Like watching "Holmes on homes", I think its a good show to learn a lot, about how to do things the right way.
Sure, he is a bit overbearing sometimes, but, wth...
I am wondering, who pays for his work?
Am just watching "due date", where a home owner already has put down $ 28 k for a finished basement, and it's nowhere near being ready...
Now Holmes comes, rips everything out, starts over...
My guess is that its going to cost another 28k at least...
Does the show pay for the whole thing ?
Or do they get some $$ back from the original contractors ?

There is no one cover-all answer but:

Most shows pay for 100% of everything that happens on camera. Some materials and some labor can be donated by vendors but the net result to the homeowner is that they pay nothing. Nothing that is until the I.R.S. enters the picture. The value of all the repairs (donated or otherwise) is considered just like any other game show winnings and are taxed as additional income. Homeowners will get a 1099 at the end of the calender year of the repairs. This is what happens most of the time.

A few shows, like Renovation Realities pay a flat fee to the homeowner (I think it's around $3,000). The homeowner pays for all the materials and labor to do the project but has that extra 3 grand to make fooling with a TV show worth while.

There's probably a few other methods but in every case, the homeowner is going to get some form of compensation to allow a TV show to disrupt their lives.