HGTV’s “Love It Or List It” allegedly left couple’s home in chaos

The unsatisfied reality show guests claim that the show’s construction skills are not up to snuff

HGTV's "Love It Or List It"
HGTV's "Love It Or List It"

A Raleigh, N.C., couple are suing HGTV’s popular real estate and design show “Love It Or List It” for shoddy work, breach of contract, unfair trade practices in violation of North Carolina’s general contractor laws and a “bizarre” business model that creates an “inherent conflict of interest.”

Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan wanted to renovate and move into a rental property they owned in Raleigh, so they contacted “Love It Or List It” after seeing an ad, according to Journal Now. In the show, a crew renovates a home for a big reveal in front of the owners at the end. The owners either “love it” or “list it” because they don’t like the renovation.

But in this case, the couple saw the work that had been done and filed a lawsuit against Big Coat TV — the Canadian-based company that produces the show — and Aaron Fitz Construction, a North Carolina contractor hired to do the renovations.

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The couple says that the renovation design work used by the show was scaled down, that the show did not use a licensed architect to develop renovation plans and that the general contractor was not licensed in North Carolina.

The couple went on to claim that the floors in their home were “irreparably damaged” after duct work left holes in the floor “through which vermin could enter the house.” They also complain of low-grade industrial carpeting, unpainted surfaces and windows painted shut.

“Big Coat’s purported agreement,” the lawsuit states, “admits that it is in the business of television production, not construction. … The homeowners’ funds essentially pay the cost of creating a stage set for this television series.” [Journal Now]Christopher Cameron