Josh, Chris, and Jason - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 70

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 1 - January 23, 2026

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 70 - July 1, 2026  

The end of this response series is leaning heavily into the fond memories of those who made it possible.

My three-year experience was broken into parts, clearly focused on the periods of taping the home rehabs for each TV series. The bulk of filming the pilot episode took two weeks in March 2014, the three months of what producers called the five-episode pick-up happened in the first quarter of 2015, and we made Restoring Charleston summer 2016 with any planning and post-production work happening in between.    

American Rehab Charleston - 2015

As I described in my previous post, Bob Fleming, the general contractor brought in to help us make the first episode of American Rehab Charleston, was the inadequately recognized hero who got us started on our way. Although there were many factors to us moving through each step of this experience, I don’t see how we could have gotten through March 2014 without Bob.

For the 2015 filming, the dynamic duo of Josh Hofbauer and Jason Dandridge were the miracle workers making me look masterful.

Jason Dandridge filming Restoring Charleston

Jason’s talents mirrored much of Bob Fleming’s in how he commanded his troops. In addition, I believe he may have membership in some legion of carpentry wizards, wowing me with his fractional math on the fly, in his head, factoring in multiple floor heights fluidly, considering thresholds and the materials and layers of multiple additions. I’ve done this, but not near as effortlessly, needing to double and triple check my figuring, while backtracking and scratching my head throughout. I’d never worked with someone as capable as Jason in these critical scenarios.  

He and Josh were an impactful combo and it was easy to take their teamwork for granted.

From the start, Josh reminded me of someone I’d known for years, and we quickly fell into step together on site and while being filmed. He was juggling the list of scopes in his head at once, the work I normally did. He handled it admirably, with added pressure of producers pushing the breakneck schedule. And to make it all even more difficult, he and the trades were forced to stop working throughout each day so I could stumble through multiple takes for the camera as they waited motionless and quiet out of view. I don’t know how Josh or any of them managed or how they truly felt. I imagine it would be like driving a car in heavy traffic while you’re trying to wolf down lunch, frequently being directed to pull off to the side, shutting down the engine, checking your phone, cranking back up, as you react to each whim and seemingly urgent need of a variety of production crew members.  

Josh Hofbauer

I think the majority of the guys were so proficient at their work, that they thrived on weaving their way through the extra wrinkles of the production schedules and activity. They plodded without big reactions, as if they privately knew the experience made them even better and gave them entertaining stories to tell down the line someday.

But speaking for them, they couldn’t have all been okay with me taking credit for what they did. No way. And I do understand that and am sorry I was unable to take more of a stand in this regard. Not only would it have been the best way to go, as I’ve said before, I think authentic appreciation on camera, intertwined into each episode, would have made both series better and more helpful for viewers trying to learn.   

 

By the time we started filming Restoring Charleston, Josh had returned to Michigan. But Jason lived with his family in the Upper Dorchester part of the county, and I was thankful he was willing to put off his other projects and focus on the Appleby House. With ARC under his belt, Jason had a solid sense of what the producers were doing and needed from him. He knew what he and his crew could do late at night, after everyone had gone home, and what must wait until regular hours when the producers and I had returned. The value of this aptitude is difficult to explain, but his experience in this regard had a sizable impact and the achievement of what many had told us was impossible: renovating both homes in nine weeks. Even more, he and his team did it with producers in the mix. A monumental accomplishment. This was not me. I was just a middle-aged cheerleader narrating his orchestration.  

Chris Brace

It was similar to Chris Brace remaking the cottage on the other side of town. And even though that house was smaller, this was a steeper mountain for the Brace Builders crew since they were rookies in TV rehabbing. To make this ride even wilder, they were an hour away from familiar territory and his shop. I’d only worked with Chris once before prior to this, in an easy role for me as a volunteer in his efforts transforming a house into a women/children’s shelter. Because of this tie, I knew what type of stellar work he did. And although I enjoyed working with Bob, Jason, and Josh, none of that fun was captured as effectively as the comradery producers found a way to feature with Chris and I getting down and dirty in episodes six through eight.

Like my feelings about Bob Fleming, it’s hard to imagine how I’d have gotten through this experience without the talents, skills, and efforts of Jason, Chris, and Josh.

Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 71 - Coming Soon