The Untold Truth Of HGTV's Restored By The Fords

The lucky homeowners selected to appear on Restored by the Fords experience an accelerated renovation. "What usually would take a year we have to do in a couple of months," Leanne Ford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Jamie and Rachel Kardell were among those chosen for the show's second season for their 1910 Pittsburgh home. "We knew we had to redo the kitchen, so I was online looking for contractors, and I started thinking, 'You know what would be so much easier is if we just had someone do this for us,'" Rachel recalled. Jamie added, "I just thought it would never happen, and then we just kept getting closer and closer in the process. I said to my boss at one point, 'I think this is real. I think this is going to happen.'"

Families whose homes are renovated on the show don't live in their houses during the two-month process — or, at least, the Kardells didn't — and they don't get to see what's taking place until the big reveal. "It's the positive reaction [of the homeowners]. That is what we go for, what we work for," Steve Ford shared.