Although Eric Eremita, and now Eddie Richardson and Fergus McLaren are the Love It or List It contractors on-screen, there is much more going on behind the cameras.
Love It or List It combines elements from many different home renovation and house-hunting shows into one, streamlined package.
In order to do this, Love It or List It enlists several contractors and subcontractors to help with the renovations on and off the screen.
What makes Love It or List It so special?
The Home renovation and house-hunting shows that you see on HGTV usually either help couples find entirely new, dream homes, or they help homeowners to renovate their current homes.
But Love It or List It combines both of these elements and leaves the final decision to the homeowners.
This means that every Love It or List It episode is not only absolutely chocked full of house tours of numerous different stunning properties, but it also features all of the usual ups and downs that come with home renovations.
Contractors on Love It or List It
Of course, the Love It or List It hosts cannot possibly pull off all of this work on their own and they each have teams that help them convince the homeowners to either “Love” or “List” their current homes.
Home renovation shows like Love It or List It are known for churning out huge renovation projects in a matter of days for their episodes.
And the contractors who help Hilary Farr on the “Love It” side of things regularly do such an amazing job that they end up convincing the homeowners featured on the show to keep their current homes instead of selling them and moving on.
However, it seems like this impressive (partly) behind-the-scenes work does come with its own drama. Longtime Love It or List It fans will know Eric Eremita as the show’s main contractor.
Eremita first rose to HGTV fame when he appeared on season two of the hit show, Brother vs Brother in 2014.
Eremita made such an impression during his run on the show that he was added to the Love It or List It cast just a few months later in 2015.
Unfortunately, Eremita announced his official exit from the show in 2020, following his serious health-scare with COVID-19 (when he ended up needing a ventilator) in the previous year.
Eremita was replaced with two Canadian contractors, Eddie Richardson and Fergus McLaren, who now help Hilary bring her creative design visions to life on the show.
Love It or List It reportedly also uses subcontractors for renovations
By now, it is pretty common knowledge that not everything you see on reality television shows is exactly as it seems.
Although shows like Love It or List It often limit their renovations to just a few rooms in the house, it is often still impossible for the stars of the show to do all of the work themselves (especially when they are filming several episodes simultaneously).
This is why the show enlists the help of subcontractors. These include Hank McCullough from Urban Building Solutions in Raleigh and even Prince & Sons Construction and Cabinetry, who are also from North Carolina, for some of the episodes.
Love It or List It has been accused of shoddy workmanship
The construction work and renovations which go on behind-the-scenes at Love It or List It is clearly more complicated than the cast ever makes it seem, which has actually gotten the show into some hot water in the past.
Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan, who appeared on the show in 2015, actually sued Big Coat (the Love It or List It production company) for the shoddy workmanship done by their subcontractor, Aaron Fitz, breach of contract, the mismanagement of funds and a few other alleged charges. This dispute ultimately ended in a private settlement.
What is Eric Eremita up to now?
Now that Eremita no longer has to spend his time travelling to Canada in order to film the show, and he has seemingly recovered fully, he has plenty of time to focus on all of his other endeavors.
The most exciting of these endeavors includes a show called “HOMEBOYS” which has not yet been picked up by any major networks, but has reportedly been in the works since 2020.
Eric has revealed that a desire to pursue his own show was part of the reason why he left Love It or List It, so hopefully this new show will be picked up soon.
Outside of television, Eremita is also passionately working on his apparel line – ‘Thirteen by Eric Eremita’ and his Real Estate Developing business, called ‘House of Thirteen’.
