We're Out of Time
Rock Bottom to HGTV: Izzy Battres' Journey of Faith and Redemption
Tue, 13 May 2025
🎙️ In this inspiring episode of We're Out of Time, Richard Taite sits down with Izzy Battres—renowned contractor, TV personality from HGTV’s Flip or Flop, and now the star of his own show, Izzy Does It. As the founder and CEO of Battres Construction (est. 2008), Izzy brings a wealth of experience, resilience, and heart to everything he does. In this candid conversation, Izzy shares his journey from a troubled past to becoming a successful entrepreneur and beloved TV figure. He opens up about the power of faith, the importance of community, and why he's passionate about using his platform to inspire hope in others facing tough times. 🔔 Don’t miss this heartfelt episode that will move you, challenge your thinking, and motivate you to take action. 👇 Tap below for resources, links, and more: 🔗 All things Richard Taite, We're Out of Time, and Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa:https://linktr.ee/richardtaite For more on Izzy Battres: https://www.instagram.com/izzybattres
Chapter 1: Who is Izzy Battres and what is his background?
All right. Raised by my mom and dad. Migrated, immigrated from Mexico, Durango, Mexico, and Oaxaca, Mexico, to the city of Santa Ana, Orange County, California, back in the 60s. They met in the 60s. And their life, you know, just like anybody's life, trying to seek a better place, was pretty rough. You know, murder. In Mexico. In Mexico.
You got to come over here, support the family, all that story that you hear. Now, people are just trying to find refuge, right? Right. So they found refuge here in Santa Ana, California. They met and... I grew up poor. I wouldn't say dirt poor. My wife grew up dirt poor. But my parents, they made it work, got married. They had kids and they raised three boys, one girl.
And it was my life was something of you got easy because you were born here. Right. You know, you don't know what it is to struggle. You don't know what it is to suffer. And the way that you're going to get ahead is you work. You don't complain. You don't do any of that. You just work. And if you work hard enough, then you're going to be able to build something.
That is part of Mexican culture for sure. Yeah. That is the one thing. I was doing workers' comp law back in the day. And I was representing 16,000 Hispanics. Okay. It was rare where we did an MRI on somebody and didn't see anything.
discs that were bulging or wow it was rare and they never said anything and the reason they never said anything is because the feeling is if i'm not hurt then i'm not really working that's that's the mindset that's the mindset yeah very now if you if you disrespect them in any way, shape or form, now you got a problem. Okay. But physically they're working with busted backs and everything.
So yeah, that's, that's their, that's their MO. That's, that's the thing. Yeah. So you had that example of the father who did that. So you knew how to work.
So I had the example on my mom's side as she worked. My dad was a hustler. My dad hustled. And, you know, when you think of the word hustler in this day and age, you know, it could be described as many things, right? Right. But my dad, you know, at seven years old was, you know, just like what you see, the little kids selling cheeklets and all that. He was selling newspapers.
He was selling everything. And so that hustle never left them. That entrepreneurship never left them. So he dabbled. In a lot of different, I'm going to say markets. Your dad was drug dealing? Your dad was drug dealing?
His dad was drug dealing. He can't say it.
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Chapter 2: What challenges did Izzy face in his youth including addiction and incarceration?
I'm scared of how I'm doing it with my kids. I like the way your dad did it with you, you know, because you're too soft with your kid. Yeah. I mean, but he's, he's a good kid. Right. So it's like, what am I, I'm just scared about grit and resilience. Right. Like we have it because we had to. right? It, it scares me. You know, there's this guy came on here. His name is, what's his name? Shin.
What's his first name? Jimmy Shin. Okay. He's a, a world renowned comedian. And he said, Tough times make strong people. Strong people make good times. Good times make weak people. Right? Weak people create hard times and on and on. And so it scares me sometimes. I don't know if I'm getting it right or not.
Yeah, I think as a society, we start realizing how you see like the greatest generation that was before us and you see our grandparents, right? And you see how they built this country and, you know, 18, 19 going to war fighting and then coming back and building things. Um, and then that's slowly making it, making it easier for their kids.
I K I don't want them to go through that, what they went through and then us now doing it to our kids. And so you think of as a nation, as a, as a, um, As a country, we're young, 200 plus years. And you see these empires that they've been around for generations, like generations, hundreds, hundreds of years. And you kind of see it like what you just said right now, or your boy, the comedian.
Jimmy. Yeah. How things become a little bit more diluted and it becomes a little bit more softer. I don't like using the word soft, but that's the word that keeps getting thrown at me.
