# Bob Vila
**Bob Vila** (birth name Robert Joseph Vila) is an American television host, contractor, and author who became the original host of the PBS home renovation series *This Old House* and helped create home improvement television as a genre. Born in Miami, Florida, he hosted *This Old House* from 1979 to 1989, then went on to host *Bob Vila's Home Again*, *Bob Vila*, and *Restore America with Bob Vila* over a broadcasting career of nearly thirty years.[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) • [2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name / birthplace | Robert Joseph Vila, born in Miami, Florida[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) |
| Signature show | Original host of *This Old House* on PBS, 1979–1989 (seasons 1–10)[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/) • [4](https://www.thisoldhouse.com/this-old-house/hosts-with-the-most) |
| First episode | New Year's Day 1979 on WGBH Boston; the first TV renovation was an 1860s-era Victorian house in Dorchester, Massachusetts[5](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/home-improvement-has-changed-since-1979/) |
| Later shows | *Bob Vila's Home Again* (1990–2005), later retitled *Bob Vila*, and *Restore America with Bob Vila*[6](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/bob-vila/umc.cpc.5yqna3q6aqq5yhslwmgytnrgi) • [2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/) |
| Early career | Peace Corps volunteer in Panama, 1971–1973; journalism degree from the University of Florida; ran a residential remodeling and design business[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) • [2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/) |
| Audience | *This Old House* drew eleven million weekly viewers at its height under Vila[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/) |
| Honors | Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, shared with *This Old House*, at the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards[7](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bob-vila-honored-with-lifetime-achievement-emmy-award-2022/) |
## Early life and entry into building
Vila learned home building from his father, who built the family home by hand, and spent three years of his childhood living in Havana.[2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/) • [8](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila) He studied architecture briefly at the [University of Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-florida) before switching to journalism, graduating with a journalism degree.[9](https://nrca.net/roofingguidelines/pdf?id=21599&k=1974816) • [1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) From 1971 to 1973 he served as a [Peace Corps](https://www.edgepedia.org/peace-corps) volunteer in Panama, building houses and communities.[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) • [2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/)
In the mid-to-late 1970s he worked in Boston as a project manager buying and restoring brownstones, converting them to condominiums, and running his own company, R.J. Vila Design Build.[8](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila) He was onsite for the work, managing crews, budgets, and bank borrowing. A 1978 restoration of a Victorian Italianate house in [Newton, Massachusetts](https://www.edgepedia.org/newton-massachusetts) earned him a Heritage House of 1978 award from *Better Homes and Gardens*.[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/)
## This Old House, 1979–1989
Television came by accident. The house Vila and his wife restored on Beacon Street in Chestnut Hill after their 1975 marriage was featured in *The Boston Globe* Sunday magazine and in *Better Homes & Gardens*; a television producer saw the article and shot a pilot, initially for a magazine-format show called *House Calls*.[8](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila) Producer Russell Morash, already known for bringing [Julia Child](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-child) to television, conceived the series that resulted, and WGBH Boston broadcast the first episode of *This Old House* on [New Year's Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-day) 1979, originally planned as a 13-week series.[5](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/home-improvement-has-changed-since-1979/) • [10](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/article/milestones-in-the-popular-pbs-series-1182423.php) The first project was a rundown Victorian in Dorchester, upgraded by Vila, carpenter [Norm Abram](https://www.edgepedia.org/norm-abram), and plumbing expert Ron Trethewey.[10](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/article/milestones-in-the-popular-pbs-series-1182423.php)
The show became a local hit in its first season and won the first of six Emmy awards, five of them national.[11](https://digitalarchive.mykcls.info/files/original/f132825d09b1fc2f4678d50656d74fd186e60302.pdf) At its height under Vila it drew eleven million weekly viewers.[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/) Vila's role was to describe and translate the work: kneeling into crawl spaces, pulling at decaying lath, and explaining the difficulties contractors and homeowners faced, while sharing the camera with the tradespeople doing the work.[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/)
