Four years ago, Heather Porteous started an Instagram account featuring before and after shots of house-flipping projects she did with her brother, Nathan. She started using hashtags like ‘hgtvnoticeme’ and ‘hgtvcanada’ just for fun, and after two years, she got a phone call that someone from HGTV Canada had noticed them. At first, they thought it might have been a scam; they had to have a Zoom meeting to believe it was real.
Heather and Nathan Porteous are a sibling duo that grew up on a Woodlands farm, attended Woodlands Elementary and Warren Collegiate, and spent many afternoons skipping school at the Stonewall Chicken Chef. Their dad owns Porteous Plumbing, travels to and from Stonewall, Warren, Woodlands, and surrounding areas, and has done so for 45 years. Their mom is a massive gardener, selling tomato plants to many people throughout the community, and she used to teach nursing at the Health Sciences Centre for about 30 years.
Heather, by trade, is a chef. She had been working at her restaurant when she and a coworker bought a house to flip together. She ended up making more money on that flip than she had been making in a year as a chef. Nathan had been in the autobody industry, specifically painting, but the industry was changing, and less money was being made. Heather and her friend needed someone to help with the house, so Nathan lent a hand, and that was the start of their new venture. They both found their new calling.
Now that they’ve got the hang of doing their jobs and being on television, their work isn’t much different from what it was before; other than that, they might not be seeking out hoarder houses to flip like they do for the show.
“I don’t think the show really is different. We were worried at the beginning about how filming and how stuff was going to work. We’ve wrapped up filming season two, and at this point there’s just a camera crew that follows us around while we do our regular work,” shares Heather.
“We have a lot of freedom,” says Nathan. Their process involves starting off with a walkthrough of the house to figure out what exactly they’d like to do with it, and the next step is usually a demo. After that, it’s electrical, plumbing, and rebuilding walls while still keeping the end vision in mind. Once that’s done, along with the drywall and painting, the prettier stuff starts to happen: kitchen and flooring go in, as well as light fixtures and feature walls and ceilings.
“We’ve been doing it for long enough that we kind of have a process,” says Heather.
It typically takes Heather and Nathan two to three months to finish flipping a house, three months being the longest. They have set the record for their quickest flip at four weeks! They tend to look for houses within a five to ten-mile radius of where they live; if they’re closer to home, there’s more time to spend on the house rather than travel, and there’s less dealing with traffic across the city.
One of the reasons they decided flipping was for them was so that they could work Monday to Friday, usually 8 to 4. This schedule gives Nathan more time to get his daughter off to school and return to her in the evenings.
While Nathan’s favourite part of everything is lunchtime, Heather loves the design and picking out everything to go into the house that people get to see. They have flipped approximately 30 homes together.
One of their favourite projects they’ve done has been a bungalow in Winnipeg a few years back. It involved transforming a bedroom into an ensuite and a fun design process. This project was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press, and they consider it one of the nicest houses they’ve done. They also just finished a house for season two of the show that Heather loves, considering it a close second to the bungalow.
Viewers can find Hoarder House Flippers on the Global TV app, STACK TV, and Hulu. Season two will be airing in the early fall of this year. It will feature successful house flips done by Heather and Nathan in Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg, and the St. Boniface area.
HGTV Canada’s Hoarder House Flippers
The new series, Hoarder House Flippers, from Anaïd Productions followed three teams of fearless flippers as they took on the worst hoarder houses they could find and transformed them for maximum profit.
Smart flippers know the lengths they have to go to make a profit, which sometimes means taking on the dreaded ‘hoarder house’. In the first season of Hoarder House Flippers, they premiered, three brave teams of flippers seeing the potential value beyond the clutter, trash, and disrepair that would typically be a buyer’s worst nightmare. For them, it’s a unique opportunity to turn these overlooked houses into desirable homes, and ultimately, maximum profit.
Heather and Nathan Porteous
Each episode follows one of three sets of renovators as they work day and night to clear out, demo and renovate these challenging properties. Hailing from Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba, each team has their own unique style and personality, which can often create some challenges beyond the renovation itself.
The series premiere features Ontario couple Ryan and Kiki, who take on a ranch-style house with a mess of overgrowth, but with their unmatched vision and just-do-it attitude, this power couple sees past the hoard to the potential goldmine that lies beneath. With more than 60 money-making flips under their belt, it seems there’s nothing these two can’t conquer.
Episode two features Quebec brothers Mactar, Issa, and Khadim who discover their cheap flip could ultimately cost big bucks! Mactar’s big ideas has helped him flip more than 20 properties for profit, and he’s done that with the help of both Khadim, who helps curb his impulsive choices, while cool-headed Issa keeps an eye on the bottom line.
Manitoba siblings, Heather and Nathan are featured in episode three, as they work to transform their newly purchased eyesore. Heather is the driving force who keeps the flip on time and on budget, with her younger brother Nathan happy to work hard, and offer his opinion…even when it isn’t asked for! Though these siblings may go toe-to-toe sometimes, this brother-sister duo is a force to be reckoned with!
