Mike 'Holmes Approved Homes' demolished due to alleged defects

A bulldozer tears through a modern house in Meaford, Ont., a picturesque community on Georgian Bay. Occupied for just two years, the home's once soaring ceilings, large windows and backyard patio are now just a heap of crushed glass and wood. 

"It's traumatic," said Fayard Johnson, who lives just down the street. "Really surprised to see that my neighbour's house is going down."

Another home that belongs to Fayard's next-door neighbour is also slated to be torn down.

The demolitions are the latest chapter in the saga of TerraceWood, a housing development launched in Meaford in 2015 to much fanfare. The "boutique" subdivision of houses was built by Third Line Homes and endorsed by celebrity contractor and popular TV host Mike Holmes.

Holmes is famously known for rescuing homeowners from botched construction jobs. He promoted TerraceWood, including on a billboard, as "Holmes Approved Homes."

"Third Line Holmes Approved Homes are built with innovation, integrity, and a commitment to make it right," Holmes said in a promotional YouTube video.

But things didn't go so right according to Tarion, Ontario's new-home consumer protection organization. As CBC News previously reported, Tarion filed an $8 million lawsuit in 2021 against parties involved in the project, alleging 14 TerraceWood houses were built with defects. 

Now, CBC has learned that Tarion has condemned three of those homes. 

Two have already been torn down and the third is waiting for a demolition date.

"Given the nature of the defects discovered" in the houses, "demolition was a more reasonable option than repair," Tarion spokesperson Andrew Donnachie said in an email. Some defendants in the suit claim it was incorrect to condemn all three homes.

CBC also found land registry documents showing one of Holmes's companies provided Third Line Homes with a total of $390,000 in private mortgages to help it buy land for the development.

Some homeowners say they're disappointed that Holmes, whose motto is to "make it right," never returned to TerraceWood to help make things right in this case.

"The neighbourhood has been disturbed," said Fayard, whose TerraceWood house recently underwent major repairs instead of being torn down. 

"If [Holmes] had come and taken a look and said, 'Well this is what's wrong and this is how I can help,' I think that that would have been a stand-up thing to do," he said. "After all, it was Holmes Approved Home[s]."