The Block host Scott Cam reveals why it’s time for The Block to dump apartments

SCOTT Cam reveals why he’s thrilled the show has turned its focus to restoring family homes in the new season of The Block.

SCOTT Cam is already scoping the rundown Gatwick Hotel in Melbourne’s bayside St Kilda for next year’s series of The Block.

But before that there is the little matter of five teams renovating a street of dilapidated houses that were on the real estate equivalent of death row – set for demolition.

Each house was cut in half and trucked from its original site to leafy Elsternwick with Jason and Sarah, Ronnie and Georgia, Sticks and Wombat, Hannah and Clint, and Josh and Elyse given 12 weeks and a budget of $250,000 to make them over.

This is the first season of The Block to feature family homes after 12 seasons centred on apartments, and Cam reckons the timing couldn’t be better.

“I love it because timber frame and weatherboard homes were my bread and butter when I was a carpenter,” Cam says.

“I love the fact that we’re saving them from demolition. The apartments have been great over the years but the majority of people who are renovating are doing family homes.”

Scott Cam says weatherboard homes were his “bread and butter”. Picture: Nine

Well, they are not really ordinary homes. Those rundown houses are backed by a brand new double storey glassed atrium with a lounge and master bedroom, a back yard big enough to fit a swimming pool, plus a garage and a studio.

That is sure to make the homes the most expensive ever seen on the show. The previous record sale was 2.47 million for Steve and Chantelle’s apartment in Albert Park in 2

014.

“I am always nervous about the auction – I never look at it like they’re (contestants) going to do well,” Cam says.

THE BLOCK 2017: Meet the new Blockheads

“The planets have to be aligned for them to make money. We’re talking about a very high (reserve) figure and we’ve got to find 16 or 17 buyers – because we need at least two people at each auction - who are willing to part with that sort of coin. That is hard in today’s economy.

“If you haven’t got a great real estate agent or auctioneer or potential buyers with an emotional connection to one of the houses, they can just go next door.”

The Block 2017 contestants revealed. Picture: Nine

Each team, bar one, includes an experienced tradie. Sticks is a carpenter, Ronnie is a plasterer and handyman, Jason is a plumber, Josh is a carpenter.

But Cam says that is no guarantee of success.

“Each year I give them a little speech at the start saying “you’ve got to treat every hour like it is your last,” Cam says.

“They always get it wrong. They always think it (The Block) is a bit of smoke and mirrors and underestimate how demanding it will be.

“I say “in the last five hours you’ll be running around like mad men trying to finish (a room) so run around in the first five hours” but they never listen to me.

“They always get the money side of things wrong too. It is pretty simple to me. If you’ve got $250,000 and 12 spaces you divide it up.

Scott Cam, host of Channel 9's The Block

“Maybe give a little bit more to the wet areas and a little bit less to the bedrooms. It isn’t rocket science. Spend that money, don’t spend any more and you’ll be sweet.”

Now that Channel Nine only screens one series of The Block each year, Cam has time to wind down in his fully-restored 1955 lobster trawler and work on his cattle properties outside Mudgee.

And then there is the Gatwick.

“I’ve been down there to have a look,” Cam says. “It is an amazing building. It is going to be quite logistically tough with the trucks and equipment in that (busy) area but we’re going to leave a lasting legacy.”

THE BLOCK, CHANNEL 9, STARTS SUNDAY, 7PM.