied. And as if that wasn't brutal enough, Sears also canceled its longtime sponsorship of "Bob Vila's Home Again." The loss of its main sponsor, when his ratings were declining, was a death blow, and "Home Again" ended in 2005.
Bob has hosted a few other shows in the years since his show ended. He also wrote a dozen books, launched a line of tools under his name, and published BobVila.com, which he sold in 2020 to digital home improvement conglomerate Recurrent Ventures. But, as it would turn out, Bob Vila's best financial investment may be a Florida mansion.
Palm Beach Mansion
In 2005, Bob and his wife/longtime business partner, Diana Barrett, bought Diana's late mother's mansion on Everglades Island in Palm Beach, Florida. Diana's parents purchased the estate in 1975 for $375,000. Bob and Diana bought it for $6.1 million.
As you might expect, Bob and Diana immediately began renovating. As you might NOT expect, he did not do any of the work himself. He hired a contractor. Can you imagine the pressure that guy felt? His client was LITERALLY BOB VILA.
Bob and Diana are looking to downsize (they've already paid $12.5 million for a nearby mansion), so they recently put their original Palm Beach mansion up for sale. Their asking price for the 7-bedroom, 7-bathroom, 6,300 estate?
$52.9 million
Let me repeat. $52.9 million. And believe it or not, that's in line with recent comparable sales of similar homes on the exclusive Everglades Island. Here is a video tour:
What Happened to Sears and Eddie Lampert?
Under Eddie Lampert's leadership, Sears' revenue and profits plummeted. Thousands of employees lost their jobs. Sears, a once-iconic American brand founded in 1893, filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Eddie attempted to buy the company from bankruptcy, but the court rejected his offer.
