Drinker’s company was featured in “Bang for Your Buck,” a show that pits renovations of the same room against each other to see which adds the greatest value to the home. The company teamed with interior designer Dream House Studios of Annapolis to renovate the original great room, kitchen, living room and dining room of a 1929 cottage. After the renovation was completed, a group of experts determined that Timberlake Building & Renovations’ project provided the best “bang for your buck.”
In real life, however, customers won’t see their projects unfold like a television episode.
“Sometimes they see something, and they don’t know how much it costs and how much is required to install,” Drinker says. “It makes the process of getting from the concept to the completion that much longer. There are almost too many choices out there.”
Since her work appeared three years ago on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” — creating a house for the Boys Hope Girls Hope organization — Joy Waida has seen a number of clients with lofty expectations for home improvement projects.
“What gets me is that people’s expectations are unrealistic,” says Waida, the owner of Joy Home Design, Staging & Interiors in Fallston, Md. “These shows will have a team … behind the scenes. You go out to dinner, and you come back and it’s done. These projects don’t just happen in a day or week. It is a collaborative process. It doesn’t happen overnight.”