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The Home Building and Remodeling Show
A groundbreaking platform that is reshaping the narrative on construction. Our podcast is dedicated to championing best practices, offering expert analysis, conducting insightful interviews, and providing valuable product recommendations based on real-life industry experience in the Home Building and Remodeling Industries.
At The Home Building and Remodeling Show, we are on a mission to drive positive change within the home building and remodeling industry, which in turn affects everyone worldwide. As we strive to create better and more affordable homes for all individuals, we believe it is crucial to shed light on the latest trends, innovations, and challenges faced by the industry.
Our podcast features in-depth discussions with industry experts, thought leaders, and professionals, offering our audience invaluable insights and strategies to navigate the dynamic landscape of home construction and renovation. From sustainable building practices to cutting-edge design trends, our podcast covers a wide range of topics that are shaping the future of the industry.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show
Makers, Builders, and DIY Journeys: Conversations with Shannon Evans
Have you ever stood in front of a home project, tool in hand, and felt that paralyzing fear of making a mistake? Shannon Evans, DIY expert and star of HGTV's Renovation Resort, knows that feeling all too well—and she's here to help you push past it.
In this illuminating conversation with host Chris Kirby, Shannon reveals how growing up in a family where her father ran a plumbing company for over 45 years and her mother was constantly crafting shaped her belief that anything could be fixed or created with your own two hands. "I really didn't know people hired people to fix things," she admits with a laugh. "I just thought you went out and fixed it yourself."
Shannon's journey from someone who loved working with her hands to an HGTV personality wasn't planned or linear. She encourages listeners to embrace the title of "maker" rather than limiting themselves with traditional labels like "builder" or "contractor." This simple mindset shift opens endless possibilities for creation—whether you're building furniture, installing cabinets, or simply fixing something that's broken.
What truly sets this conversation apart is Shannon's refreshing honesty about her own limitations. She freely admits she's not a designer or stylist but understands how homes should function and feel. This authenticity has endeared her to audiences who appreciate seeing someone who doesn't claim to know everything but is willing to learn along the way. As she puts it, "Do little projects at a time until you feel comfortable picking up a tool and building bigger and bigger things."
Ready to start your own maker journey? Follow Shannon on Instagram at "made by Shannon Evans," catch her on HGTV's Renovation Resort Showdown, or email us at thehomebuildingshow@gmail.com to share your story or ask questions. Remember, the most important step is simply giving yourself permission to begin.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show. Let's go. Welcome everybody to the Home Building and Remodeling Show. My name is Chris Kirby and I'll be your host. I am the owner of three construction companies on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The show is about residential construction. We're going to cover topics of home building and remodeling. Are you thinking of doing a remodel or building a home? Are you a contractor looking to improve your knowledge base or grow your business? Have you ever done a remodel project or built a home? There were so many things you wish you knew or that you could have done differently during the process. Then this show is for you. We break down the process of building and remodeling and how to have the best results during your project. Whether you're a DIYer looking for tips, someone looking to hire a contractor to do a project or a contractor looking to expand your knowledge base or your business, Welcome aboard. Glad to have you. Stay tuned. All right, what's up guys?
Speaker 1:We're back this week again with Shannon Evans. She's a DIY expert and builder. She joins the show to share her experience on places like HGTV's Renovation Resort Just kind of listening to what she's done and what she's been through and her journey of being a maker what she would call a maker has been excellent for a lot of you who are looking to do the same type of thing, and this community is very supportive. We post so much stuff, so many how-to videos, so many podcast clips and different videos of us talking about the show and different things that we're doing in home building and remodeling and the DIY journey that some of you all have. Some of the guests that are going to be coming on have a very different journey. Everybody isn't just a traditional builder or a traditional remodeler, but they have a lot of value add information, and so I'm looking forward to those experiences. After Shannon goes, we have Sarah Trump, who you know.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I love that Shannon talks about on our show is the fact that she was able to come down here and learn from our company, and that's an open opportunity for any of you who listen to our podcast and want to share your journey or want to learn and grow. We actually took her around to some job sites while she was here. We had a whole home remodel that we were doing and she walked through, talked with the client, but, more importantly, she was able to ask our people who are in the field Jeremiah and some others hands-on questions about tile, how they were installing it, why they were doing what they were doing to install the tile, and it was so cool to see our team actually answer those questions and train her. And then it was so awesome to see her be able to ask those questions and get real life experience and be able to answer those questions that she could take back and use on her journey. And the workshops and everything that we do in our company are open to any of you who listen to our podcast. We're based in Alabama. We're on the Alabama Gulf Coast. You are more than welcome to come down and hang out with us, spend the day with us, go around the jobs with us home builds, remodels, additions, whatever it is that we're doing, Even some of the design stuff that we do and some of those journeys, we'd love to share those with you on the show.
