5/12: The Real Deal

Renovating Sgt. Carl Cannon’s House

It has finally dawned on me that Ginger is a co-star. During the intro, they use the phrase, “His protégé Ginger.” Calling someone a protégé is Trademark Talk for “co-star.”

Oh....

So the proper answer to “Why is Ginger in every episode?” would be something like “That’s a dumb question.”

An insurance man introduces Richard to Sgt. Carl Cannon, World War II veteran. Cannon needs to go to a nursing home, so he has to sell his house. The ol’ Sarge helped liberate Paris. Look at how many metals he has on his coat!

Richard decides to renovate the house and help him sell it, in gratitude for Cannon’s service to his country.

One bedroom, two bath, post world war house. While Cannon was away, someone ransacked the place. Ginger gives an open-mouth look of horror. Or was that a yawn? Cannon handles the trashing of his house gracefully. Richard determines that the house has to be the Mac Daddy in this so-so neighborhood. The first house to clean up a neighborhood is usually the one that will make the most money.

Next Day is a Sunday, As we meet up with Ginger and Richard at the office, we learn that neither combs their hair on Sundays.

Workers clean out the house. Richard tells us that Dan is going to be construction foreman. He talks about Dan like we’ve never heard of him before, except this time, we learn that Dan wants to be in sales. He’s straddling between two divisions in the company.

Wait, didn’t he want to be in construction two shows ago?

This is what they’re going to do to the house: A new kitchen and front door. The back door will become a window. Black and white vinyl tiles and a new bathroom. A privacy fence and a picket fence.

The insurance man has donated a new garage, so that’ll get built as well.

Richard says this is a two-week job, but they’ll have to get it done in a week. Cannon has a birthday coming up and it’ll be the perfect birthday present. Richard sighs. He’s going to have to pull off another miracle.

Day 2: “Be the best at what you do and give 100%” Richard says that Dan has got to tow the line or he’ll be put on the bench.

Workers demo the garage. These guys don’t know what they’re doing, and of course, the roof collapses on someone’s head. Alas, he is not hurt. They show the collapse again in slo-mo.

Then, they try to uproot a bush by wrapping it in a chain. They tie the chain to an SUV and drive away. Is that a Trademark SUV? It works for the first bush, but the second bush blows the car’s transmission. Dan’s driving the car, of course. A flatbed takes the SUV away.

The skinny electrical guy tells us the job is difficult. After he shocks himself, he calmly looks at the camera and takes the cigarette out of his mouth. No reaction. Funny.

Richard and Ginger plan Cannon’s surprise birthday party. There will also be a dedication. Dignitaries will be there as well, so it’s very, very important that the house be finished on time. In Trademark Talk, this makes the deadline “D-Day.”

4 Days left. Across the street from the house, workers plant a flagpole. A cement block is placed on the ground.

Ginger looks through the house. A lot of stuff isn’t done. She emphasizes that Dan is also working on a sales project.

The insurance man’s son works at a garage manufacturer. That’s why the insurance man donated the garage. Richard laments the fate of the old garage. Building this new one is a waste of time. The new garage is supposed to be a Chia Garage, but it just hasn’t grown hair yet.

Ginger has to do Dan’s job. She buys fixtures and appliances.

3 Days left. It’s raining. Dan isn’t working on the house. He’s at the sales office instead. Richard is upset. The new kitchen window is crooked and the roof on the new garage is upstaging the roof on the house. And since Dan is gone, nothing is getting done.

24 hours left. A roofer aggressively flirts with Loris, the painter-in-charge. The roofer’s southern accent is so bad that they have to write subtitles. Funny. During a break from work, he makes a bet with her that he can guess her age. If he’s over or under by a year, she has to eat dinner with him. He wins the bet. She tells him to bring dinner to the house. Afterward, he confides to us that he cheated. Someone told him her age.

Dan is AWOL again. There is no onsite supervision. Loris and the roofer go on a date. Looks like they’re eating fast food - in more ways than one. She is clearly eating as quickly as possible.

Ginger stops in to view the progress. She seems to indicate that she’s mad that the date is happening while the painting has stopped. But judging from the smile on her face, she’s not terribly upset.

D-Day: Dan has 8 hours to save or lose his job. Richard uses words like “invasion” to describe the renovation. Funny.

Ginger visits with Cannon. She shows him a picture she found of him with his mother. He gets emotional. Ginger stays and listens to Cannon talk about WWII.

Dan acts cool under pressure, but it’s obvious that he’s fallen down on the job. Richard tells Dan to get it together. Vance is seen painting the door.

