House Rules Queensland contestants Mel and Dave have never renovated

FOR Queensland couple Mel and Dave signing up to House Rules with no renovation experience was worth the risk, even if the reality show proved even more real than they were expecting.

FOR Queensland couple Mel and Dave signing up to House Rules with no renovation experience was worth the risk to bring Dave home.

The Gold Coast driller spends two weeks per month on a coal seam gas site, meaning he spends half the year away from Mel and their two sons, Westin, 5, and Billy, 3, who are stuck in a Hope Island home filled with plumbing leaks and windows locked by sticks.

Desperate to fix their home and unite the family, Mel pumped their small amount of savings into a gym franchise with a two-year plan to make it profitable enough for Dave to quit.

“We are hoping this show will allow us the opportunity to move that two-year plan forward,” Mel, 32, said.

Dave, 34, was working on the gas site when he got the call from House Rules producers, leading to a confused call to Mel, who had sent in the application.

She bought their Hope Island home in 2015 without doing an inspection, having fallen in love with its beach proximity, but was forced to sink $40,000 into urgent renovations.

“Both our boys have severe asthma so we had to take all the ceilings down and redo them. Anything that involved dirt and dust,” she said.

“It was rundown and old and mouldy with holes in the wall ... and at night we had the old fashioned stick that locks (the windows) in.”

By going on the show the couple are guaranteed to return to a renovated home for their young family.

“We pretty much won the lotto we just have to work hard for it,” she said.

That work was particularly difficult for Dave, who admits he thought the show would offer more help.

“You go into a competition thinking you’re going to design and style but you put on the tool belt and off you go,” he said.

“I was a bit behind the Eight ball. It was frustrating at times.”

House Rules begins tonight on Channel 7.

Originally published as House Rules Queensland contestants Mel and Dave have never renovated