Speaker 1:And you too can be like Shannon and start your own journey. Or, if you are hesitant in a part of your journey, right, just as contractors, we don't know it all. So I encourage you to reach out to us via email or you know, once we're a little more comfortable, I actually do hand out my phone number so you guys can call guys and girls can call me and Facebook messenger. I use social media a lot but you know, reach out to the home building show at gmailcom and ask your questions far away. Don't be out there trying to do stuff and be hesitant or scared to ask questions. We want you to ask questions. We want you to share your journey.
Speaker 1:Come on the show. Whether you're a home builder, whether you're a novice just getting started right, it doesn't really matter. Ask those questions. We love this content. We love sharing knowledge. We learn so much. We don't have all the answers, but we love to talk about the topic, share the knowledge, talk about being a contractor and make sure that other contractors do better, because they're listening to our stories, they're listening to the mistakes we've made and we're sharing those experiences honestly and openly. Please watch our how to's and our daily updates via video, because we put out a lot of information about projects and especially process in those videos. So make sure you're following.
Speaker 1:And as we continue this week with Shannon's journey, please tune in, listen to what Shannon has to say. She is somebody who is going to continue to grow her presence in the world of home building, remodeling, DIY. She calls herself a maker. I think she's an incredible person, an incredible friend, and she definitely will add value to your life, not only in the building world. I appreciate her life experience and some of the stories that she shares. I hope that you, too, will enjoy listening to her, and don't be afraid to share your journey. Reach out to us thehomebuildingshowatgmailcom.
Speaker 1:I am very passionate about what we do and I wanna get your story out there. So if you've got a story, share it with us. Come on the show, come on the podcast. Start your journey. Ask me how to start a podcast. Ask me how to start videoing. What do we use? Products, tools, all of that stuff Ask. Do not hesitate to ask Again. Tune in. Look forward to you reaching out to us and I look forward to sharing more stories, just like Shannon's, and helping people, and hopefully you will be the next one to come on the show. Thanks, Welcome to Shop Talk, the segment where we bring in a co-host or special guest and just chop it up about home building, remodeling and DIY. This is where stories get shared, lessons get learned and we dive into the real side of the craft straight from the people living it every day. Put your hands on, don't be scared. So if you're, if you're watching this and you're watching Shannon or you go follow her. You know, sometimes it's as simple as just getting up and doing it.
Speaker 2:Doing it. Yeah, and it's funny there's so many areas of what I do Like people are like. When someone says like, oh, what do you do for a living or what do you, I can't give you a title. If I say builder, then you've already put me in this like box. Right now I'm a builder. Now I build homes. No, I might build a piece of furniture, I might build a cabinet, I might you know.
Speaker 2:So it's like I almost feel like if more people realize the DIY world in itself, like whether it's home improvement expert or DIY expert or all the million titles they give me on that show, at the end of the day I'm a creator in my own way, where I'm using my hands to take raw product and move it into something that's useful or beautiful. And it's not just about building homes. And I think a lot of people just kind of steer clear of that because they hear builder and they think like I'm going to build a home. That's insane. And it's like, no, just digestible pieces.
