Show Shakeup: HGTV’s ‘Unsellable Houses’ Replaces Longtime Cast Member

Heavy/HGTV Leslie Davis and Lyndsay Lamb of HGTV's "Unsellable Houses"

Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis are kicking off the fourth season of their hit HGTV series, “Unsellable Houses,” with a new team member replacing one of the show’s original cast members.

In an Instagram post ahead of the season 4 premiere on September 10, 2023 — which was supposed to premiere over the summer until a last-minute schedule change — Davis wrote that she and her twin sister can’t wait for viewers to “officially” meet their new “leading man,” Owen Mather, the new “in-house head contractor” at their renovation and design company, Lamb & Co.

Alongside a series of photos the sisters have taken with Mather, Davis wrote, “Owen is truly one of the most loyal, authentic, kind humans we have ever met and we know you’re going to love him (and our pawject manager, Esau 🐶) as much as we do.”

But some fans have expressed concern over Mather replacing the show’s longtime contractor Jeff Laurence, who used to be his boss.

Here’s what you need to know:

Owen Mather Has Worked Behind the Scenes on ‘Unsellable Houses’

The season 4 kickoff of “Unsellable Houses” will premiere on Mather’s birthday, Davis wrote in her Instagram post. The series follows Davis and Lamb as they reimagine and transform hard-to-sell houses in Washington state, a process Mather is very familiar with, having worked behind the scenes on the show since it began.

Before joining the team, Mather worked for J.L. Remodeling, a local renovation company owned by Laurence, who has been a regular on “Unsellable Houses” as the sisters’ primary contractor. As his employee, Mather has been involved in helping with the show’s renovations from the beginning, occasionally seen in the background or in social media posts about the series.

Mather officially joined Lamb & Co. in 2022 as the director of Lamb renovations, he shared on Facebook, charged with “managing all of the moving parts,” per the Lamb & Co. website. His new role now has him front and center on the show, advising and managing the sisters’ renovations.

Mather and his wife Ashley, whom he married in 2019, have a little boy born in January 2022, per Facebook. He also has Esau, his dog and constant companion, who is even listed on the Lamb & Co. website as an official member of its team and “the goodest boy.”

Lamb & Co. Confirms Jeff Laurence Will No Longer Appear on ‘Unsellable Houses’

In an Instagram post on August 24, Lamb wrote, “Within the last year, we officially launched Lamb & Co. Renovation alongside @lambandcodesign and we are so excited for you to watch the adventure unfold.”

That means the sisters no longer need to rely on outside companies like J.L. Remodeling to oversee their renovations. Some “Unsellable Houses” fans expressed concern on social media that the change — and the addition of Mather — means his former boss, Laurence, won’t appear on the show anymore.

They were right. The Lamb & Co. account confirmed Laurence is no longer part of “Unsellable Houses.”

“Jeff will not be on this season,” the Lamb & Co. account replied. “He’s focusing on growing his business and we’re expanding ours with Lamb & Co. Renovation—wishing him and his company nothing but the best!”

One fan commented, “It won’t be the same without without Jeff!!! I will miss him.”

Another fan wrote, “Oh no!!!!! I’ll miss Jeff, loved his reactions to some of your ideas.”

Davis then popped in on the comment section and countered, “@owenpixs13 is the best thing to happen to our show since Esau.”

Laurence has now spoken up, too. Hours before “Unsellable Houses” was set to launch its new season on September 10 — with two back-to-back episodes beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern time — J.L Remodeling uploaded a new video to its YouTube page featuring Laurence playing pool and talking about his future.

“So, a lot of people have been wondering what I’ve been doing with my time since I stopped filming ‘Unsellable Houses,'” he said before the video showed black and white clips of him appearing on the show via a small TV with static.

“Some people have been asking, ‘Where’s Jeff?'” he continued, as screenshots of social media comments appeared. “Well, I’ve actually been pretty busy.”

The video then showed footage of him working on renovation projects locally and on mission trips, seemingly teasing his own YouTube reality show before an ending graphic appeared that said, “Welcome to the new era.”