The Block NZ: Behind the scenes at NZ’s busiest open homes
There are still quite a few weeks before The Block NZ homes hit the market. The sales will be taking place in what is still a hot residential property market, leading to speculation that prices could conceivably reach the $3 million mark. Producers are about to give season nine fans an up close and personal look at the homes they’ve been watching so avidly.
This will be happening via a series of ticketed workshop events in Auckland, hosted by site foreman Peter Wolfkamp. These will be held over the weekends of August 7 and 8, 14 and 15, and paying attendees will get to see the whole of each house. Next comes the traditional public open home, taking place on Sunday, August 22 from 9am to 2pm. It’s free, but for safety reasons only the lower levels of the four properties will be open that day.
The 2021 teams will be onsite though, and the show’s publicists say that this is often the moment when contestants suddenly realise just how truly famous they’ve actually become. This year it’s the turn of Meg and Dan, Team Orange; Rach and Connie, Team Purple; Tim and Arty, Team Blue and Dylan and Keegan, who are Team Yellow.
Events specialists Tracy Magan and Amy Bocking, who have been organising Block open homes for four years, told One Roof that the viewings are more like carnivals.
“We have to get our paperwork for street closures into council around nine weeks out,” Magan says.
“When we did the Kingsland apartments several years ago, we couldn’t let the public in due to difficulties with access on narrow surrounding streets, so we held a special event at Eden Park, but this year it’s all go at Huia Street in Point Chevalier.”
The two say that there have never been notable problems with behaviour at The Block NZ open homes.
“We actually find that the fans are very respectful, and they don’t tend to touch things,” Bocking says.
“The only exception, a few years ago, was when a team had used jars of sweets and popcorn as accessories in their media room and those goodies slowly disappeared over the course of the day. I think they were probably pretty stale by then.”
Magan and Bocking say that the open homes tend to be like carnival days with coffee wagons, prizes for attendees and live music. When fans finally meet the teams it’s almost as if they’re meeting royalty.
“People begin queuing at 7am with many wearing the colours of their favourite team, and they often bring flowers, baking and other gifts to present to the contestants,” Magan says.
“Of course, there are always lots of selfies taking place on the day.” She adds that quite a few members of the public drive long distances for the occasion while others fly to Auckland, and there are ‘super fans’ who are always at the front of the queue each year.
Magan and Bocking have noticed that the impact of many hundreds of feet strolling through the houses is very minimal, partly because carpets and other flooring materials are well-covered for protection.
Not surprisingly, there’s a strictly observed ‘no shoes inside’ rule.