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Who Watches The Block?


Who watches The Block? Let’s discuss the show and managing expectations in the real world…

It’s that time again, The Block is on and like every year, we feel a huge pressure to post regular updates about the show and what week it is and relate every social media post to it somehow… after all, it’s exactly what we do day in, day out. But there’s just a few things that grind our gears about the show. Believe it or not, we have considered entering, probably out of curiosity more than anything, and of course it’s tempting to use our skills to our advantage, however there’s always a few things that hold us back. Now, before any avid fans jump at our throats, we’re not saying we hate the show, we actually enjoy watching it even though it’s all about the drama rather than the building, but we believe it should be taken with a grain of salt. Here’s why…


UNREALISTIC TIME FRAMES

For anyone thinking of renovating, whether it’s a simple update of your living room or a full bathroom remodel, we cannot stress enough that you should NOT use The Block as your expectation for time frames. It is simply NOT POSSIBLE to complete a bathroom within one week, not possible at all. We’ve written an entire article on what to expect in a bathroom renovation, you can read it here, but to put things into perspective, if you’re ripping up the floor or adding a new concrete slab, it requires a minimum of 7 days to dry out before it’s ready for waterproofing, which takes a further 24-48 hours to dry and so on and so forth… There’s also things to consider such as underfloor heating, termite protection, lead times for shower screens and so much more.

If we could single out the biggest issue for us when it comes to The Block, it’s the way they set unrealistic expectations for homeowners. You’ve got to realise that on the show, there’s anywhere from 50-100 trades on site all at once, working extended hours with the contestants, it’s literally all they’re focusing on 24/7. It just sets up homeowners for disappointment when their tradespeople are unable to complete a task in even close to what is resembled on the show.


QUALITY OF WORKMANSHIP

As mentioned above, so much of what is presented in the show, is just not possible within the time constraints the contestants are given, which can only mean one thing: the quality just isn’t there. We’re not sure about you but we certainly wouldn’t want to live in a home that has a bathroom renovation that was completed in a week! We don’t even want to imagine the corners that are cut in order for the jobs to be completed “on time”. Quality work takes time and time is money. The Block is a false representation of what is possible in such a short time frame, especially at the level of quality you’d expect for houses that sell for over a million dollars.

BUDGETS
The budgets they give the contestants, year after year, are always far too little and set up unrealistic expectations for homeowners who want to renovate. Thinking that you could get a similar job completed for the same amount of money the contestants are given is highly optimistic. Just remember, The Block have commercial agreements with suppliers, sponsors and tradesmen that work for heavily discounted rates.

But one thing is for sure, in the ‘real world’, tradesmen DO NOT work for free, nor should they! The only reason why a tradesperson would work for free on The Block is because they know the air time they receive will be recouped through brand exposure and we think it’s safe to say that this is the ONLY exception.

JUDGING
Is it just us or do you also believe that there should be a professional builder as part of the judging process? It’s one to judge a room by its interior design but isn’t The Block also about building? They go hand in hand with one another so it makes sense to include a builder in the judging line up.

I guess what we’re trying to get across is that shows like The Block are essentially reality TV and aren’t real life. For most of it, it’s more about the drama than the actual building/interior design. It’s just not how it works in the ‘real world’ and as a client, if this is what you expect for your renovation project, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. We can certainly see the value in it, it’s a great source of design inspiration and it encourages clients to take chances with their design choices so it’s a win-win if we get to be a part of that. We just want people to be aware of their expectations when comparing ‘real world’ renovating to shows like The Block.

What do you think? Do you watch The Block? We’d love to hear your thoughts! 

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