This Sunday, St. Albert contractor Brian Cyr makes his national debut on My RONA Home, Season 2, a reality TV competition that gives two couples a chance to build a $450,000 dream house without paying a dime.
But there’s a catch. Only one couple receives the keys to a house. Throughout the 10-week competition, the two teams are under the gun designing, constructing and decorating the house room by room. Viewers then judge the work by voting online, and the results are announced in a spectacular finale.
Cyr, who runs two successful local construction companies, Beautiful Basements and Timberstone Builders, was tapped to mentor the neophyte home construction team of Robyn and Jordan Ausmus, and give them the expertise and guidance needed to complete the project.
“I was super excited, but it also scared the heck out of me. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into,” says Cyr, who is delightfully candid, funny and easy-going.
“We were told beforehand, ‘There’s no way we can prepare you for this.’ They were absolutely right.”
Cyr, the son of a Winnipeg electrician, spent 10 years in real estate buying, renovating and selling homes. After moving west, he worked in the IT industry and moved up CompuSmart’s corporate ladder as director of marketing.
Tiring of the lengthy commutes, in 2001 he developed a partnership with a neighbour and founded a renovation company, Beautiful Basements, followed three years later by Timberstone, a full home construction firm.
Without Cyr’s knowledge, film director Neil Grahn, one of his renovation clients, recommended the contractor for the RONA project.
“In November 2010, we got a call from Ron Carroll, the director. At first my wife thought it was a prank call.”
But it was no hoax. Carroll arrived from Calgary with a film crew to audition Cyr. Thirty contractors from the Calgary area were auditioned, but no one quite fit the bill.
Cyr, whose job description at CompuSmart required him to do presentations, was relaxed in front of the camera and displayed up-to-date knowledge on current environmental standards. “They knew within the first five minutes they wanted to have me.”
Behind the scenes, Cyr was expected to make sure the right supplies, materials and tools were ordered for each shoot. And as a condition of his participation, Cyr also brought on board one of his own trades people, Josh Marchand, a journeyman carpenter with diverse skills.
Episodes were shot in blocks on Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday at a brand new two-storey 1,900-sq.-ft. house in Calgary. The home was finished to the lock-up stage with doors and windows installed, the roof closed in, the electrical and plumbing roughed in, and partial drywall installed.
In each episode, the team raced against the clock in a 30-hour time restriction to complete a room. In one shoot, the basement had to be painted and tiled, the flooring needed to be put in and casings and baseboards nailed on. “Robyn and Jordan were quick learners and, in all honesty, we did a heck of a job.”
Sleep deprivation came with the territory. Cyr would often get about three or four hours of sleep during a shoot while the Ausmuses would crash for an hour on a mattress tossed in a discreet corner.
One of the toughest concepts to deal with was having lights, cameras, cables and seven crewmembers hovering in the same room. “The product was the TV show. The house was secondary.”
The sheer amount of physical work and the emotional and mental strain was a true test of endurance. “But my couple made a pact. Whatever homework was given to them, they would complete. They never let me down. It was an amazing experience.”
My RONA Home premieres on Citytv Sunday, April 10. Check your local listings for the exact time.
