The Block Finale!

This week was The Block Finale, and this season did not disappoint with plenty of the expected antics and surprises as well as inspiring designs and ideas.

The Block 2016 Finale!

This year’s winners, Will and Karlie from Brisbane, did us QLDer’s proud with their stunning industrial style ground level apartment. Their winning profit was a whopping $715,000 plus $100,000 prize money.

Will and Karlie’s win didn’t come without its dramas. The young couple designed their apartment around the new, trendy industrial design theme. One of the main features of their theme was the polished concrete flooring, a feature that perfectly complimented their design. The advantage of this also being no weight restraints on the ground floor. However, problems arose again and again with the foreman as Karlie says,

“We don’t disagree with how they wanted us to do it, that wasn’t the issue, they kept giving us hurdles to jump over every two hours, instead of all the facts at the start”.

Despite the hiccups, they managed to pull it off exceptionally well. Each room was in keeping with their design concept and the whole apartment flowed effortlessly in its design.

Second place went to Julia and Sasha . Julia’s experience in house dressing combined with the couple’s knowledge of the Melbourne area worked to their advantage. Their apartment was sophisticated Hollywood Regency style with eye-catching features. Who can forget that stunning gold four poster bed?

There’s no denying Dan and Careleen worked incredibly hard, but their execution of art deco struggled to keep the judges impressed. Art Deco can be a hard look to pull off, many property developers and agents agree that neutral yet stylish appeals to more buyers. This was reflected in their end result, coming third overall yet still with an impressive profit of $525,000.

Ben and Andy kept their positive attitude and humour despite only coming 4 ^th . Anyone would have thought they were the winners following their celebrations after the auction. The boys proved to be the favourites among the audience and were lovable characters on the show, however, the judges were a little less impressed, often commenting that their design was too blokey and their apartment was too much of a bachelor pad.

Kim and Chris were also clear favourites among viewers as they remained down to earth and worked tirelessly to stick to their budget. Although coming last in the competition they still took home a sizable profit of $425,000, an amount they said was more than they ever dreamed. They were gracious throughout the entire auction. When approached by the auctioneer to push for more money, they declined saying they are not greedy and are pleased with the profit already made.

It is estimated that the collective profit for all contestants was near $3 million.

As always with The Block, it’s not just about the reno’s, but the tears, tantrums and tough judges. However, it’s the down to earth contestants like Ben and Andy and Chris and Kim that keep the show entertaining. Seeing their successes is more captivating as they are relatable.

The struggles faced by real renovators and property developers are the details, cooperating with tradesman, and the real problems that occur in almost every renovation.

The Block tends to focus on the design, the WOW factor is the décor. But there is so much more that goes into that end result. The structural changes and obstacles presented that can be roadblocks in a renovators vision are what people can relate to the most.

Do you need help with your own renovation project? Contact the trade specialists at Fallon Solutions