Home Work Guest Star Claims Working With Andy And Candis Meredith Was A Nightmare

Homeowner Aubry Bennion went to Instagram to talk about her experience working with Andy and Candis Meredith when they renovated her kitchen and filmed it for "Home Work," part of Magnolia Network, in 2019. What was supposed to be a three-week project turned into a five-month nightmare. "Immediately, the communication was disastrous. Candis was overwhelmed by her workload and Andy was nowhere to be seen," Bennion wrote. Throughout her 18 part series, Bennion shows her followers the conversations she had with the Meredith's and their team, progress photos of her kitchen, and financial receipts.

While the Meredith's were dealing with their personal home remodel along with other remodeling projects, they would delay in giving Bennion updates and leave her to reach out to them. "I begged for a scope, schedule, and budget — foundational details project managers provide to their client. I saw none, from start to finish," Bennion wrote.

Magnolia Network had no interference with how the show's production would unfold, so they weren't aware of what was happening between the Meredith's and Aubry Bennion. While most of their conversations occurred over text message instead of email since Candis and Bennion were close acquaintances for five years, Bennion never received any official contract or preview of the budget. They had offhandedly settled for Bennion to pay $25,000 for a $40,000 project. Bennion wrote, "Maybe naively, I assumed there would be some kind of promotional consideration involved in a television kitchen [makeover] if they could do it for half the price. Free labor? Trade discounts on materials?"

During the weeks Bennion would wait for updates from Candis and her team, she would question her agreement to do the project. The construction crews not showing up to work, shipment delays, and lack of updates caused Bennion to stress over her home not being finished within the time frame they agreed. False promises and reassurance gave Bennion some hope that her kitchen would be ready by Christmas. "Seeing the design elements and the promise of a kitchen by Christmas was enough to keep the worries at bay," she wrote.

The contradiction of seeing the layout of her potential kitchen but not seeing the crew come to her house to work and going 10 days without hearing from Candis added to the nightmare for Aubry Bennion. "I asked Candis for a meeting before Christmas so we could reevaluate where we stood ... She was open to a meeting, I proposed a few times, and then she went silent. It wasn't until after Christmas that I was able to meet her in person," wrote Bennion. While Candis was waiting for receipts from her team, she didn't know where they were at with the budget.

When Bennion wouldn't receive a response from the production team, she reached out to other homeowners who were going through the same situation to find solidarity. They discussed their stories and found similarities with how they were being treated. They've held on to those friendships for the past couple of years since the incident. Bennion was able to get her kitchen remodeled after five months of a three-week project where she found receipts from IKEA listing all the expenses that totaled $3,900. "While I never got the breakdown of costs I asked for, they simply don't add up," she wrote. Bennion paid over her $25,000 budget, unaware of the breakdown of the expenses because Candis never gave them to her when she asked.