Speaker 2:Do little projects at a time until you feel comfortable picking up a tool and building bigger and bigger and bigger. And I'm not even there yet, right, like I'm still at a point where I know I can get bigger and build bigger things and do bigger things, but I'm still learning. You have to learn the things like you're teaching the little things, because you don't do all those little things, how can you get out there and do a whole house, or you know, it's just. It's wild to me how many people just don't understand how many areas that they can get into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely that was jumping into. Just yeah, building a home. Now I do have a home builder female home builder friend of mine that does great work. She owns Lemongrass Custom Homes and she's going to come on and she is a builder. She has been building for over 20 years and that's what she does. She does wonderful work and has so much more knowledge than I do. She's amazing and I love that. You know that she's going to be able to come on and inspire and share her story. It's all the things you know, starting from the basic principles of dealing with the tools right, learning that process and then just getting out there to make stuff. And if you follow Shannon, you'll be able to follow that journey and see some of the stuff that she makes and some of the stuff that she does. But where did it all begin for you? Like, what even got you into? Like, I just want to try to make things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I wish there was like a starting point, but you know we don't remember much of our childhood but I always say it was like my parents taught me there wasn't like the word no, and I was. And I touch on it a lot Cause I have two kids and and you try not to get in the way of like, if a child walks up to you and says I'm painting this picture, what color should I paint this dog? And I always use this story because it makes sense to people you would probably say like, oh, a brown dog would be great, or a white dog, maybe. Don't answer that question for them, maybe say, well, what color would you see that dog be? What do you think? Because a lot of times the creativity comes from us not answering the question for our kids.
Speaker 2:So I grew up in a house where that was normal, that the narrative was always yeah, go ahead, try it, give it a shot. My dad was blue collar, owned his own plumbing and heating company, still does to this day and runs it, and now my brother runs it with him. So that blue collar family like I love that and get that and I, unfortunately for me, I feel like I could have been a great plumber but I wasn't. But I watched the idea of what it took to be a plumber and my mom was on the other side of it where she was creating, she was making florals, she had a gift shop, she was hands-on crafty Carol.
Speaker 2:So I knew nothing other than that and I think, like when you realize you're not learning it, you're just in it, right, like just existed in that world. I really didn't know people hired people to fix things. I just thought you went out and fixed it yourself, right. When you first start getting into adulthood and you realize there's people to fix things and we hire people for things, I'm like I can just do it myself. I can just do it myself. So I think once I got into the point of really not being told no and putting my hands in things and realizing that things were happening with my hands that were connecting to this brain up here, Whoa that's amazing.
Speaker 2:So I just started doing and and and all just kind of again, like once you're where you're supposed to be and you're, you're living out this purpose and you're understanding your passion. It all just kind of slowly comes together and sometimes it's not clear right away, because for me it was always television and it was like TV, focus, tv, focus, tv. And then it was like, oh, hands-on, diy, and then all of a sudden those two things kind of went.
Speaker 1:Lurched Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh my God, they belong together. And now I'm in a world where I'm like this was my passion, this was my purpose. And they just collided into like, oh, I can do television and empower people and create. So it's a beautiful mashup of what happened.
Speaker 1:And something that you touched on was the plumbing company. So, you had the contractor side in your blood and then you had creative. But you said now how long?
Speaker 2:has the company been around? Oh gosh, my dad's been running it since I was two years old. You know, a child, I mean that is. I don't even know how old my son is. It's got to be 45 plus years. I mean, that's all he's done. He's been a plumber. He was a Vietnam vet and came back and learned plumbing as a trade and that's what he did and he opened this company and it's Palmetto Plumbing and Heating out in the middle of New York, nowhere. But everybody knows him as the best plumber in the world because he's so generous and honorable and he knows everything. You're in it for that long. You know everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, so that that right. There is just kind of a testament to, I would say, the passion side, because if you don't have passion and we are huge, as customer services is a big part of what we do as contractors, a big part of what we do as contractors obviously, if you don't have those customer service skills or the willingness or want to help people, you're not going to stick around for long. So for 45 years, that is just you need to tell him. I said that that is amazing, I mean you know what.
Speaker 2:You're not going to meet someone who doesn't like my dad. Yeah, there's no narrative out there that he's a, that he's not a great person. That's the narrative and you will. You know he'll do anything for anyone. So it's like he's the plumber that is honest and reliable and caring and almost to a fault. I'm like when are you going to retire? And he's like these people need me. So you know that's just that's what he does. And you see that as a child and you grow up in that home and you, you grow up in that family of you know, just like my mom, always busting her butt to sell something or make something to sell. Just that concept of like how we were growing up. And now I look at it and I'm like gosh, you know, the generation is so different.