The Mayor of North Charleston makes a speech at the dedication Ginger and Richard sit with Cannon. Patriotic music plays in the background.

Richard tells us that his father fought in Vietnam. Wait - Did I hear that right?

Workers have ten minutes left. Ginger is seen helping workers inside the house. Meanwhile, they stall the walkthrough of the “surprise renovation.” Cannon gets a ride on the fire truck. Workers try to screw the toilet in. Cannon is at the front door of the house as Vance is handing a worker the sink. Cannon enters the house. He is awed by the work done. He stops in one of the rooms to look at a photo album.

Dan didn’t get the house done on time. He feels badly. Ginger thinks that he’ll learn from his mistakes. Cannon is shown sitting in the park, watching the flag. Richard tells us that his Dad has passed away and how the folding of the American flag means a great deal to vets and their families.

3 months later. They sold the house for a lot more than they originally estimated. The woman who bought the property is happy. On screen, they try to explain how much they made… I think. It says “Trademark Added Value.” Then it says, “$101,400 investment of $15,100 equals $56,300. I have no idea what that means.

Richard visits with the new owner to see if she likes the property. She assures him she does.

A new category will be called "Trademark Talk." This is in tribute to the unique language of Trademarkers on the show.
Best Trademark Talk: Winner, Winner Time to Eat Dinner

And of course, questions...

• Which of the following commercials don’t fit: Renovation ads, an SUV ad and… Ralph Lauren?! What does that say about the demographic for this show?

• Was there a lot of bleeping on this episode or what?

• Richard’s Dad was in Vietnam? I had to pause the show to figure out Richard’s age. I’m still unclear on that. Seems like he should be older. After all, Jethro’s Dad is a Korean War vet. Jethro can’t be older than Richard… Hmmmm…

• So did Dan get fired or what?

• Do they take forum suggestions? It certainly appears that way. This is the first episode that they revealed the “after renovation” reactions and results.

• I wonder if filming slows project progress. How many of these subcontractors are performing for the camera and not doing their job?

• I wish they’d show Vance more often. Obviously he’s a team player. This is the second time we’ve seen him pitch in on a project.

Next week: Flipping a concession stand.

For more on The Real Deal, click here.

Comments

[dg]

Soon there will be Real Deal drinking games - maybe every time Richard says, "at the end of the day" or "Mac Daddy".

[TSyd]

I'm a little bit disappointed so far with the episodes...

Seems like a little too much fluff, instead of the
focus-on-construction balls-out all-powerful Richard
Davis that I saw before...

For example, the old episodes portrayed Trademark
as mostly a builder/rehabber, and these episodes show
it more like a realtor sales office...

The intro to the show, with the voiceover from the other
guy... dont like it. The old one where Richard was talking,
and he just said it like it is... much more powerful...
riding the helicopter... that was great.

Plus the theme music... I hate to say it, but the Flip This
House tune was better. More energy.

The episode with Ginger talking for half the show about
how much Richard has done for her and she doesnt
want to let him down... still trying to figure all that out.
It made it seem like this was the first house Ginger did,
and I clearly remember old episodes where Ginger
tackeled projects by herself.

All that stroking Richards ego in the episode... just not
sure what that was about... and all the stuff about
Richard taking the kids to the game... We know
Richard is a good guy, and wants to "give back"...
but again... too much fluff.

The $40M condo conversion episode... yes, it was a
big dollar deal... but again, this was about a real estate
office, and about marketing... not about the construction
flipping that we want to see... they rehabbed one unit
on the episode. If you wanted to show the grand nature
of this project, I would have loved to see how you figured
out the pricing for the units, how did you decided the
upgrade packages, what did the other units look like, etc.
The nitty gritty...

I guess the bottom line is, I personally anyway, would
like to see some hard core construction projects... see
the hole-in-the-wall house turned from a roach infested
nighmare, to something beautiful... let's see the hard
numbers, the actual sales figures and costs, and
take us for a great ride as these before/after shows
have always done.

[Frank]

Here is where the $56,300 came from. Orginally Richard said that they could buy the house for $30,000 renovate it and then sell it for profit. He didn't want to do that. The deal was Trademark would pay for the renovation and then when the house was sold Mr. Cannon would get his $30,000 and Trademark would get the cost of renovation. What was left over ($56,300 profit) would then be split between Trademark and Mr. Cannon. I love the show. Much better than what flip this house has turned into.

[Laura]

Ohhhh.... Thanks. Math wasn't my best subject. :)

I'm glad they're giving us a report on what happened at the end of the sale.