The Legal Issues That Could Tarnish Dave Marrs' HGTV Reputation

According to a new lawsuit against HGTV's "Fixer to Fabulous" co-host Dave Marrs, homes built by the expert builder may not be so fabulous after all. Dave has hosted multiple home renovation series, including "Almost Home" and "Fixer to Fabulous" alongside his wife, Jenny Marrs. He also owns multiple businesses, including Jupiter Rentals. One couple from the Marrs' hometown, Matthew and Sarah McGrath, hired one of Dave's companies to renovate their new house. They're now suing him for breach of contract and claiming that their home was built with many issues, and Marrs and his company haven't fixed them as promised. Since Dave built his reputation on facilitating great renovations, this news may affect his companies and his role on HGTV.

Per the Daily Mail, according to the lawsuit, the McGrath's Benton County home was found to have many problems with its construction, while also violating building code over 20 times. The McGraths bought the home in 2022 and paid Marrs' company more than $10,000 for renovations. Since the renovations were completed, an inspector estimated that it would cost the McGraths over $85,000 to make repairs, and the couple is suing Marrs for all costs. 

The trial in the breach-of-contract case will take place in September 2024, so Dave and Jenny Marrs and their fans will have to wait until then to see how the lawsuit plays out. If the accusations are true, though, it shows quite a bit of negligence on the part of Dave and his company. According to the lawsuit, Matthew and Sarah McGrath said not only did the company make many mistakes during their renovations, some of which present real dangers to the folks living there, but they also took longer than initially stated to complete the work. 

Despite just how incriminating the accusations against Dave and Jupiter Rentals are, the McGraths' attorney wrote in a letter to Dave, "Please understand, these reports do not completely detail the remedial work that needs to be performed to rectify the many failures in workmanship but only represent my clients' current understanding of the nature and scope of repairs." This could indicate that more or fewer repairs are needed and would likely need to be determined in preparation for the jury trial.

While these accusations are likely to affect Dave's businesses and possibly his work with HGTV, he failed to settle during months of court-ordered mediation with the McGraths, forcing the case to go to trial. The Marrses were sued before for a similar reason in 2021, but the case was dismissed in 2022.