The Untold Truth Of Help! I Wrecked My House

It's hard to turn on HGTV regularly and not catch Jasmine Roth at some point. The smiley, bubbly blonde has become a fixture on the network since the 2017 debut of her first series, "Hidden Potential." She's also popped up on a number of other HGTV series to lend her expertise. In 2020, she debuted her new series for the network called "Help! I Wrecked My House," in which she comes to the rescue to save California homeowners from their disaster DIY renovation projects.

In January 2021 — after a successful first season which attracted over 16 million viewers — HGTV gave Roth the green light for a second season of "Help! I Wrecked My House." Season 2 premiered in September 2021 with hour-long episodes. Katie Ruttan-Daigle, HGTV vice president, programming and development, explained what contributes to the series' success. "Jasmine knows how to ease the anxiety homeowners feel when a home improvement project goes wrong," she said. "Her expertise and optimistic presence help every do-it-yourselfer get a much-needed win and fans love to see how renovation mistakes become masterpieces."

There's much more to the show than just its corny title (which has an interesting backstory). Here's an inside look at HGTV's "Help! I Wrecked My House."

As previously mentioned, it's hard not to notice the unique, if not corny, title of Jasmine Roth's HGTV series "Help! I Wrecked My House." It turns out, she has her clients and fans to thank for it. "People kept coming to me and being like, 'Help! I wrecked my house!'" she shared with Showbiz CheatSheet. "Literally those exact words." So, after receiving a lot of these kinds of messages, Roth and HGTV just had to do something about it.

So, Roth and HGTV execs put their heads together and created "Help! I Wrecked My House" to help these homeowners who found they were in over their heads after starting home renovation projects they thought they could tackle — at first. "If I wasn't able to go in and help them, honestly, I don't know what they would do," Roth said in an interview with The List. "These are people that literally have watched HGTV. They've watched YouTube. They've watched whatever it is. They've read a book. They saw their dad do it. And they're like, 'I can do that.' And they ruin their houses."

From watching Jasmine Roth on HGTV, you'd think for sure that she had studied design. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Roth has no formal design background (via her website), having studied entrepreneurship and new venture management at Northeastern University instead, as noted by The Orange County Register. Yet, it's clear that her business background has no doubt helped her in launching and maintaining a successful business, Built Custom Homes.

If you've seen "Help! I Wrecked My House," it's clear that Roth is very hands on with her work. So, where exactly did she first learn how to use tools? As it turns out, Roth did have an informal education in construction. "I grew up in Virginia, and my dad had a general knowledge of carpentry," Roth told HGTV, explaining that she grew up building things like "treehouses, really cool playhouses, beautiful sheds" alongside her father because there wasn't much to do where they lived.

So, when it came time for Roth and her husband to look for their first home, she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and build their own. What started as a weekend project soon turned full-time for the couple when they realized that weekends alone wouldn't cut it. It wasn't long before Roth, in 2012, left her day job to focus on not only building her own home, but also designing homes for other people.

If you're like us, you probably watch HGTV, wondering how your favorite network stars have the time for yet another show. Well, it turns out that new shows don't always require something to be developed completely from scratch. As Jasmine Roth revealed on her blog, her shows really just showcase the typical work she already does for her clients as part of her company Built Custom Homes — which she and her husband developed to build and renovate homes in Southern California — except, of course, with a film crew in tow to capture the action, as noted by The Cinemaholic.

And Roth sure has amassed an impressive portfolio of client work. In addition to the custom homes her team builds from the ground up, she and her team have tackled many renovation projects, as evidenced by her business' Houzz portfolio, which features projects that include a refurbished beach cottage, a low-cost renovation in Long Beach, California, and a patio upgrade.

We mentioned how it's hard to put on HGTV regularly and not come across Jasmine Roth, since, as of this writing, she's appeared on five different shows on the network. In addition to her own two series, "Hidden Potential" and "Help! I Wrecked My House," Roth appeared alongside other fellow HGTV stars and original cast members of "The Brady Bunch" on "A Very Brady Renovation" in 2019 to update the 1960s-era "Brady Bunch" house in Los Angeles for the 21st century. Also, in 2019, Roth competed on "Rock the Block" against fellow HGTV experts Alison Victoria, Mina Starsiak Hawk, and Leanne Ford to "infuse" a set of homes "with their distinctive signature style," per IMDb, and she won!

Additionally, Roth even helped build one of the houses on HGTV's reboot of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (via House Beautiful), on which deserving families are gifted with a rebuilt, custom home. Of the experience, Roth said on Instagram, "This has been a life-changing opportunity I didn't expect." She added, "With so much hate, confusion, and negativity in our world, contributing to positive change is the least we can do."