Speaker 1:I, my kids, are not growing up like I did, Maybe a little bit Not really so what's funny about that is this this past fall it was the November time frame we do job shadowing for a couple of the schools here, so we allow them to send us a couple of students for the day and they kind of do what you did. And we hit the job site. It was a young male, young female, and her father owned a plumbing company and she was coming here and, smart girl, she made sure we had his business cards. You know, it was just. It was really nice to see that that that's what she wants to do. She came to the job shadow to understand, like hey, how contracting works, but also because she takes serious the fact that she wants to work with her father and run that company. So that that is. You know, it's out there, we're ready for it, and I love the fact that those two stories tie together, where you went a different direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank God, I have a brother.
Speaker 1:Thank, God, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2:It makes me feel a little bit better about things, but I just I never felt like connected to it in a way. Plumbing is so passionate to me, you know, do I wish I learned a little more? Yeah, like in the first episode when they asked me what an S trap or P trap was and I couldn't answer it and I thought, oh my gosh, my dad owns a plumbing company. Well, you go a little mind blank on TV, so I'll give myself that. But you know, it's just the idea of, like what could I have learned and how could I have put that into play now. But I do believe, like we take the steps we need to take. It's fine. But yeah, plumbing was never my thing.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's the thing, though, like and it's back back to the to our message is you know, again, I love to see that there is a younger generation that is that is craving that knowledge, and I think people like us putting that message out there. That it that it's OK, no matter who you are, to come into our industry and make it that that primary choice, where a lot people I've seen so many graphics that talk about comparing the cost of going to college versus becoming a contractor, a plumber, electrician, and those things are not wrong, I mean the thing is I've never been a poor electrician, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can make a great living as a contractor. And again, 45 years. There is not a lot of people who stick around for the first year first. Three years, five years. Those are some of the benchmarks that people say you're going out of business if you do this. So for 45 years. That is amazing, but that also speaks to the passion. Wow, tell your dad congratulations on that. I couldn't imagine 45 years into this. I don dad congratulations on that. I couldn't imagine 45 years into this. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I quote that number.
Speaker 1:It's probably I mean it's gotta be close Cause I'm I hate saying it, but I'm 45 driving around in this white man, you know, with all the you know, pivoting back to what you know kind of what you do and what you like to do, and the inspiration that kind of even connected us because, again, I watch your videos and I still watch all the time, because you are not scared to talk about what you love, your passion and building and different things like that. What kind of projects do you think are your favorite?
Speaker 2:I think it's just the idea of taking something that wasn't beautiful and being able to say like we can make that better. I think it's almost like reaching its full potential and I think I feel that way with people and projects. Right Like it. Just projects are so uh. It's like the simple. It's almost like bringing it down to the basics. For me. I love basic projects where people can make such a huge impact with something so small like an arch or wallpaper or fixing, you know a big hole in the wall or tearing down a wall and you know whatever. It's just like these little things that people don't realize are such big moments to create feeling in your home, and I love seeing people's reactions to little spaces in their home that I was able to transform with something so minor.
Speaker 1:Do people hire you now to do stuff, or can someone do?
Speaker 2:They do. I still get a lot of calls. I don't do it. I do it more for the joy of doing it.
Speaker 2:Like I, just you know people are staging their home or something to get ready to sell it. I'll help them with painting. You know, I just painted tiles today for someone's backsplash or just simple things a little like that. I love going to people's homes and helping them understand their spaces and things like that, but for me the timing isn't. I just don't have the time to do it. But I I can't get away from it. I people, people call me and I can't say no. Like I'm like, I'll be right there.
Speaker 1:I mean, but you're helping them rethink some of these spaces and I thought that was kind of cool while you were here and just talking about some of the things that you've done is, you know you can go into a house and we do it as remodelers.
