Building Safer & Smarter: HGTV’s Dave Marrs Champions ICF Construction

When nine tornadoes swept through Northwest Arkansas in a single night a year and a half ago, contractor Dave Marrs knew it was time to build differently. Marrs co-hosts HGTV’s “Fixer to Fabulous” with his wife, Jenny. When this disaster happened, he had already been exploring more energy-efficient construction methods, but the devastating storm damage pushed him fully into ICF construction — and he’s been proudly promoting the technology ever since.

“We’re right on the edge of tornado alley here in Northwest Arkansas,” Marrs explains. “Any way that I can build a safer home is something that’s top of mind for me as a builder, especially in this area.”

When he talks to homeowners about what they want in their new construction, he says that the biggest thing people are looking for in his area is disaster resilience. “Because of what a lot of people have gone through, we’re still rebuilding a lot here,” he says. “I think that’s more of a driver than the efficiency and sustainability. They’re willing to spend the extra money up front to get that safety. Now, they also get the other benefits from it. But those other benefits aren’t necessarily the driver. They’re an added benefit of this storm resilience.”

The Perfect Storm
Marrs’s journey into ICF construction began with two driving forces that many contractors across the country can relate to. First was the increasing demand for energy efficiency as temperatures continue to rise. “Everything’s getting hotter, and if we could make something that was more efficient that used smaller air conditioning systems and save the homeowner money, then I think it’s something that, as a builder, I should be looking at,” he says.

The second factor was the growing frequency and severity of weather events. Unlike hurricanes that provide days of warning, tornadoes strike with little notice, often at night when families are most vulnerable. “With tornadoes, you don’t get a lot of warning when they come,” Marrs notes. “So if we can have something where you don’t even have to go to a tornado shelter, but your house becomes that tornado shelter, it helps for insurance costs and family safety.”

HGTV contractor Dave Marrs says building with ICF is almost as easy as building with Legos.
Photos courtesy of Nudura by Tremco CPG

Choosing the Right System
After experimenting with different ICF brands over several years, Marrs opted to work with Nudura for several practical reasons that speak to both sustainability and efficiency concerns. “I like how their corners work — you can flip them and you’re not wasting corners. They can all be cut to size, you have a bigger surface area, and I love that you can ship a lot more of them on a single truck because they’re collapsible.”
The efficiency gains were immediately apparent. Marrs and his crew were able to put up all exterior walls plus the interior garage wall of an ICF home in just a day and a half, with waste reduced to what could fit in the back of a regular half-ton pickup truck.

Overcoming the Learning Curve
For contractors considering the transition to ICF, Marrs says the hurdles are manageable, and he uses language related to Lego blocks, which he says pretty much everyone can understand. “The best way to describe it is that every one of the builders I know grew up loving Legos and grew up loving any kind of building block, and you’re essentially doing the same thing,” he explains. “I was able to take all of the classes and become certified in a day. So that part is pretty quick.”

However, Marrs acknowledges the real challenge isn’t technical complexity — it’s inertia. “I think the biggest obstacle is us as builders getting into a groove with something that we know is working. When you’re busy, when you’ve got multiple houses going at a time, it’s just easier to stay with what is known.”

For his first project, Marrs worked alongside experienced ICF crews provided through his supplier network. “I said, “I want to pay a professional and work alongside them to make sure I know exactly how to do this.’ I called my supplier, and he had crews that he uses. He said, ‘Pay me to do the first one, and then I’m there when you have questions on future ones.'”
Marrs recognizes that the lack of trained crews remains a significant barrier to widespread ICF adoption. His advice to contractors considering the transition: “Give it a shot. You’re going to create a safer home that’s more efficient. Yes, it is a little bit more upfront cost, but a lot of that is given right back to you in sound quality, using half the size of a furnace because of the insulation and efficiency, and just really speeding up the whole process of building.”

Consumer-Driven Demand
Marrs has observed a significant shift in how construction decisions are made, with homeowners increasingly driving product and method choices. “When I first started building, literally everything was driven by me as the contractor. ‘Hey, this is what I recommend. This is what I use.’ Where now I’m getting homeowners coming to me saying, ‘I’ve researched a lot of this. I have friends who have used it. I want to try this as well.'”

This trend has accelerated post-COVID as people reconsider their homes as long-term investments. “People realized, ‘Hey, my home is not just something I’m buying and selling in two years.’ It’s something that I want to invest in, I want to stay in, maybe work out of. People are spending a lot more thought, time, and money on that investment.”

Dave Marrs says that people in his area of Northwest Arkansas seek out ICF for storm resilience.

The Reality TV Platform
While Marrs’s HGTV show “Fixer to Fabulous” (now in its seventh season) focuses primarily on remodels rather than new construction, he uses social media platforms to promote ICF construction more directly. “On social media, on Instagram, on Facebook, we’re talking about it more, and I think there’s probably more engagement and more interaction that I can track.”
The show’s platform provides credibility when homeowners research construction options, even if ICF construction isn’t featured in every episode. “The show is a benefit because people know about me, so then they’ll sometimes follow the social media.”
For Marrs, the combination of safety, efficiency, and speed makes ICF construction a clear choice for new construction in his market. As Marrs continues building ICF homes and promoting the technology through his media presence, he represents a growing trend of contractors who are finding that ICF construction offers solutions to multiple challenges facing the industry today. His experience suggests that with proper support, training, and a willingness to try something new, contractors can successfully transition to ICF construction while meeting evolving consumer demands for safer, more efficient homes.

“We’re in a great time with building where technology is kind of meeting up with internet accessibility and people’s ability to try out that new technology,” Marrs concludes. “So it’s a good time to be in building.”

Watch “Fixer to Fabulous” on HGTV on Tuesdays at 9 p.m., 8 p.m. central.