As a proud member of America’s favorite home improvement team since 1986, general contractor Tom Silva has provided years of expert advice to home enthusiasts across the country on This Old House and Ask This Old House.
Renovating houses since he was a child, Tom’s first major project, working alongside his dad and brother, was installing a basement fallout shelter underneath their 1787 Colonial in Lexington, Massachusetts. After digging out the 20x40x12-foot hole under the house, by hand, and hauling away all the boulders, they framed it and finished it off. “It took us two years, and I felt such pride in what we had accomplished that I knew I wanted to do this for a living,” says Tom.
The fallout shelter project was no small feat. As Tom recalls from his junior year: “It was like mining, really.” He spent every weekend mixing cement, hauling in steel support beams, and working alongside his brother Dick under their father Phil’s supervision.
The project began in 1962, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when their father Phil told the teenage brothers: “You’ve got nothing to do? I’ll give you something to do.” What started as a way to keep busy became a defining moment in Tom’s career path.
Pro Tip: Tom Silva reflects on that formative experience: “It took us two years, and I felt such pride in what we had accomplished that I knew I wanted to do this for a living.” The project caught the attention of neighbor Russ Morash, who would later become the show’s director.
Silva Brothers Construction, made up of Tom, his father, and brother Richard, built the original set for the WGBH-TV Boston production The Victory Garden in the parking lot of WGBH. Russell Morash, the creator of This Old House, discovered the Silva crew while they were conducting a major restoration on an 1845 Greek Revival-style house. It was then that Russ named Tom and his crew the general contractors for the show.
The family business began in 1963 when Phil Silva started P. E. Silva & Sons. Even today, Phil still visits jobsites to check on his sons’ work, maintaining the family tradition of hands-on oversight that has defined the Silva brothers’ approach to construction for over three decades.
Among his most memorable projects, Tom cites the 2001 Manchester-by-the-Sea house and the 2005 Cambridge contemporary as particularly rewarding challenges. “Manchester was in rough shape after years of abuse by the elements and some poor design decisions,” Tom recalls. “We were proud to be able to bring it back to its original grandeur. The house in Cambridge was just a small box hidden in overgrown brush when we started, and we transformed it into a gorgeous modern home.”
“Each job is unique and different, which is just what I like,” says Tom. “Besides loving my work, I’ve made good friends with the entire crew of This Old House, and it’s been a rewarding experience.”
Parents of a daughter and a son, Tom and his wife live in a 19th-century house he continues to renovate in a Boston suburb. He is a native of Massachusetts and a boating enthusiast.
Tom’s approach to renovation has deep roots. As he explained in a 2000 interview, “As an apprentice I had a relentless teacher—my father, Phil. An ex-Navy man (who still shows up on Silva Brothers’ jobs most days even though he’s 80), he taught me never to take shortcuts when working on houses. ‘A house is a person’s biggest investment,’ he’d say. ‘Work on it the way you’d want somebody to work on yours.'”
Follow Tom on Facebook, Twitter @TomSilvaTOH, Instagram @tomsilvatoh, and on TikTok.