Speaker 1:When we're working on and I'm going to start sharing clips soon we're working on a historic home and we're going through the process of getting approved because you know, if it has a historic marker, there are certain things you can, certain things you can't do. We're really reshaping what the inside of this home looks like. And and it's so fun because and I and I explained this to my team when you can give people a new space, sometimes it gives them such peace of mind, and the small, the small things, the big projects especially, but the small things that help them just peace of mind, and the small, the small things, the big projects especially, but the small things that help them just kind of ease their mind. But a new space is very important to, like our clients, they may save their whole life to get their dream kitchen done. So we take very serious the work that we do and making sure that we reach that vision and, as a contractor. That that's you know where I use designers and stuff.
Speaker 1:Because if you show me something on pinterest earlier. I can do it like if you call us and you have, you call adam and ask him questions, or let's look at an idea we can make it happen. Right, and you're in that same space. Now, hey, you have the ideas. We are not good at that as the contractor. A lot of the times it's show me that Okay, I can build it.
Speaker 2:You're giving me more credit.
Speaker 1:I can't come up with that vision You're giving me more credit.
Speaker 2:I don't have a vision either. I always tell people I'm like like, the first thing people say is what would you do in this room, what would you do? And I always sound like I'm not a designer. I am not a designer or a stylist. Do I know what feels good in this space? Yeah, I can probably help you with that, but nine out of 10 times I'm going to give you the wrong paint color, right? Or, you know, I might not be able to tell you what color couch to get with the wall.
Speaker 2:Call Like I don't. I'm not a stylist, but I do understand the way that home should function a lot and I understand the way that home should feel, and I think that is something that is very unique to explain to people because again, they come to me thinking I'm a designer or that I design this space, just like you're saying, and it's like no, but I can give you ideas and I can tell you what I would do if I lived here, and I can tell you what you know, what you need to move this couch over this wall. And here's just because you know and it's so hard to explain that in a sense of like well, what do you do for a living? What can you do in my home? And it's like this is why it's not my job and I don't have a business card that's like home person that does the following Right.
Speaker 2:You. If you know me, you know that I can come over and do whatever you just asked, but only if you know me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely no-transcript. And that's what people who are going to be following you and kind of following your story and following your journey moving forward is the inspiration piece, the saying just get started, don't be scared, it's giving themselves permission to start the project that's right, because people do, and we do it too.
Speaker 1:We think of 30 ways to mess something up before we even get started, you know, because we're just so scared that we're going to mess it up that sometimes people never get started Right, and it's just kind of like anything that you do. I had 150 ways to do a podcast, and I needed it to be perfect and I needed a script and I needed to hire somebody, and then I just jumped in, and 68 episodes later we're kind of rolling, and every episode you learn something new, and every you know, I feel like. So you are currently my first online podcast interview, right, and I was in my head and I told Sarah this because she was going to do it. I think she's coming on September the 2nd to do hers, and, you know, I was like, well, you're probably going to be the first one. I was like how's my camera, how's the microphone? But it's just jump in and do it Right. That's kind of you know, and you can be that inspiration, because you're always talking about manifesting stuff, and that's kind of doing it.
Speaker 1:The difference is, though, that that you are, you say it, right, you manifest it, you say it, you believe it, and then you do. I love that about the Shannon Evans that I know, and even from afar. You know I watch what you do and I've watched what you've done over the past year and some change that I've known you and sometimes I just I'll go to your page and look and say I just need to take a break and see what she's got going on. You always have something going on. I love that. You've been posting with your friends lately too. I saw you bump your head the other night. I was like what in the world? And it was you just dying laughing and then you go backwards and boop and I was like at first I didn't even see that. Then you slow mode. I was like wait a minute, not only is she embarrassing herself, but let's do it in slow motion. And I was like wait a minute, not only is she embarrassing herself, but let's do it in slow motion.
Speaker 2:And I was like you put yourself on TV for millions of people. The last thing you can do is hide behind who you really are. That's right. That goes away real quick no.
Speaker 1:And then, when we were, I was watching your show and I was texting you and saying you know, because you can see it on your face and you're like I know you do not. I love that about you, though. You're the real deal.
Speaker 2:It's so hard because you're just on camera and you're listening to things. I'm an active listener, so I'm always like, ok, ok, like I listen with looking around, or I listen with like a face that's questioning it and it's not questioning it. It and with like a face that's questioning it and it's not questioning it.