Yeah.
And are they going to be resilient? I'm sure they're resilient in their own way. So that's one of the balances in running a business. Yeah. Especially with my daughter is having that balance and my son having that balance of You know, once you use the towel, right? And once you use the rod, right? having that balance. Cause the ways.
Is that like the carrot and the stick? Yeah. There you go. Cause I don't know if I want to get hit with a rod or a towel. Like, like is the towel wet?
Is it heavy? Well, the towel after you're on a fight, you know, you're in a fight in the boxing ring, you do the towel, you, you know, take care of them, you throw it, you know, take care of them, stuff like that, you know? So it's a balance that I don't think I've, I've, I've, you know, mastered, you know, so especially running a family business.
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Chapter 3: How did Izzy's spiritual awakening and faith help him turn his life around?
At my latter part of my run using meth, I couldn't speak a clear sentence. No. My brain was gone. Yeah. I'm seeing things. Everybody's after me. I couldn't even, I would mumble to people and I would, you know, you'd talk to me and I'd look at you and I'd want to say something, but the brain wasn't processing the words and I couldn't say them. That's right. That was at the end of my run.
And I was like, you know, you do a lot of dirt when you're running the streets and stuff like that. You do dirt. People do dirt with you. What's dirt? You know, causing pain, pain being caused by you, causing other people pain. You're just in that environment, right? You're just like the walking dead, right? People are just eating people. That's the way it is. Yeah. Right.
Right.
And the Victory Outreach home in Santa Ana went and petitioned the judge and saying, look, this man has a family. You're just populating the prison. He's going to come out worse. Why don't you give him a shot in our recovery home? And the home director named Pastor Joe Carrillo petitioned him. And he offered Rudy, hey, you could go into our home one year or go three years into prison. Right.
So mama didn't raise no fools. So my brother said, okay, let's go into the recovery home.
Now I heard that, but wait a minute, let's go back. You were in jail from 18 to 19. Yeah. Right. And then you immediately started to continue to do drugs until what age did you go into the sober living home? Until I was 28. Okay. So you lost nine years. Yeah. Just lost them. They're gone. Yeah. Nothing positive during that period of time. Yeah. Not moving up in your career, not nothing.
No, just working off and on jobs, you know. Okay. But yeah, you're stuck. You're just stuck. I heard that you now have treatment centers. I don't have treatment centers. I work still with the Victory Outreach Ministries. I thought you had one. No, we don't have a treatment. My wife and I don't have treatment centers. So the way that the ministry works at Victory Outreach... It's a nonprofit.
Sure. You know, like the lowest of the lowest, you're walking in. When I ran a treatment, I ran a treatment center. I was a home director. So after I got better my second year, I was a home director for five years. They put you to work? So in exchange for free living? Yeah, in exchange for free living. So I ran a Victor Outreach recovery home for several years.
And there you have people coming out of the joint, off the streets. I'm going to Skid Row and getting guys, hey, you want to change your life? I got a home for you. God did this in my life. He changed my life. I used to be where you're at. Come here and I'll help you. And I brought them into my house. And that's what we did. And so my wife and I still do that.
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Chapter 4: How did Izzy get involved with Victory Outreach and recovery homes?
And I'm like, come on, please, please. And she listens to him for another 10 seconds. And she looks at me and she goes, I don't know this man. And he looks at me and he says, well, what does that mean? And I said, that means thanks for coming. So I showed her, so I showed the guy out and I'm like, what do you want from me?
And she looks at me and she says, there's this father.
He's in a church in the valley. I don't know where it is and I do not know his name, but that's the man I want to see. So I'm like, no problem. I'll figure it out, honey. And I walk out of the room and I go right into the stairwell and I just start crying. Like, where am I going to find this guy?
And her sweet nephew comes. Puts his arms around me. He goes, I can find him. So I go, go get that man on the phone for me, please. So I'm talking to this man and he says to me, I said, I need you here. And he says, I'm sorry, Mr. Tate, but today's Ash Wednesday. It's kind of the biggest day of the year for us. And I couldn't breathe. My throat closed. I couldn't speak.
And this is what came out of my mouth. I don't care. God wants you here today. And he heard the desperation and he said, okay, what's the address? And he came. I wrote this guy. She died the next day. I wrote this guy a letter. And I sent him a letter and a thousand dollars. Now this is in 2019, 2020.
So it's been five years already. Every year, this man gets the same letter and a thousand dollars.
