A day after the hosts of reality renovation show Home Work took to Instagram to tearfully defend themselves about allegations of shoddy work and overcharging – which led to their show being taken off the Magnolia Network – comes news that the show will return to television.
People magazine broke the story of the unexpected turnaround in fortunes for the show and its hosts, Candis and Andy Meredith.
“Magnolia Network is dedicated to sharing hopeful and genuine stories. In doing that, we strive to meet people with compassion and to cautiously approach difficult moments with honest understanding,” Magnolia’s president Allison Page said in a statement.
“After speaking with homeowners as well as Candis and Andy Meredith regarding renovation projects for Home Work, and hearing a mix of both positive and negative experiences, we do not believe there was ill or malicious intent. Our commitment now is to provide appropriate resolutions for those whose experience with Home Work fell short of our network’s standards.”
She concluded: “While Home Work will return to Magnolia Network, we recognize the responsibility we have to act on how we can better support not only our talent, but those who put their trust in them and this brand.”
Home Work debuted on the Discovery+ streaming service in July 2021 on the Magnolia Network tab. The series launched on TV on Jan. 5, but was pulled two days later. and was pulled off the air two days later Jan. 7.
WEDNESDAY: Andy and Candis Meredith, the hosts of the former Magnolia Network show Home Work, have responded to allegations made last week by former customers. The complaints caused the Magnolia Network to pull the show from its lineup just two days after launch.
Using their Instagram handle @andyandcandis, the couple posted photos of the work they did that’s been challenged by Aubry Bennion, the homeowner who first raised the complaints against them. They also had an 8-post video that talked about what happened.
“Although we are completely blindsided by the allegations made against us from projects of two years ago this week on a public stage, we are going to do our best to share more context to a one-sided narrative,” one post read.
They added in a post showing the refinished kitchen at the heart of their dispute, “We are very proud of the work that went into this project. We revealed this space on February 20, 2020 and fully acknowledge that before this point in time there were hard conversations and misunderstandings about this project and budget, but we were absolutely under the impression that we had resolved those issues together. If Aubry was unhappy at this point overall, we had no idea whatsoever.”
After giving their side of the business dispute, the videos turned personal.
“While preparing these posts, we discovered that our children are being bullied at school. This is so extremely upsetting. We have received death threats, our home is under police surveillance for our safety, and these comments and judgments of us, stating that we are liars, thieves and con artists are so extremely hurtful and based on one narrative amplified by others who were not part of any of these situations.”
The posts concluded, “We fully admit that we took on too much at one time, and that this was a hard road for these 4 clients’ renovation projects. We also acknowledge that after working in an extremely difficult industry for over 10 years, working with hundreds of people, there are inevitably going to be some who are dissatisfied. Aubry’s public call for anything and everything people can share about us is not ok. We have the same phone numbers, and anyone we have worked with can contact us at any time.
“We realize that we have put ourselves out there for the world to make judgements and we have to accept that. What we will not accept is losing our livelihood and being put on public trial the way aubryeliz and teishahawley have done and the others who have piled on like thehomescoop @_megconley, rosiecard and so many more. We understand the frustrations, we really do. But these should have been resolved privately, through any means of communication, within the last two years and not in this malicious and salacious attempt to take away our means of living. We support many families with this show, we have balances with contractors we are actively working on, there is so much more to this than just us. By taking away all means of income, it is only making it more difficult for us to pay for anything outstanding and people are losing their jobs because of this.
We will protect our family and those whom we support with Home Work. We stand behind our work and our principles and are not here to take anything away from anyone the way it has been done to us. However, we are asking that any and all who have contributed to this toxic cancel mindset take a moment to review both sides before passing judgment on us.”
EARLIER: The new Magnolia Network, the vehicle fronted by Fixer Upper superstars Chip and Joanna Gaines, has taken one of its series off the schedule just two days after its launch.
Home Work has been pulled after allegations of shoddy work and overcharges by its hosts surfaced from two homeowners. The show was previously available on the Magnolia Network tab on Discovery+, but was elevated to the cable channel upon Magnolia’s launch this week.
The show stars Utah-based Andy and Candis Meredith, who renovate homes in their state. The series was reportedly originally Joanna Gaines’ idea, and was touted as the next Fixer Upper by at least one media source. Andy and Candis Meredith also appeared on the HGTV and DIY Network show Old Home Love.
That all unraveled on Wednesday, when accounts surfaced detailing alleged overcharges and shoddy work by the Merediths on some prior renovations. While all of the shows on Discovery’s roster have demonstrated that renovation projects often can run into delays and overages, the specific charges against the Merediths also allege poor communications when things went south on their dealings.
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The Merediths have fired back, denying the accusations on Instagram. “We have always tried to give everything we have to make anyone we work with happy,” they wrote, adding, “We can only say that there are two sides to every story…”
Allison Page, the president of Magnolia Networks, also issued a statement.
“Magnolia Network is aware that certain homeowners have expressed concerns about renovation projects undertaken by Candis and Andy Meredith. Within the last few days, we have learned additional information about the scope of these issues, and we have decided to remove “Home Work” from the Magnolia Network line up pending a review of the claims that have been made.”
The news that derailed Home Work was posted to Instagram Wednesday.
Aubry Bennion, a Utah homeowner, shared an 18-post Instagram tale about her experience on Wednesday. Bennion contracted with the Merediths in 2019 to have her kitchen renovated. They originally told her that the project would take three weeks and cost $20,000. That was elevated to $25,000 during the show’s taping.
The project vastly overshot that projection, Bennion said. It wound up taking five months and cost her more than $39,000. She claimed much of that money was spent fixing issues created by the renovation.
Bennion wrote in another Instagram post that the Merediths added a deck onto the back of her kitchen. That went awry when they built it over a sprinkler system and created a drainage issue. Bennion’s home allegedly almost flooded because of the deck issue, an incident she claimed lowered the value of her home and cost $18,000 to repair.
That disaster was exacerbated by a lack of communication, Bennion said. She claimed she spoke to the Merediths about the issues throughout, and was often given excuses or promises of things arriving the following day that never happened.
Bennion said she contacted producers at the Magnolia Network for help. They allegedly gave Candis a “stern talking to” after her call, according to one of Bennion’s Instagram posts. But nothing changed, she alleged.
Ultimately, Bennion said her trust in the brand of Chip and Joanna Gaines was misplaced and damaged.
“I want Magnolia to be accountable,” she said. “It’s mind-blowing to me that they would put Magnolia’s name and reputation on the line or that they would allow these people to represent them without any sort of oversight or mentoring.”
Bennion was not the only complaint. After she posted her details, another homeowner, Teisha Satterfield Hawley, came forward with similar complaints about the Merediths.
Hawley wrote on Instagram that she gave the Merediths $45,000 to renovate her living space. The project was slated for four weeks, but ten weeks later, little work had been done. The Merediths then told the Hawleys they needed another $40,000 to make the project work, according to a follow-up post shared on Hawley’s Instagram account.
“Hopeless is the word that comes to mind when I think of that day,” Hawley wrote in the caption of the post. “We had been living in our basement for months at this point, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. We were exhausted, we had just been told all of our funds were used, and our home was torn apart with bubbling floors laid.”
The Hawleys said they told the Merediths not to come back after the money request.
