Reality TV can create lofty hopes
AUSTRALIA’S obsession with TV property shows is driving a surge in demand for increasingly complex renovation jobs, industry sources reveal.
And while professionals welcome the business, they are facing some unrealistic demands from customers hyped up by seemingly instant onscreen transformations.
“There’s definitely a surge in inquiries and jobs as a result of these shows,” said Brisbane designer Luisa Klinge, who works on Foxtel’s latest foray into the renovation genre,
Love It Or List It Australia.
“The shows create a buzz and show off new styles and products. But people can get unrealistic expectations.”
Builders report up to a 20 per cent increase in inquiries when renovation shows are running. And data from trade sourcing website hipages shows a lift of up to 10 per cent around shows like Channel 9’s
The Block and Channel 7’s
House Rules.
Neale Whitaker is co-host of Love It Or List It, where he battles with fellow host Andrew Winter to either convince homeowners to stay and renovate or put it on the market.
Whitaker said it’s clear how the shows are driving our continuing interest in renovation.
“There’s no doubt a big percentage of people have been galvanised into doing their own renovations (after watching),” he said.
For tradies and builders, this has its pros and cons.
“We have all heard about the backlash from the trades that the shows set unrealistic expectations of how long it takes to get the job done,” Whitaker said. “And that’s a genuine concern but, at the same time, those trades are busier now than they’ve ever been.”
Nick McDonald, the mastermind behind the floating spaceship house in Burleigh, said while his business revolves around pulling off impossible designs even he reckons reality television can be unrealistic.
“We get a lot of people who come to us after other builders have looked at their plans and told them they can’t build what they are after,” said Mr McDonald, the boss of luxury Gold Coast building company Mactech Constructions.
“Nothing is impossible but some of the designs people come to us with are tricky to say the least.”
Mr McDonald said he was often faced with impossible sloping blocks, glass pools that wrap around houses and clients who want to change something halfway through.
“Sometimes people get the impression from TV shows that an architecturally designed house can be built in five minutes but the reality is pretty different,” he said.
“Building a house just doesn’t work like that, you can’t have trades on top of each other and you can’t see what goes on behind the scenes.
“People also become DIY experts after watching the show, which is dangerous.
“But it is great to see people thinking outside the box.”