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Fixer Upper is ending, so it’s time to find your new go-to HGTV show—and the newest Flip or Flop might be just what you’re looking for.
Flip or Flop Ft. Worth, which premieres this Thursday, November 2 at 9pm, follows the escapades of
, who met one another while both were serving in the military in Iraq. In the show, they purchase some of Fort Worth’s most rundown properties and transform them into stunning family homes—with a focus on hiring fellow veterans.
“For the new season, you can look forward to us really spotlighting a lot of different neighborhoods that people may not be aware are in Fort Worth,” Ashley tells Domino. “We have a range of different houses—from ranches to bungalows to craftsman to cottages—and people will definitely be excited for different houses this time.”
Together, the couple has flipped over 49 homes (and counting), with Ashley taking on the role of the designer, alongside her real estate agent and home renovation expert husband, Andy. They also launched their own company Recon Realty, whose mission is to “provide high quality housing and returns for investors, while re-purposing its projects to empower the veteran community.”
Below, the experts share their top tips for renovating a new home:
Make sure you have a great team.
A huge part of Ashley and Andy’s method is hiring the best team possible—because initially, they made many mistakes and their contractors fell through. “We are veterans, so a lot of the people we hire are veterans—they have a strong work ethic and really work hard,” says Ashley. One such hire? Landscape designer Andrew Turner, who helps Andy and Ashley add curb appeal to several homes during the season.
Draw up an ironclad contract.
You don’t want to lose money, and you don’t want to pay for everything before it’s been done. But you also want to make sure the renovation is done in the budget you expect, which is why drawing up a contract is key. “Make sure your contract has everything you need, without any loopholes,” says Andy. “It’s essential to draw one up before you start any work on your home.”
Start with your finishes.
If you want to renovate your home without blowing the bank, there’s a way, according to Ashley. “Renovating a house really can be expensive, but there’s places you can play with money—and those are the places the buyer can really focus on—that’s in their finishes,” she says. “You can play with money on the flooring—you don’t have to go with hardwood. You can go with a laminate. Laminate has really come a long way from the hollow, echo-y laminate that it used to be. You can get it in so many different colors, so many different styles—distressed looking, super glossy, matte. You can get different finishes that you can start with your flooring, since that’s the first thing you’ll see.”
You don’t ever want to ruin the character of a home.
Trying to change a house is way too expensive, and it looks odd if the exterior is completely different from what you’re trying to create the home to be. “When we go into a home, we let the house kind of speak for itself. We don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” says Ashley. “If it’s a mid-century modern house, that’s the design concept that I’m going to go with—I’m not going to try to go into a mid-century modern and turn it into a cottage. That is way too much work, and then, you could potentially lose the character of the home. We don’t want to do that; we want to bring back the house to its original glory.”
There’s a way to use upscale materials without going over-budget.
If you truly want to use expensive materials, try adding a few pops of them here and there that really make a statement. “If you want to splurge and design a tile, use small increments of it, and use that as a design feature. So, the majority of your bathroom tile can be—if you wanted to say $1.89 per square foot—then, you could get some really cool marble that’s probably $16 to $18 a sheet. Use the expensive tile in your shower to make it look super upscale and really expensive, but it’ll be really under-budget.”
For more tips, tune in to ‘Flip or Flop Ft. Worth,’ airing on Thursday, November 2, at 9pm Eastern and Pacific on HGTV.
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