If you watched the first season of "Help! I Wrecked My House," it was clear that Jasmine Roth was pregnant. The new mom, who gave birth to daughter Hazel Lynn in April 2020 (via House Beautiful), was, in fact, in her third trimester while filming the entire first season. "The running joke [on set] was, 'Hey Jas, not sure but I think you might be pregnant,'" the lighthearted Roth shared in a post to her blog. "I wasn't just a little pregnant while filming this show, I was SUPER PREGNANT ... in my line of work, it wasn't something that could be ignored."

So, how did she manage working on a construction site while pregnant? "I took on smaller renovation projects, relied on my team like I've never done before, and left the heavy lifting to the demo crews," Roth wrote in her post. Her team even bought her a special chair so she could sit while directing the crew.

Roth also had to steer clear of paint, dust, and fumes — oh, and avoid stress, which can be hard to do when, as we all know, things don't always go as planned. The home design expert explained in her blog post that the tight schedule for TV adds additional complications. She added, "For those that are watching the show, you already know I really couldn't totally stay away, but at least I tried!"

On "Help! I Wrecked My House," Jasmine Roth enjoys getting creative, but admits that, for her, function always comes before high design. "I think my aesthetic is less design-forward and more function-forward," Roth told HGTV. "If something makes sense, I like it." This philosophy, in fact, extends to all of Roth's work. For example, the website for her company, Built Custom Homes, says, "We pride ourselves in a unique approach to beach living and functional options for custom home design."

On the first episode of "Help! I Wrecked My House" Season 1 in 2020 (via Realtor.com), Roth explained to her clients that kitchen backsplashes are not just to look pretty; they serve a functional purpose, too. She told them, "When you're using your sink and water is running down the drywall into [the crack between the counter and the wall], you don't know what's going on back there. And that's not good. You don't ever want water on drywall."

Roth loves getting creative when determining how to make a space work for homeowners. In the same episode, she was tasked with creating a "doggy door" for the couple's two dogs to have a convenient way to go outside. Realtor.com noted that Roth decorated the perimeter of the door opening with reclaimed wood to look like a house. Just one example of how she uses design in creating functional spaces.

You might have noticed that many of the houses on "Help! I Wrecked My House" feature bathroom remodels. This is because, according to home renovation expert Jasmine Roth, the bathroom is one of the most complicated rooms in the house to renovate and, therefore, is "not for beginners" (per Realtor.com). Part of this is because, as Roth shared in a since-deleted post on her personal blog called "Don't Make These 11 Bathroom Remodel Mistakes," many bathroom projects also involve plumbing, demo, or electrical — exactly where novices need to draw the line.

In the Season 1, Episode 1, as described on Realtor.com, the homeowners have an upgraded bathroom as a big ticket item on their list of renovations. The featured couple had apparently started their bathroom remodel but were forced to let it go when they realized they "were in over their heads." "The bathroom was such, like, a big part of this house," homeowner Kevin said in the episode. "We were so excited to have a second bathroom."

So, Roth came to the rescue by completing the unfinished tub reno and adding a marble slab for a high-end look. She also added drawers on the side of the tub for toiletries (just another example of Roth's skill for incorporating function into design).

Take a quick look at Jasmine Roth's website, and you'll see there's a whole lot of good stuff. First, she's announced her new book, "House Story: Insider Secrets to the Perfect Home Renovation," which hits shelves soon. The book is a must-read for those of us who have detailed questions after watching "Help! I Wrecked My House," as it's a full-on guide that, according to her website, "shows you what really goes on behind the scenes of a home renovation, with tips, tricks, and step-by-step instructions on how to achieve the look you want for your home."

Roth hasn't been shy about her excitement for the book release. In one post on Instagram, she described how it came about. She wrote that working on the book "kept me sane," noting, "To say I poured my heart into this project is an understatement and I JUST REALLY CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH ALL OF YOU! Can you tell I'm excited!?"

Take a peak around the rest of Roth's website, and you'll find enough content to keep you busy for hours; her blog features beautifully curated photos with not only behind-the-scenes design tips, but also updates on Roth's family life and details on your favorite remodels from "Help! I Wrecked My House" as well as inspiration for your own remodels.

When it comes to "Help! I Wrecked My House," HGTV is on the hunt for a specific type of homeowner. According to host Jasmine Roth, while most people would love to be featured on an HGTV show, this probably isn't their top pick. "As far as this show goes," she told Showbiz CheatSheet, "you don't want to be on this show. If you're on this show, you did something wrong."

So, while we understand that you may not necessarily want to be on "Help! I Wrecked My House" because that would mean that your house is a disaster zone, it is a great opportunity to turn around a hot mess of a house if you have one. And, it turns out, more people than you might think are facing that very dilemma. "Being able to find families, it wasn't really hard," Roth said, noting, "A lot of people were in this position."

However, what is difficult about getting on this show — or any HGTV show, for that matter — is the extensive list of requirements that your project must meet. In a blog post, Roth cited factors like living near a production company, having a project that is not too complex or time-consuming for TV, and having just the right level of expectations (namely, not too high). Well, we have to say, the finished spaces we see on the series definitely meet our expectations!