The Project Everyone Should Tackle This Fall, According to Chip Gaines

Despite growing up in Texas and being no stranger to the heat, Chip Gaines is looking forward to the cooler fall temperatures that are—believe it or not—just around the corner.

“Thank goodness,” he says when I mention the upcoming season.

And in addition to being a respite from those scorching hot summer days, fall can be a great time for homeowners to tackle some home projects they’ve been unable to do in the warmth and that need to be completed before winter sets in.

As a contractor and star of the hit show, Fixer Upper, with his wife, Joanna, Gaines is an expert at home renovation projects, and he has one particular suggestion for the best project homeowners can tackle this fall.

Read on for his must-do project, plus his tips to get the job done.

Landscaping Is the Best Project for Fall

It’s of course much easier to tackle outdoor and landscaping projects in fall with more moderate temperatures, and Gaines encourages us to take a closer look at our landscape designs when autumn arrives.

“I love landscape when I think about bang for your buck,” he tells The Spruce. “The first impression is the exterior of the property. So I’m serious when I say that the mailbox is important to me, the landscape around the mailbox is important to me, the walkway is important to me, the landscape around the house is important to me.”

Gaines says landscaping can even be the best project to take on if you plan to sell your home soon, as it can make the biggest impact on potential buyers. He saw this firsthand working on Fixer Upper, explaining that the exterior is the key to getting potential buyers through the door.

Landscaping isn’t the only suggestion Gaines has for fall home upgrades.

“Paint can go a long way,” he says. “I get that it’s intimidating, but when you get into it and you try it, you realize it’s not nearly as difficult.”

Gaines Partners With Bobcat for a Park Makeover

Gaines spoke spoke to us at the launch of his newest initiative with Bobcat, which involved making over a baseball field in center of his hometown of Waco, Texas. And in classic Gaines style, there was plenty of demolition involved.

With the help of a few Bobcat machines, he tore down the old dugout and even planted a few trees, before a handful of volunteers and city workers stepped in to finish the renovation.

In addition to doing some of the construction work, Gaines is using his role as a Bobcat brand ambassador to help promote Bobcat’s community makeover contest. Communities across the US can nominate themselves for a makeover of a local park or recreation space, and the winner will receive $100,000 for their project.

For Bobcat, working with Gaines on this contest was a no-brainer—and not just because of his love of sports, particularly baseball.

“Late last year, we were starting to talk about working with Chip, and that was really based on the fact that he operated our equipment; he was a landscaper,” says Laura Ness Owens, Vice President of Global Marketing at Bobcat.

“I think we share a lot of things in common with hard work ethic and the desire to find better ways to get things done and find ways to give back to the community.”

The contest is also in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), who have worked with Bobcat in the past to provide grants and funding to underserved communities in need.

Bret Gaither, Senior Director of Development at the NRPA, says that the community that wins the contest will be a community that will really benefit from the funds.

“Green space is something that is very important that parks provide, and it’s really undervalued,” Gaither says.

He explains that the winner selection process will involve evaluating the community’s already existing park budget, their population size, and ensuring that the project is ADA compliant, among other factors.

“We don’t want a park that’s going to be amongst a bunch of mansions getting this investment,” Gaither says. “We want to make sure that it’s an area that’s truly in need.”

Nominations for the park makeover close on August 16.