Ben and Cristi Dozier have enjoyed welcoming audiences to their dreamy town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, on their series Building Roots. The husband and wife design team brings clients jaw-dropping transformations of their homes, often finding inspiration from the stunning landscapes that surround them.
So far in Season 2, the Doziers have helped a couple from Texas modernize their dome house built by a local artist in the ‘90s. They also ventured to Nashville for a project while visiting Cristi’s sister. We caught up with the duo to dig into the roots of their work and find out what’s to come.
What did you learn from filming that first season?
Ben Dozier: Season 1 was definitely one of the hardest things we’ve ever done. We’re not TV personalities by any means and measure. We’re thankful to HGTV for inviting us into their family. We made a promise that we would be happy with what we did if we could change how we did it. We made a lot of internal changes. We hired a few more people and really leaned in on our core values and mission. It’s not just about what we build but who we build up. The TV show is a lot of fun. It’s definitely a lot of hard work managing four kids and four businesses, a TV show, and a nonprofit. Hopefully, we get a Season 3 because we love what we did this year and love to do it again.
Cristi Dozier: HGTV has a ton of amazing followers. We get people who come into our little town and coffee shop all because they saw us on HGTV. For us, it’s very weird. We have gotten used to it. I would say it’s a daily thing to meet someone coming into the coffee shop who heard about us because of the TV show. So that was different.
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What do the kids make of everything?
Ben: They think their parents are dorks, but they watch with us. We have two in college. There are watch parties in the sorority house. Our son also watches in his dorm with a bunch of friends.
Cristi: They think we’re goofy and make fun of us. At the same time, I think they are proud to be a part of it. What production has done with the show is really beautiful. It tells beautiful stories. I think secretly the kids are proud of us.
Is there another HGTV couple or personality you look toward for guidance?
Ben: We have a wonderful executive producer who has been in the industry for 20-plus years. She has provided us with some access. One of the guys Clint Harp is on Magnolia Network now. We got to meet with him briefly. He has a wonderful family and helped us set some bullet points. Know your non-negotiables. Keep family first. We are friends with one of the first hosts Brice Cooper from Design on a Dime way back in the day of HGTV. He has been a huge help with the behind-the-scenes. We look at those with multiple seasons.
Cristi: Although we haven’t got to meet them in person Dave and Jenny Marrs. And also Ben and Erin Napier. We did get to work with them on Hometown Takeover when they were in Colorado at Fort Morgan. We spoke to them on FaceTime. Knowing that both of them are in multiple seasons and have families and seem to be holding life together. They show us it’s possible.
Ben: They were incredibly supportive and overly encouraging. I didn’t expect that at all because we’re rookies in this whole thing.
Ben and Cristi Dozier of ‘Building Roots’ (Instagram)
How would you describe your work dynamic?
Ben: Our work-life balance really starts in the morning with our relationship. We have coffee early and sometimes we talk about business or life. We talk about family. Sometimes we just pray because the day is hard. We date each other a bunch. I’m the ideas guy. Early on I meet with the clients. Then we talk and walk and drink lots of coffee. I do my thing in the barn. Our design team takes our drawings and puts together plans and models and budgets. Cristi watches that whole process, encourages and inspires, and makes little tweaks that take it to the next level. She’ll come in and see something I may not see that is unexpected. She makes it a home. She does so much better with the decorating than I would ever be. I do what she says.
Cristi: We tend to know our lane and stay in it. Sometimes we’ll overlap a little bit. I’ll question one of Ben’s ideas and in the end, he is right on some occasions.
Ben: Can we get that recorded?
Cristi: I’m pretty sure I’m said on occasion.
What was it like to work on a project in Nashville in a recent episode?
Ben: Nashville was definitely a welcome gift. We got to hang out with Cristi’s sister a bit and work on this wonderful project. We really enjoyed it. Peagosa is the base camp and headquarters. We love it there, but it’s so good to get out of our small town every now and then and enjoy other towns, designs, and architectural styles.
Cristi: In Pegosa we have our team that builds the projects. The challenge when you travel to Nashville is finding a new contractor to work with out there. That was a process. It took a lot of conversations.
What’s to come this season?
Cristi: Coming up every project seems to have a notion of family and legacy. People who have a strong pull either to the area.
Ben: We really enjoyed the idea that family was trending on these shows. We love hearing the stories regarding legacy and tradition. There needs to be more of that in America in general. We love the projects. You’re going to see an amazing family lodge that has so much history with one of the biggest families we ever worked for. You’re going to see a great diversity of projects and people from ranches to big huge lodge renovations to this brown dome we had no idea how to design at first.
Cristi: We let the home and homeowner’s desires dictate the direction the house goes versus us implementing our style on it. There are natural materials, real wood, and real stone, letting light in and outdoors.
Is there one story you’re excited to see told?
Cristi: We had a home in downtown Pagosa. A mom with grown kids and grandkids who had been inspired to come to Colorado by her dad and by her dad’s love for the mountains. She just lost her dad. In his memory, she decided she would create her own home that celebrated this mountainous region and be in nature. As we worked for her, we did a project where we had an artist come do a small portrait of her dad. We hung that in her kitchen. It was a little emotional. It was a total surprise to her as she walked into her new kitchen. The most special part of the kitchen was that portrait watching over it. He was the inspiration for the move.
Ben: She said he had one regret before he passed away. That was that he hadn’t bought property in Colorado. She wanted to fulfill that dream of his. And she did. And we got to do it.
Building Roots, Sundays, 9/8c, HGTV