When Evan Thomas and Keith Bynum decided to escape Detroit’s cold winter for a break in New Orleans, the HGTV stars didn’t realize that taking on some renovation projects in the Big Easy would be so hard.
But as their hit show, “Bargain Block,” launched a five-episode spinoff on October 9, 2024, showcasing their work in New Orleans, the couple is coming clean about how physically and financially difficult it was.
“It was challenge after challenge,” Bynam told TV Insider before their spinoff’s premiere, admitting that he worked “harder than I’ve ever worked in my life.”
‘Bargain Block’ Duo Says New Orleans Spinoff is Their ‘Biggest Risk Yet’
Thomas and Bynum have made a name for themselves in Detroit — and on HGTV — since moving from Colorado in 2017 with the intention of revitalizing neighborhoods house-by-house in Detroit, per SEEN Magazine, and have since renovated over 70 homes in the market.
“Now we’re taking the biggest risk yet to test our big idea outside Detroit,” Bynum told HGTV. “We want to revitalize neglected homes in New Orleans and prove that good design is attainable for everyone.”
But carrying out that idea didn’t work the same way down south as it did in the Midwest, they quickly found.
“We definitely made some beginner mistakes,” Bynum admitted to TV Insider. “Those rookie mistakes could be costly when you move into a new market. There was a lot we didn’t know. Until you know, you don’t know. There were expensive mistakes made.”
For one thing, the stars told the outlet, houses are much more expensive in New Orleans, and they “overpaid” for some of them, with Thomas telling TV Insider, “It stretched the business financially a lot. We are still reeling from the effects.”
While the “Bargain Block” stars are “in full control” of their projects in Detroit, Bynum told the outfit, in New Orleans, “We were relying on a partner, who was a builder there to help us get this off the ground. It was challenge after challenge. Evan and I had to physically work to make it through these overages, harder than I’ve ever worked in my life.”
The first episode of their spinoff features them buying an expensive “double,” or duplex, in the Seventh Ward that had an uneven foundation and bee infestation. All three houses they opted to renovate, Bynum told TV Insider, were abandoned doubles — some empty for more than two decades — and they wanted to bring them back to life, ensuring they’d hold up in a hurricane. But that meant high-quality materials and twice the number of bathrooms and kitchens to renovate.
“Everything is more expensive because it’s double,” Bynum said. “You have to finish out two houses but essentially sell one product. We learned a lot. It was quite the learning curve. Then you throw in the fact the ground is constantly moving there with the moisture and it is below sea level. So many different things than Detroit. It was a lot to learn.”
The ‘Bargain Block’ Renovations in New Orleans Weren’t All Bad, Couple Says
There were some silver linings to all of the work and money Bynum and Thomas put into the homes in New Orleans, including the delicious food, culture and social scene, they told TV Insider. Even doing lots of grunt work to save time and money, like tiling five bathrooms in four days, Bynum recalled, helped the duo immerse themselves in a new city.
“It was good,” he said. “It was very grounding. It got us into the nitty gritty of this new market. I think that is more important than anything.”
The duo also loved being out and about during the winter by being in a warmer climate, Bynum told GLAAD on October 8.
“New Orleans in the winter was a lot more active,” he said. “We biked to work every day. We’ve walked to work a lot of the times if it wasn’t raining. And it’s just like, it’s a great place to be for the winter. It’s definitely an active city and I will say I love the gym there. It’s like we’re working out in like Hogwarts or something.”
Now that Thomas and Bynum know what to expect, they haven’t ruled out returning to do more renovations in New Orleans, but told TV Insider that adding a third market is out of the question.
“Right now, we are focused on closing everything we have in NOLA,” Thomas said. “We’re finishing projects up in Michigan. We are keeping our focus on those two areas. Doing a third now seems completely overwhelming. I can’t even fathom it. We’ll stick to those two for now.”
“Bargain Block: New Orleans” will air five Wednesdays in a row, followed by the last half of the regular season.
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