**Departure.** Vila left the show in 1989 after ten seasons, over the issue of his commercial endorsements, including commercials for a New Jersey hardware chain.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-21-tv-59102-story.html) • [3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/) In his own account, his role on the show had become limited as it went on, and he was forced out.[8](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila)
## Home Again and later television
Within a year Vila was back on the air with the syndicated *Bob Vila's Home Again*, and he became a commercial spokesman for Sears, an association with Sears Craftsman Tools that ran between his *This Old House* tenure and the new show.[13](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2009/01/21/this-old-house/3/) • [1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) *Home Again* ran from 1990 to 2005, covering roughly two major projects per season with an emphasis on craftsmanship and technique, and was later retitled *Bob Vila* after the Sears sponsorship ended.[6](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/bob-vila/umc.cpc.5yqna3q6aqq5yhslwmgytnrgi) • [14](https://www.homecheck.com/Reference_Article/article.aspx?ID=20) • [8](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila) He also hosted *Restore America with Bob Vila*.[2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/)
In the 1990s Vila made cameo appearances as himself on [Tim Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-allen)'s ABC sitcom *Home Improvement*, playing a more competent rival host to Allen's character on the fictional show-within-a-show *Tool Time*. The sitcom's central pairing was based in part on the chemistry between Vila and Norm Abram on *This Old House*, and Allen said the show would never have existed without *This Old House*.[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/) • [2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/)
## Writing and BobVila.com
Vila has written more than a dozen books on remodeling, buying a home, and historic American homes; his published titles include *This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House* and *Bob Vila's Guide to Buying Your Dream House*.[2](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/) • [1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/) His website, BobVila.com, continues the brand with project tutorials, maintenance guides, and product reviews, and his videos remain popular on YouTube.[15](https://www.bobvila.com/how-we-test-review-products/) • [16](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/bob-vila)
## Influence and recognition
*This Old House* is widely credited with starting the home renovation television genre; what began with Vila's show in 1979 grew into more than 100 different series, and home remodeling rose to become a $380 billion industry by the mid-2010s.[17](https://www.aceanj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Home-makeover-shows.pdf) Later hosts such as Jonathan Scott of [HGTV](https://www.edgepedia.org/hgtv)'s *Property Brothers* credit Vila with sparking their interest in building and performing.[3](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/)
On June 18, 2022, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored Vila along with *This Old House* with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, making the program only the third television show to receive that award, after *60 Minutes* and *Sesame Street*.[7](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bob-vila-honored-with-lifetime-achievement-emmy-award-2022/) Vila had earlier received multiple Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Service Show Host and related categories between 1988 and 2005.[1](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/)
## References
1. [Bob Vila Biography, Celebrity Facts and Awards, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/bob-vila/bio/3000034360/)
2. [About Bob Vila, BobVila.com](https://www.bobvila.com/about-bob/)
3. [Who Is Bob Vila?, Popular Mechanics](https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/a27006071/bob-vila/)
4. [This Old House Hosts with the Most, ThisOldHouse.com](https://www.thisoldhouse.com/this-old-house/hosts-with-the-most)
5. [11 Home Improvement Things That Have Changed Since Bob Vila's First Episode of This Old House, BobVila.com](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/home-improvement-has-changed-since-1979/)
6. [Bob Vila Movies and Shows, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/bob-vila/umc.cpc.5yqna3q6aqq5yhslwmgytnrgi)
7. [Bob Vila Is Honored With the Daytime Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, BobVila.com](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bob-vila-honored-with-lifetime-achievement-emmy-award-2022/)
8. [Bob Vila, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/bob-vila)
9. [This Old House milestones article, NRCA archive](https://nrca.net/roofingguidelines/pdf?id=21599&k=1974816)
10. [Milestones in the popular PBS series, Seattle Post-Intelligencer](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/article/milestones-in-the-popular-pbs-series-1182423.php)
11. [Bob Vila visual element archive, KCLS Digital Archive](https://digitalarchive.mykcls.info/files/original/f132825d09b1fc2f4678d50656d74fd186e60302.pdf)
12. [Focus: If I Had a Hammer..., Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-21-tv-59102-story.html)
13. [This Old House: An Oral History, Boston Magazine](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2009/01/21/this-old-house/3/)
14. [Homecheck reference article on Home Again](https://www.homecheck.com/Reference_Article/article.aspx?ID=20)
15. [How We Test & Review Products, BobVila.com](https://www.bobvila.com/how-we-test-review-products/)
16. [Foundation Interviews: Bob Vila, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/emmy-magazine/articles/bob-vila)
17. [Home makeover shows, ACEANJ](https://www.aceanj.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Home-makeover-shows.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Lifestyle, makeover, and home factual series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license