HGTV, "Property Brothers" stars on growing up and their dream home
This piece originally aired on June 5, 2014.
Twins Drew and Jonathan Scott are known to millions as the stars of hit programs on HGTV. On the shows, they help buyers renovate and create their dream houses, but they just finished building the home of their dreams, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen.
Good looking and good-natured, 36-year-old Drew and Jonathan Scott are identical twins.
"He's four minutes older," Drew said. "And he holds that over my head."
Their home improvement shows, "Property Brothers," "Buying and Selling" and "Brother vs. Brother" have becoming obsessive viewing on HGTV for more than 26 million fans.
"We're not renovating a house, we're renovating their lives because these are all families that feel they can't afford to live in their dream home, they can't afford to give their children what they deserve to grow up in," Drew said.
And he said that kind of change is emotional, but not just for the families.
"I'm going to give you a little inside scoop here: if the homeowners start to cry, big tough contractor starts to cry," Drew said pointing to Jonathan.
The twins grew up on a ranch in Vancouver; buddies as kids, but also competitors at everything, including the bagpipes.
"Drew is the most competitive man on the planet. It doesn't matter if we're running to the car, he has to get there first," Jonathan said.
"It's not to try and beat the other person. We compete to encourage each other to do better," Drew added.
Jonathan said it's not a malicious competition, it's all for fun.
They were just 18 years old when they bought their first fixer upper with a $250 down payment. They renovated, and their sweat equity turned a cool $50,000 profit. Jonathan studied to be a contractor, Drew got his real estate license and they were already successful businessmen when TV beckoned.
Drew has a steady girlfriend, Jonathan said he's still looking. Their made-for-TV mix of charm and creativity earned them a spot on People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive list.
But which of the brothers is the sexiest?
"From what fans say, it's got to be the contractor," Drew said. "Everyone loves a guy that can get his hands dirty."
"I can cook, I can sing, I can dance and I can build your house, I'm available," Jonathan added.
When CBS News visited the brothers, they were in the midst of building their dream house in Las Vegas for their family.
While the inside of their home is beautiful, practical and will feature medieval weapons they collected as kids, they've created fantasy and fun out back. Their pool has stools for the swim-up bar and the brothers will construct a water slide.
But the fun doesn't stop there. Drew believes no home is complete without a basketball court.
They first discovered Las Vegas during the depths of the recession and started buying foreclosed, damaged homes.
"We just started buying them and fixing 'em up. And we would keep them for rentals for people," Jonathan said. "But we would make the rental price only about 80 percent of what the going rents were so that people could actually afford to get back on their feet."
They relish the work, shooting in different cities, constantly on the road. They live at a frantic pace to create something for others that is quite the opposite.
"In today's society there's so much chaos going on in the world that you need to have that one place that is that solace and that place where you can exhale and spend time with the people you love," Jonathan said. "And that's what we try and deliver."