Mike Holmes, Will You Be My Gerry?
By: Stephanie Adams
Tags: Dads, Hgtv Canada, Home Buying, HGTV, Grief And Loss

Hi Mike Holmes,

My dad was the handiest person I knew. He was a union electrician in NYC for 30+ years. He loved teaching, and instructed apprentices for many years. He was mad for music, loved being on the water, and was passionate about boat safety. He passed away on Jan 1st 2018 from cancer. (fuck cancer)

He was also the handiest person everyone knew. At his memorial service, many spoke about his friendship and his passion for helping others. Here are a few highlights:

Well, you’re all screwed. Because I don’t know who you’re going to call with electrical questions anymore. Seriously show of hands. Look around.

He’s been known to do interstate electrical repairs via phone and texted pictures

He helped rebuild homes in upstate New York destroyed by Hurricane Irene.

My dad was the king of getting the right tool and letting you know you’re using the wrong one. Sometimes I think he’d go out and buy a tool, just to lend it to you, so he could tell you he was right.

We had a really nasty flood in our basement…so we did what we usually did in these situations, we shined the bat signal, and Gerry arrived.

It strikes me, that if Gerry was here, this microphone would have been fixed by now

I sent him the inspection report on my first home so he could scrutinize, and tell me what was bullshit, or what I should pursue. He looked at the pictures from the report and found additional items to fix. A year later, when he came to my house to help re-do our basement after some flooding, he uncovered 70 years of bad wiring in our ceiling. An eight hour job snowballed into five days of work where he meticulously addressed everything. That was the Gerry way.

My dad thought most people on tv talking about home repair were crap. Most people, except you. He had dozens of Holmes and Homes episodes DVR’ed. He blew insulation into my parents’ house to your exact specifications. Their gutter guards are the ones you highlighted as a Mike Holmes approved product. He referenced your recommendations when making purchasing decisions or working on a home repair task.

Now we all find ourselves in a world without Gerry, and we we are muddling through the best we can. So, Mike Holmes: will you be my Gerry? I need that voice of reason. The straight shooter. The person who has the answer, or the right tool, or will tell me how to get the answer or the exact right tool for the job. That voice to cut through the endless Google results. To right size the questionable recommendations. And the voice who can tell me, “Stephanie, don’t waste your time and money; do it the right way the first time.”

We are facing a big move. We relocated to my hometown in NY to be closer to my dad in his final months. Two and a half years later, we are moving to Omaha for my husband’s career, and to be closer to his family. We just put an offer on a house and I’m paralyzed at the thought of doing this without my dad. I don’t know exactly what I’m asking from you. If you want to fly out for an inspection for the next house we buy, FANTASTIC! If you just want to read the results, or let me message you if I need an opinion, that’s great too. Or maybe this was just catharsis as I face this next phase of my life without my dad. Anyway you cut it, thanks for listening.