And he will get that until I'm in the ground. Because one day he's going to share That talk. Amongst his congregation. And the talk is going to be about. When they call you just go. When they call you go. That's what being. A servant. Of God is. You just go.
You. It reminds me of. leaving the 99 to go after that one. And I feel that's what, tell me about that. I don't know about that. Well, you leave the 99 sheep. He left 99 sheep that were fine, but he felt the desperation in your voice. And he felt that that was his main mandate to go after that one sheep that is not doing well. So you leave the 99 and you go after that one. And that's what he did.
And he served you and Lydia, you said, right? Oh, yeah. And he served Lydia. And that's what a minister is.
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Chapter 5: What role does Izzy's family and wife play in his journey and ministry?
Flip and Flop. Okay. Flip or Flop.
worst. Thank God for editing.
I'm so bad at this.
I'm so bad at this. I suck so bad. He's thank God for him. This is so horrible.
So
When you did Flip or Flop, that, you know, your first show, it made you famous. Dude, what's it like to be famous from not being famous? I mean, I just like that when the light hits and you're like, oh shit, I'm a thing.
Like, what does that feel like? I don't think I'm famous. See, I, you know, HGTV is a great channel. Like when I think of fame, I think of Kelsey's old lady, Travis Kelsey.
Oh, Taylor Swift. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's famous. That's what I think. Right. Okay. But the Pope's nowhere near as famous as Taylor Swift.
So that's what I think fame is. Right. Right. You know, people that like, that's what I consider fame, like a list kind of cats.
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Chapter 6: How does Izzy support others struggling with addiction through church and community?
And you think you got one last hit in you? Boom. And we're burying people still for coming out of our recovery home.
It's the street. The street drugs are killing everybody. If you're not getting prescription drugs from a pharmacy- or weed from a dispensary, you're dead. It's not if, it's when. And that's the part, that's why I'm so grateful that you're here, man, because people love you.
People just love you, you know, and this is powerful, especially in your community because you know how, how it is in your community. Very proud. Okay. Never want to look bad. Right. Okay. Embarrassed that you have a child like this.
right who's struggling and you can't save your ass and your face at the same time that that's impossible you have to choose you know yeah i think you become you you have to become vulnerable right for sure you and that takes humility and um
When you're humble, doors open up. God, you know, is a friend to the humble. He opposes the proud, but gives more grace to the humble. And, you know, that grace comes when you're humble. And sometimes, you know, you said, you know, saving face and protecting yourself and all that, that's... You got to drop your guard sometimes.
Yeah. Well, the good news is, is that if you're not humble, you get beaten into a state of reasonableness.
Oh, you've been there.
Yeah. So you get there, whether you're that humble guy or you're not. What keeps you grounded these days? I know the answer. It's going to be perfect. But what keeps you grounded these days?
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Chapter 7: What is the story shared by Richard Taite about faith and serving others?
What keeps me grounded is just the people that I'm around with. My wife keeps me grounded. My wife keeps me grounded. He who finds a wife finds favor with the Lord. And man, she's amazing. You know, she keeps me grounded. And just being around her, it's just real. And everything is, all the noise is gone. You love her kids just like they're yours. Oh, yeah. Every day I'm praying for them.
Every day I'm looking out for their success. Every day I'm trying to build them up and getting ready for their next phase of their life. How old are those kids? Who's that? How old are your wife's kids, your kids? So Joseph is 24 and Brianna's 22.
Oh, so these are both the kids she brought into the marriage. Yeah. You're like Kenny. You're exactly like Kenny. My ex's boyfriend loves my children every bit as much as he loves his own.
So your kids that you had at 45 and 47. Yeah. They're not with you.
No, there are eight houses up the street with my ex-wife, who is my best friend, okay, in the world, okay? I'm like her 67th best friend. But I don't care. She's my best friend. And her man is the closest thing I have to a brother. I mean, he's like, I love him more than anything. Wow. Because I've never met a man ever this good. And his name is Kenny. Yeah. All right. Dr. Kenneth Spielvogel.
He's Jewish. I got a Jew baby doctor, but it doesn't get better than that. Okay. And he's sitting there right with my kids. My kids got a sniffle. I'm good. Wow. Uh-huh.
A house is down. Up. Up. Yep.
Yeah, so you guys are making it work. Making it work. Everywhere I'm weak, he's strong. Everywhere I'm strong, he's weak. We're like the perfect man together.
You see, I wanted that from Joseph and Brianna's dad, but he was so caught up in his... And his own madness, we didn't have that. I'm sorry. Yeah. And doing the TV show was very therapeutic for us.
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