Magnolia Network spotlighting local home, couple

Apr. 1—A St. Joseph home and its owners will be seen on nationwide TV later this month.

Will and Amanda Unzicker will be featured on season 5 of Magnolia Network's hit show, "First Time Fixer," with their episode airing on Friday, April 26.

Will, the owner of Upstanding Contracting, and Amanda, the owner of The Interior Shoppe, spent more than a year renovating a home on the corner of Noyes and Mulberry.

Both businesses had grand openings in late 2022, and six months later, the couple bought the home. Shortly after, they were accepted to be on the show.

"It was a really great experience. We didn't get to meet Chip and Joanna Gaines, but all of the film crew was awesome to work for," Amanda Unizicker said.

The Unizickers documented the entire process of remodeling the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house which also includes a sunroom, upstairs family room and den.

Magnolia Network sent a film crew at the beginning of the project when the house was completely gutted. That day they filmed for about five hours. During the rest of the eight-month demolition, the Unzickers were in charge of filming themselves.

"Filming was like an extra job ... It was a lot of work. They sent us camera iPhones, and so Will and I just took a bunch of videos and filmed ourselves," Amanda Unizicker said. "So it's hard to just remember to do that all the time. And then we had a check-in once a week with the film crew just to make sure we were filming properly and the editing was all going OK."

On the last day, Magnolia Network crews stayed for about eight hours to complete filming.

On top of their already hectic workload of running businesses, parenting and juggling finances, the couple also had to learn a remodeling process. This is the first time they have remodeled a home besides their own. Will Unizicker, who's only been contracting for a little more than two years, said it's definitely been a learning experience.

"Doing it for myself, I can kind of do it on my own time. I can plan things. If something goes wrong, I can correct it," he said. "Now, when you work for someone else, there's a little bit more pressure, so you want to make sure things are timed ... You want to multitask, have a schedule for everything, get back with people even before the project starts."

The Unizickers said planning is an important part of the process.

"I need this guy first, I need that guy second. I'm just learning all that was the most difficult part. Once I had it down, it would just make things a lot easier," he said.

Additionally, working with other local businesses made the process a lot smoother. Will Unizicker said it was easier not only because they're close in town but also because he learned a lot.

"They're willing to teach me. It's almost like I'm doing like a little apprenticeship for all those guys because I'm always there and I'm watching and they're always cool about it," he said.

Just like with any first-time project they also ran into challenges. Amanda Unizicker said it was "expense after expense" and they had to manage so much.

"For example, the plaster and drywall. We planned on keeping the plaster in, then we had to rip it all out instead and then have to pay for drywall. And we paid more for the electrical," she said.

Another challenge for Will Unizicker was working through no heat or lights before they were installed.

"There's times where we would be working and it gets dark at like 4:30 and you could see your breath, and like it was so cold, you couldn't feel your hands using the saw and everything was a lot more difficult," he said.

Amanda Unizicker said the biggest lesson she learned was how to work better with her husband.

"We were a really good team and just how to do it all. And so I think it was a success," she said.

Amanda Unizicker said she's most excited for viewers to see "how hard it is" to do a remodel like this. Another thing that's important to her is showcasing the city of St. Joseph.

"It really is so important to us to help fix up this town and make it better," she said. "And so the house was not only on Noyes, which is a really popular street, but we got to bring St. Joe to national television, which is just a really good experience."