Vila was hired as the host of This Old House in 1979, after receiving the “Heritage House of 1978” award by Better Homes and Gardens, for his restoration of a Victorian Italianate house in Newton, Massachusetts. On This Old House, Vila appeared with carpenter Norm Abram as they, and others, renovated houses. In 1989, he left the show following a disagreement arising from his involvement with outside commercial endorsements for New Jersey–based Rickel, and the subsequent retaliatory pulling of underwriting by Rickel's competitor, Home Depot, and lumber supplier Weyerhaeuser. He was replaced by Steve Thomas. After leaving This Old House, Vila became a commercial spokesman for Sears, and beginning in 1990, he hosted Bob Vila's Home Again (renamed to simply Bob Vila in 2005), a weekly syndicated home-improvement program. His series ran for 16 seasons in syndication before it was canceled by distributor CBS Television Distribution due to declining ratings; the series remains in reruns and on streaming service PlutoTV. From 1989 onward, Bob Vila appeared in Sears commercials to promote the Craftsman tools brand. The partnership broke down in 2006, after a dispute between him and the company. Vila also appeared on three episodes of the situation comedy Home Improvement during 1992 and 1993 as himself on Tool Time, the fictional show within the sitcom, where main character and cable TV host Tim Taylor (played by Tim Allen) saw him as a rival, and made futile attempts to outdo Vila. Contrary to Home Improvement, when Allen was interviewed by Nintendo Power and asked if he could make a video game, Allen proposed one about aspects of carpentry, and the end scene would be the player being featured on Bob Vila's Home Again. Vila made a cameo in the 1993 comedy spoof Hot Shots! Part Deux. Vila has written 10 books, including a five-book series titled Bob Vila's Guide to Historic Homes of America. Vila has appeared on the Home Shopping Network selling a range of tools under his own name brand that he founded in 2016.