Speaker 2:It's just my face moves a lot when I, when I'm at you know, it's part of yeah, but yeah, people, I mean, luckily I've I've had nothing but nice comments, but I'm sure coming, you know it'll be coming, but it's it's all about just I don't want people to get something where they're being inspired by someone who isn't walking the walk and talking the talk right like I want. I want people to know that, like I'm here, I'm here for you and I was, you know, luckily lucky enough to have incredible mentors like you guys and and learning the things that I learned and people saying yes to me that now I owe that back to the world, right? I mean people write messages and they'll say, oh my God, I can't believe you answered me and I'm like what do you think I am?
Speaker 1:I can't believe you answered me, and I'm like who do you think I am? No, that's another part of the journey that I'm learning now, just by kind of reaching out to different people and they're responding and they want to come on the show. I'm like man, who am I, you know, but it's what you were talking. You have to accept that. Hey, you can get guests to come on and do the show and have a great conversation, I would say.
Speaker 1:The one quality I love about you, though, is the fact that you jump right in and you make it very easy to talk to you. You're very relatable. I'd love just kind of sitting and chatting with you and being able to really talk. Right, yeah, we have good conversations about real stuff, and I think anybody that's going to follow you, especially after this, and sees you on the show and is reaching out to you, I think they're getting the real deal. So, um, yeah, and I think you know I'm glad that you came on, and I'm I'm hoping that we continue to build that momentum that you have going and anybody who's watching or listening catcher at the the home shows. I'm very excited for that. I can't imagine what kind of clips and stuff we're going to be getting from you, from those that's wild.
Speaker 1:Yeah, watching your journey, but when you get a break, come down here. We do have a couple of Barnuminiums that we're building and I know you wanted to kind of see what that was all about.
Speaker 2:I wanted to build one so bad. I just did a podcast with Haley Dillon who said my vision like she's been wanting a barnuminium and I said well, funny story, I know someone who will help you with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. You need to connect us. That's great.
Speaker 2:I want it so bad, like I. Just I think my goal like if I really had to look forward to the moment of you look at this mountain and my mountain used to be HGTV I could just get to the top and that would be something that would be a huge milestone. I think the next one would be in some way, shape or form to build my own home, in some way to contribute to the building of my own space and my own home. That would be a huge thing for me that I think I'll always kind of have on my heart of you know, could I do that? Of course I could do.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going. If I do it, yeah, come on, come on down. We would love to have you and, as we wrap this up, I want to make sure that we get you your name, your message out there. But also where? Where can people follow you? Where can they see you? What do you got going on? Tell us about it.
Speaker 2:I'm very active on Instagram, made by Shannon Evans. Um, I answer messages, I post all the time on Instagram and I think it's linked to Facebook, but either way, instagram is my main source of like content. Um, and then, of course, hgtv on Tuesday nights at 9 PM we run three more episodes, I believe, so there's eight total, but you can stream at any time. But 9pm Tuesday nights on HGTV for Renovation, resort Showdown. And then, of course, the home shows across America. Just follow me and I'm going to post when I'm at those shows and which cities I'm in. And being in front of a live audience is a little bit weird. I wouldn't say scares me, but it is a little bit weird. But I'm excited about that and really connecting with people physically and being able to, like, meet people that way. So it's going to be. It's going to be a really interesting year, really interesting year.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, we wish you nothing but the best. I appreciate you giving us some of your time, coming to hang out with us, and you know that that door is always open to you and your family, and we wish you nothing but success, and I can't wait to continue to follow you made by Shannon Evans on Instagram and other places as well. Um, but that's your primary platform. Please don't stop doing what you're doing. Keep being inspirational. I look forward to to reaching out soon and talking to you again.
Speaker 2:And thank you for being so much for me. You're a huge part of my life, so thank you.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you All, right Until next time All right, until next time, all right, bye.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us today. As always, we are grateful for our listeners and your continued support. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on social media via Facebook, instagram and TikTok. Get more info at our website, wwwthehomebuildingshowcom. And, as always, remember who we are the Home Building and Remodeling Show.
