HGTV ‘Backed by the Bros’: Drew & Jonathan Scott Help Families on Brink of Losing Everything

Drew and Jonathan Scott are usually very hands-on with their projects. This made Backed by the Bros a unique experience. The new HGTV series sees the moguls step into the role of mentors as they guide previously misguided entrepreneurs, short-term rental owners, and residential developers.

In each of the 10 episodes, the Scotts choose between two potential real estate investments. They’ll meet with owners and assess the properties to decide who to back with all their resources and network of designers, trade contacts, and a warehouse full of construction materials. Just because Drew and Jonathan give their insight doesn’t mean they will take the advice. It’s this unpredictable environment that is unlike what they’re used to working on their other shows Property Brothers and Celebrity IOU.

Here Drew and Jonathan open up about putting everything into helping these investors who have gotten themselves into some impossible situations.

What inspired you to do this show? 

Jonathan Scott: So many people we talk to, whether they are clients or friends, everyone we’ve heard from. They’ve said, “I wish I could invest in real estate or convert my garage to make a new revenue stream.” Everybody loves the idea but doesn’t know how to jump in. With this show, we’re finding a lot of people who are diving in not knowing what they are doing and on the brink of losing everything. They’ve made some mistakes and overspent.

One of our families bought a property they were going to tear the house down and build a small apartment building. They didn’t realize that it’s never allowed to be zoned to have that kind of building. They spent over 150 grand, and completely depleted their four children’s college funds and retirement savings. They are stuck. We go in with our team. We bring our experiences and resources and help pull them out of that hole they’ve dug themselves into. Every story is different. That’s what makes this exciting.

Drew Scott: We made a lot of mistakes over the years, and we’ve been doing this for over 25 years. In the beginning, when we didn’t know, we were overspending on projects. We had a property we thought we could do one thing with and turned out we couldn’t. We have one of our homeowners in the exact situation we were in. They didn’t do their due diligence as they didn’t realize they weren’t allowed to do what they wanted. All of a sudden they paid for this project that wasn’t going to yield what they thought it would. We wish we had a mentor when we were younger. Now we can come in as mentors to help others and pull them out of these pitfalls they already are in because a few of them are on the brink of losing everything.

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How was it for you to adjust to the idea that you weren’t in complete control? That you had to take a step back and watch from afar rather than do what you do with your other shows. 

Drew: I kind of tend to forget about that, and it’s a huge part of the process. As you know with our shows, we are very hands-on. During this process, there were times I had to stop myself and say, “Okay just because they are not doing what we’re suggesting doesn’t mean this isn’t still an investor to help.” This is their project, and they can do what they want at the end of the day. It is so tough.

When I see someone making a mistake that I know is a mistake and will regret down the road and not willing to take our advice, it’s hard. There is this one episode with a 21-year-old who saved up some money and made money and got his first investment property. His name is Jon, so we kept making fun of him because Jon was him back in our early days of investing. He was very ego-driven and kind of in the direction we were in when we were young. He would not listen to our advice. In some of these deals, they’re spending tens of thousands of dollars on things that will not get them a penny more. It is tough.

Jonathan: In this game, everything comes down to the dollar and the numbers. You can not overspend or you won’t recoup that back and make a bad investment. Why would you go through this whole process if you’re not going to make any money in the end? Following our advice is key. He did learn in the end and came out with a good investment, which I’m glad. There was a fellow who had a small apartment building.

It was his entire livelihood and it burned down. The way the insurance company was going to rebuild it was going to make it a worse-off investment. We had to come in with a different plan. We’re not just investing in these folks because the property has potential. We’re investing in people we really do feel can benefit from what we are bringing to the table, but also improve their skills for the future. Jon is now on a path to being incredibly successful, but he learned the hard way with some of these things. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

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For you, how hard was it to decide who you wanted to move forward with? 

Drew: It was tough because we have different pros and cons to every project. Jonathan and I also didn’t agree on who we should back, so it was some good back and forth. It’s the person and type of investment. At the end of the day, we’re not here to help someone with their own personal house. We’re trying to help people get into investing. There is a lot of opportunity. Even the government is offering a lot of incentives. I think in New York they are even paying people to convert their garages to offset the housing crisis.

We have tax incentives for other types of builds. We can help people get to know they can generate significant income to offset how expensive it is to live these days. It is tough, but we know whoever we help is going to be set up for success in a huge way. At the same time, we don’t have unlimited resources. We are limited we have contractors and designers we are pulling from other projects. We may have a gap of six weeks we can use them for. We may have materials to give in our warehouse but it’s not unlimited. So we have to make the right decision.

Who ultimately helped you see the light in your career? 

Jonathan: We really didn’t have anybody. That was the struggle. Eventually, I went to school for construction and design. That’s when I had aha moments on the construction side. When it came to investing in real estate, Drew and I were doing all our research. We were asking questions. We even bought those infomercials for how to make millions with no money down. Most of that was BS but we discovered some things that did work and allowed us to buy. We bought our very first investment property at 18 years old with $250 out of pocket. That’s where you can assume a mortgage without qualifying, which you can’t do anymore. But it shows that there are a lot of different ways you can get into real estate more creatively You don’t have to have a tunnel vision view where there is only one way save up, put down 25 or 50 percent. There are other ways to be successful.

Drew: We grew up on a ranch so you had to be handy. Whether it was building a barn or building a family house with our dad as well. Our dad was very handy, but he wasn’t a licensed contractor. He didn’t know the ins and outs of the national building code. I wish we had a mentor like what we are providing. At least we can give back in this way now. Even watching this show, there is a ton of information someone can soak up about what you can do if they want to get into real estate.

Jonathan: I really am excited because this show is unlike anything we’ve ever done. You really do get to see the tough love from us. I almost feel like we’re the Gordon Ramsays of the home space where we are calling it as we see it.

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What was it like for you to see the ones you helped reach that proverbial finish line? 

Jonathan: With so many people struggling, real estate is expensive these days. It’s a reach for most people to even get into home ownership, especially in a major city like Los Angeles. Here they can not only help the housing crisis but also generate additional revenue for themselves, One piece of advice Drew and I have given people is to take your ego out of it. If you really want to be successful and have more money to retire on. One way is to rent out your space because that is a huge injection of cash into your livelihood. These folks will be transformed. Some of these investors are bringing in an extra 60 grand a year. Some are bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Drew: It’s exciting. To see the flip in their confidence is a huge thing. For a lot of them, you can see the fear in their eyes. Drowning in debt. Now to see the flip where now they are talking about understanding the process and the next one they are going to do. I love that because they are moving forward in a completely different way and are in a better position than they were before.

Backed by the Bros premiere, June 5, 9/8c, HGTV