They were discovered through a photo. "In 2012, a production company saw a photo of one of our flip houses that we had done together and they called us and just said, 'Hey, we love that you guys do real estate and you guys work together, that's intriguing,'" Joanna says. "From there, that's where the whole courtship began."
But despite being TV stars, Chip and Joanna do not own a television—and haven't for 12 years. "Our first year of marriage, we had a fun couple that was our pre-marital counselors and they said, 'Hey, we want to challenge y'all for the first six months of marriage, don't do a TV,'" Joanna says. "Then, six months later we looked at each other and said, 'How about another six months?' And it just became one of those things where, 12 years later, we still don't own one."
They do watch their show, though. "When the show comes on, we get to go to some of our really good friends' house and have a little mini watch party," Joanna says. Chip jokes: "I am so funny—like I can see why people watch this. I'm extremely easy to watch, I think I'm generally handsome, charming." [Laughing]
Those house-sized posters used to reveal the fixer-uppers came about at "the 11th hour." "Our first episode, we were sitting there trying to figure out how to get the client to their space without revealing the house itself," Chip explains. "At the 11th hour, we had a friend of mine weld a 12 foot tall by 12 foot wide—and there's two of them, so it's 24 feet wide by the time it's all said and done—and I've got another friend in town whose got a small billboard company. When he put this thing together, I said, 'That is awesome.'"
And the families get to keep their giant house poster. "We fold that thing up and we give it to the family," Chip says. "We try to make an event of the canvas itself."
Clint—their insanely-talented carpenter—has got his own shows in the works. "Clint, he's a stud," Chip says. "He's got a couple of specials that are coming out—they've spun him off to an extent. He will always be a part of our show as long as he is interested in partnering with us, but he is going to have a couple of spin-off shows on DIY that will come out here sometime mid to end of next year. We are really excited about the idea of him getting his own place to spread his wings."
The million-dollar question—will they ever take on projects outside of Texas—is unlikely. (Insert all the sad face emojis.) "It would be very difficult for us because we have an actual construction company in Waco, Texas," Chip explains. "What makes me great is just the fact that I've been with these folks—our electricians, our plumbers, our carpenters—we've got 25 employees that have been with us, at least some of them, since the very beginning. So who we are as a company really stems from our relationships there locally."
