Why Heart of Oak?
Welcome to Heart of Oak!
I know. You’re asking: “Why do we need another home renovation show?”
Our opinion is that the current home show model is BROKEN. That's right, we said it. BROKEN.
We love the classics: This Old House is one of the best reality shows ever produced to this day. But the fact is: the modern home show that everyone has come to love has finally become old news. Outside of Chip and Johanna of Fixer Upper (great design sense; great on camera presence), most home shows are the exact same: every format is predictable, every job has forced drama built in.
With Heart of Oak we thought: let’s break the traditional home show format. Let’s show what we really deal with all day, every day. Let’s talk about the real problems we encounter. Also - let’s do a home show that is not based in California, Vegas or Texas, because most people who do what we do deal with winter. Let’s show it!
Heart of Oak is a 13 episode series about our business: Oak Development & Design. The camera follows me and we are completely unscripted. You’ll meet my wife Lizzy and our two kids, Oakley and Jack, as well as the rest of the Oak Development & Design team.
Our goal is to be a refreshing take on what we all really want to see in a home show: authentic, showing real people doing real jobs for a company that doesn't just “flip.” This is NOT a flipping show. Yes, we transform houses, but we go way beyond the average flip that you see on TV. Yes, we focus on budgets, but it is not the reason we make every decision. We prioritize quality, not quantity and brand and definitely not turning our final product out as quick and cheap as possible.
There is no shot list when we shoot and we do not rehearse, so what you see is real life. I have a business to run! Maybe in season three we will get a bit more buttoned up, but for now our “Camera Guy” needs to keep up because there is no such thing as a second take when real money is on the line.
Heart of Oak is real. It’s captivating. And honestly, it’s different.
-PJ