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Pro Football Player turned Contractor
Sebastian Clovis didn’t start as a renovator - he was a pro football player with the BC Lions and was with them when they won the Grey Cup in 2006. He helped carry his University team to 3 national championships in 4 years, winning 2 of them. Having pivoted after football, Sebastian created another winning career renovating homes. He is the host of HGTV’s popular shows ‘Tackle my Reno’, ‘Save my Reno’ and ‘Home to Win’. Watch for his new show ‘Gut Job’ coming up in Spring 2022. Sebastian loves the Kawarthas and says, “I have a long history of visiting friends cottages in the Kawarthas. It is a destination on my list every year and I always look forward to it.” Visiting friends often means being asked for advice. Sebastian says, “As my skills have been developing I get more invites but every time I show up, and even before we jump in the lake, there’s always the question ‘Would you mind looking at the shingles?’ So these lake side swims come at a different price for me now,” he laughs. Getting involved with HGTV was a series of serendipitous events. He says, “I was renovating a project when a neighbor pulled up to the house and asked me to do a job, which ended up being for HGTV working behind the scenes. I did the project, but I wasn’t filmed. People on set noticed me and I built a lot of friendships. A few years later I randomly reconnected with the director of that show. They were just starting a new show and unsure of who the host would be. The energy kicked up immediately and 7 days later they shot a sizzle reel with me. A few days later I was filming my own show and I’ve been with them ever since.” Clovis is not a stranger to reno shows and admits to watching them on television. “I’m a person that dives head long into whatever I’m doing. When I was playing football I would eat, breathe, live it and watch it. Part of being in the trades is 32
to continually sharpen your skills. A great way to do that is by watching those gurus’ shows. Whether it was Scott, Bryan, Holmes, This Old House, or whatever, I would learn things that I didn’t know,” he says. Sebastian inherited his athletic talents from his parents. He says, “I come from an athletic family. My father was a rugby player until he was 66 years old so we grew up watching him play. It was natural for all 5 kids to excel at sports. My brother Tristan also played in the CFL and won the Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007. My sister is a rugby player and my other brother is also a football player. We all have the athletic gene.” Sebastian’s up-bringing nurtured his career choice. “My father and mother both have DIY skills with lots of home projects to their credit. My parents were well-rounded which allowed us the greatest potential for a bright future.” His first passion was track and field. He says, “I actually received more scholarship offers for track and field than I did for football (he laughs). But there was no professional track and field so I put my hopes in playing pro football.” Sebastian has a new show coming up called ‘Gut Job.’ He says the amount of challenges in this series is mind blowing. “One of the projects was to gut a house with a two floor reno but
