How Jasmine Roth, host of ‘Help! I Wrecked My House,’ became an HGTV star
On HGTV’s “Help! I Wrecked My House,” Jasmine Roth wants to turn DIY disasters into dream homes. Roth reflects on Northeastern, how she unexpectedly became a TV star and how her recent move to Utah transformed her show.
When Jasmine Roth graduated from Northeastern University in 2008 with a degree in entrepreneurship, she knew she wanted “to do something where I was able to run my own business but also make a difference.” Little did she know that that vision would involve being the star of a hit HGTV show that requires deep knowledge of construction — something she definitely didn’t have 18 years ago.
Now in its fifth season, “Help! I Wrecked My House” follows Roth as she salvages homeowners’ disastrous do-it-yourself projects and turns them into dream home material. Whether someone has tried and failed to retile their bathroom or nearly took down a load-bearing wall, in each episode, Roth is there to properly renovate a house and teach her viewers about the value of leaning on professionals.
“At the base of it all, we’re here to help people,” Roth said. “We’re here to contribute. We’re here to hopefully make other peoples’ lives better.”
When Roth left Northeastern in 2008, Roth was on track for a career in corporate America. She and her husband — and fellow Northeastern graduate — Brett Roth, moved to Huntington Beach, California and spent a few years in corporate social responsibility for PIMCO, a financial company.
Around that time, Roth and her husband had bought a piece of land on which they had planned to build their own home.
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“That project was kicking our butts,” Roth said. “I always joke that had my show existed back then, I would’ve been like, ‘Help, I wrecked my house.’”
The project was all-consuming and Roth eventually quit her job to manage it full-time, always with the idea that she could go back.
But she never went back to office work again. Instead, she fell in love with construction.
“In construction and design, every day is different, truly different,” Roth said. “I still feel like every day I’m learning a million different things. I loved that challenge. I loved being hands-on.”
In July 2020, Roth finished building her 4,500 square foot dream home, a “California Cape Cod.” It included many of the design touches she’s become know for: plentiful light, an open concept kitchen, indoor and outdoor spaces that flow into each other and creatively hidden storage and doors, including a secret bookcase door. From there, she moved onto steadily bigger and bigger projects. In 2012, she launched her development company, Built Custom Homes, focused on boutique projects customized to a homeowner’s needs and wants.
Based on the work she’d done in California, producers from HGTV contacted Roth in 2016 to see if she would be interested in hosting a show. Roth was so surprised that she nearly mistook the first email she received as spam. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea that she could get her work in front of more people and educate viewers about what it takes to turn a house into a home, she said.
Her first show, “Hidden Potential,” debuted in 2017 and ran for three seasons. On the show, Roth focused on turning bland suburban California homes into custom builds that fit the character of their owners.
“If we can have a space that represents us and how we would like to be seen in the world, that expression is really fulfilling,” Roth said.
In 2020, Roth debuted her second HGTV show, “Help! I Wrecked My House,” which came out of a growing trend that she noticed. She was getting more and more clients who were trying their hand at renovation projects, but destroying their homes in the process. The changes her clients made to their homes, whether it’s taking out a wall or trying to undo a former owner’s mistake, were both dramatic but also relatable enough to create a show around, she said.
“We all take on projects that are just too big, and it’s that simple: We bite off more than we can chew,” Roth said. “It’s all about knowing your limits and just understanding that everybody has a different threshold for what they can accomplish when it comes to construction,” Roth said.
The show, which just concluded its fifth season, has been a hit for HGTV, attracting millions of viewers, according to parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
In 2024, Roth, moved her family and show to Park City, Utah, a place she and her husband fallen in love with years before because of its slower pace and connection to nature. The move marked a major shift in her personal and professional life, she said.
Roth and her husband sold their custom dream home in California and set out to build a new one from scratch in Park City for their two daughters. The move reinforced for Roth how much of her work is inspired by a sense of place. It necessitated a change from Roth’s beachy, breezy California casual look that she’d been honing for more than a decade.
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“I can’t use the same paint colors here,” Roth said. “The light is different. The geography is different. … You’ve really got to let nature talk a bit more here.”
In many ways, Roth had to start from scratch, finding new suppliers, vendors and craftspeople who could help her modernize mountain design. As HGTV noted, with the new setting, Roth hoped to “dispel a common misconception: that high altitude coziness must come at the expense of style.”
Roth’s Utah projects have tended to emphasize fireplaces and design touches that create open, visually light spaces that offset the stone- and wood-dominated homes she’s often working on. Think reflective backsplashes and long sight lines in the kitchen or expansive windows and steep-pitched roofs that allow for high ceilings.
Despite having already worked on so many memorable projects that have transformed her clients’ homes, moving to Utah has created some career-defining opportunities for Roth.
On the recent fifth season of “Help! I Wrecked My House,” Roth tackled a cosmetic refresh of Park City Mountain Resort, the largest ski resort in the U.S. The project held a personal meaning for Roth, as she and her husband were married on Park City Mountain in 2013.
“It was so cool, such a full circle moment,” Roth said. “This is like our happy place.”
After more than a decade of doing her unexpected dream job, Roth still feels like she has a lot to learn. Every project requires her to be just as resourceful as the last, she said. For a self-proclaimed “lifetime learner,” tackling those challenges, while stressful, is what gets her up in the morning.
“I don’t drink coffee, I don’t do any caffeine,” Roth said. “I just get up and go because I love it.”
