For fans of the popular TV series No Demo Reno, HGTV’s recent announcement of 12 new episodes for a third season that are set to premiere this summer means they can look forward to propping their feet up while cozying up on the couch with their favorite snack or beverage. But for Victor Manta, the owner of Manta Construction, the announcement means it's time to put on his boots, roll up his sleeves, and get to work. If you’ve ever seen the show, it’s hard to miss the host, social-media star and self-proclaimed “Rambling Redhead” Jennifer Todryk, as she goes about helping residents here in the DFW Metroplex renovate their homes without doing any major demolition. The show has been a huge hit for HGTV, bringing in over 18.4 million viewers during its second season, which ranks in the top 3 non-news/sports cable program among its key viewer demographics. For Todryk, who has an internet blog, book, and an Instagram account that boasts over one million followers, being in the public eye is nothing new. But for Victor, the journey to appearing on television screens all across the country was not as obvious of a path.
Born in Brazil, where he also spent the early part of his childhood, Victor’s family came stateside where he graduated from high school and began working as a pharmacy technician. Victor’s father was in construction, primarily commercial hospitality and hotel construction. Victor says his father was very good with his hands and the physical aspect of the construction business but was often frustrated with the back office part of the business. As a result, Victor began helping his father with the paperwork and employee part of the company while also keeping his job at the pharmacy and starting medical school to pursue a degree in neuroscience. Realizing he was stretching himself too thin, Victor decided to leave his job at the pharmacy but continue working for his dad and still going to medical school. In July 2015, Victor and his wife Jacqueline were married and his studies and classes started demanding more of his time and focus, Victor says that they made the decision for him to stop working with his dad also in order to be able to finish med school. “I’ve been working full time since I was seventeen and I wasn’t used to allowing someone else to be responsible for everything - for the bills and the mortgage and everything. That was very difficult for me to do.” Soon after, Victor found himself at a crossroads with his pursuit of becoming a doctor. Unsure if he should continue and push forward with his studies, Victor says he prayed and asked God to open up doors and show him the path that he needed to take. Those open doors turned out to be leaving medical school and going to work full-time with his dad in the construction business. “I had never just worked with my dad, without any other jobs or school work to distract me,” Victor says.
When his father retired, Victor took over the business, but makes sure to keep his family and his faith at the center of everything. “My personal relationship with God is essential. I don’t separate the way I run my business from my personal faith and Christian values. The road has not been smooth, we have had things like clients that ended up not paying after we completed a job, to employee issues like every small business goes through. But we have managed to stay afloat through all of the hard times, and God has blessed us and opened many doors for us to be where we are today.” The opportunity to appear on No Demo Reno came about when a house cleaner overheard a conversation between HGTV producers about needing another general contractor. The house cleaner told her friend, who was the cousin of one of Victor’s employees, and the rest as they say, is history. During season one of No Demo Reno, Victor never appeared on screen, but was one of the general contractors who did renovation projects for the show. Last year, when it came time to film season two, Victor says the show’s producers wanted to split the part of the on camera general contractor between himself and carpenter David Piper. However, very shortly before filming began, David had to back out leaving only Victor and Manta Construction left with the role. When the show’s producers told Victor they were looking for a replacement for David, Victor saw the open door and welcomed the opportunity. Victor told them they didn’t need to find another general contractor for the show, but that he would do all of the episodes. Manta Construction continues to be the exclusive contractor for No Demo Reno during season three, with the episodes currently being filmed.
But just because Victor and Manta Construction are featured on an HGTV show, doesn’t mean that you can’t hire them for your home remodeling job yourself! Victor says that he wants to be sure that our readers know that Manta Construction is local and currently taking on new full-house renovations, adding additions to existing homes, high-end kitchen or bathroom projects, as well as restorations for water or fire damage. And with the rapid pace of rising home prices and property taxes, Victor says more and more DFW homeowners are researching and discovering that home renovations and additions are more budget-friendly than purchasing a different home because you don’t lose the equity that you have worked so hard to build up over the years. In fact, in a lot of cases, homeowners can use their existing equity that they have built up over the years as collateral to finance full home renovations and additions.
And as seen on TV, Manta Construction’s clients can be sure that the same quality of work and attention to detail that is used on the show will be used on your personal home project as well. Details that can be seen in every facet of Victor’s life. With a successful construction business that demands his attention, as well as the added scheduling demands of a popular television show, Victor reminds himself that his first priority is to his loving wife and their three kids, including a son just a couple of months old. “In all the work I've done over my career, nothing has compared to building a strong family.” And that’s a foundation worth building on.
