Property Brothers hammer out a book

It's a dream come true for fans of the Property Brothers: Drew and Jonathan Scott will help you find and fix your perfect home.

Well, maybe not in the flesh the popular pair are much in demand, after all - but from the pages of their first and much-anticipated book.

"It's the next best thing to having us there in person, " Drew says over the phone from Las Vegas, where they're now based. Drew and Jonathan were in Toronto and put their 6-foot-5 assets on Canada's team - along with Blue Jay Jose Bautista, tennis star Milos Raonic and Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler - at Friday's NBA All-Star celebrity game.

Drawing on almost 20 years' experience in real estate and renovation, the 37-year-old Canadian television twins have packed 300 pages with how-to's, what-not-to's and go-for-its.

Dream Home: The Property Brothers' Ultimate Guide to Finding & Fixing Your Perfect House (Raincoast Books, $42) is based on everything the Scotts have learned since buying, updating and selling their first house as 18-yearold university students. There's also advice and ideas on fixtures, finishes, design, decor and outdoor spaces.

Their inaugural book comes out April 4, but impatient fans of the towering twosome can pre-order a copy online at indigo.ca.

Much of the content, which includes dozens of colour photos, is derived from their informative and entertaining reality shows on W Network and HGTV: Property Brothers, Buying & Selling, Brother vs. Brother, and Property Brothers at Home.

On Property Brothers, which began in 2011, they help home buyers find and transform a fixerupper on a strict budget and timeline. New episodes begin on W Network on March 28.

In a spinoff series, Property Brothers at Home on the Ranch, which just concluded, the Vancouver-born charmers return a rundown ranch to its former glory for close friends of the family.

The boys, who spent much of their childhood on an Alberta ranch, were practically born with hammer in hand, helping their dad build and maintain the family homestead from a young age.

Drew, the nattier brother, went on to become a real estate agent, his role on Property Brothers; Jonathan, tool belt slung rakishly on his hips, is a designer and contractor. Both are clowns at heart, illustrated by the snickers and ribbings running throughout the book.

In one passage about their dissimilar tastes, Jonathan joshes that he likes to "sneak in an owl or some tartan" into every client's project.

"Really?" counters Drew. "I just think, ‘This isn't his house, what if they don't like the owls and tartan?' "

"How could you not like a cute little owl ... or a kilt?" Jonathan wonders.

The book Dream Home is the fulfilment of their followers' wishes, they say.

"We had fans asking for a book and we wanted to get our knowledge on paper, " says Jonathan.

And so it began.The goal was to create an easy, step-by-step, comprehensive guide.

And, true to their philosophy, it had to be fun, says Drew.

And a bestseller, Jonathan chimes in.

But putting it together after working on a show all day was "exhausting, " he says.

"We didn't realize how much work it would be, " admits Drew.

Their "biggest struggle, "Jonathan says, was writing the tome in two voices.

The pages are peppered with anecdotes and lessons learned from on-the-job experiences, and each of them wrote different sections which they then exchanged to read and comment on.

"After work, we would just sit there and have a conversation and write down notes, " Jonathan explains about the more personal parts titled "Brother vs. Brother."

It took two years to complete, with the book evolving as they went along, he says, adding their team helped with content and organization.

Noting that buying a house "is not like speed dating, " the dream team encourages people to look beyond the trappings to see its possibilities.

"You could get a killer deal on a great property simply because most other buyers think that the dirty purple shag rug in the family room or hideous fixtures in the bathrooms somehow define the house, "Drew writes.

For would-be house fixers, Jonathan advises doing all the legwork before you buy. That includes inspecting under rugs and furniture, bringing in contractors to quote all the work and getting everything in writing.

Organization and education are key, he says in an interview.

"There is no place for emotion when it comes to real estate, " write the experts.

"Whether you're selling or buying, it's important to approach the project objectively and make decisions based on facts, not feelings."

Creating your dream home begins with three lists, they maintain: "must-haves, nice-to-haves and doesn't-matters."

And confidence: "We know you can do it, " they tell readers.