Port McNeill-born David Rannala is bringing relief to homeowners who have botched their houses.
The Victoria-based contractor is featured on Home and Garden Television’s new show, “I Wrecked My House” alongside comedian Steve Patterson. Homeowners who have attempted to renovate or fix their own houses with disastrous results are given a lesson from experts, and then renovators and then put their skills to use and beautify the mistakes.
Rannala, owner of Rannala Construction in Victoria and a certified journeyman carpenter, says that he “literally just got kind of a phone call out of the blue” from Ottawa-based television production company Mountain Road Productions.
The company cast him in the show which recently wrapped its first season, airing now. Rannala describes the experience on the show as great, but the schedule as hectic with 14 days straight spent shooting each project, and a week off in Victoria in between. This schedule has allowed Rannala to cultivate a new skill, “working for days on end with basically no sleep,” he jokes.
The most challenging project Rannala recalls from shooting the first season of “I Wrecked My House” is the soon to be aired Hastings project, a huge amount of work that needed to be completed in a very short amount of time.
“It was basically bulldozer bait,” he says.
He usually works on custom, high-end homes, and says that the stress surrounding the projects on the show is different because it is about figuring out quickly how to move forward and improve the situation. The show includes a team of skilled off-air carpenters who keep work moving when Rannala is involved in on-camera work.
Rannala lived in Port McNeill until he was around seven, and his father is still a resident.
Growing up in Port McNeill, his life was full of “what you do as a kid in McNeill, fires and fishing.” He moved to Victoria during his childhood, and began an apprenticeship right out of high school.
Back in Victoria now that the show is airing, Rannala pauses for a second while considering his long term goals.
“If the sun and the stars and the moon align we would bring the film crew to the North Island!”
New episodes air Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.