The Block winners’ horror home build blowout
A Queensland couple who won The Block reveal how they went from jubilation to a horror real life blowout trying to build their dream home.
A Queensland couple who won The Block reveal how they went from jubilation to a horror real life blowout trying to build their dream home.
Cairns couple Tess and Luke Struber, who won season 15, have had a three-year battle to get their dream home off the ground – two years longer than it should have taken.
“Life has been chaotic since winning The Block in 2019. We have had some amazing experiences, grown a hell of a lot and taken some big risks,” Tess and Luke Struber told The Courier-Mail.
“Since the planning to the construction stage, the material increases were astronomical, so we had to postpone a lot of things (like landscaping) because it was in our initial budget,” Mrs Struber said.
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“We always said to each other, if we win any money on The Block we will purchase an acre of land that was originally owned by (Tess’) grandparents.”
“A few times it looked like we weren’t going to be able to get it or it seemed too hard but our hearts were set on it. It’s such a special piece of land and Tess has the most amazing childhood memories on it on and now we get to create our own with our babies – its pretty spectacular.”
“It also took roughly three years from the beginning of the designing phase to moving in – which was about two years longer than predicted.”
//“We have to sacrifice certain things to be able to get others and our timeline has been pushed out but we are grateful to be finally living in our home.”
The couple dug into their inner-Blockheads to get through tough times.
“The Block has really taught us how to work together,” Mrs Struber said. “Going through the build process is incredibly stressful, particularly on relationships. There will be issues with the build timeline, the finished products, budget etc and it tests the relationship.”
“We have remained on each other’s team, backed each other, supported each other and reassured and reminded one another that it’s worth the wait, push a little harder, be the squeaky wheel and don’t take no for an answer.”
The couple wanted “a really modern, simplistic home that could grow and evolve with us as trends changed and our family grew”.
“We were set on a “U” shape with a wing for the parents and a wing for the children and open plan living where the dining, kitchen and loungeroom flowed and spilled out onto the patio. We used very earthy tones throughout and we are still filling it with art and furniture. We didn’t want to rush anything. We want to live in the space and get a feel for the home. The internal is almost complete, now we have to focus on landscaping.”
Their must-haves for their own forever home were a large kitchen and an oversized island bench, a separate office close to the parents’ wing – “we live in the office at night,” Tess said – and large fixed windows throughout the home.”
“We are on a larger block with beautiful kauri pines that were planted by my grandfather 30-plus years ago and surrounded by green hills pouring over one another. To be able to sit on the couch and look at that rather than art or a block wall, was an absolute must.”
Life for the Strubers is now pretty sweet: “We have had two beautiful babies, Cleo (3.5) and Mack (6 months), we bought a block of land and built our dream home, started up our own business doing pre-purchase and pre-sale building inspections and hoping to do a little renovation in the near future.”
“It would be amazing to get into the renovating game again and get a new project on the go but right now we are just trying to balance what we have.”
Originally published as The Block winners’ horror home build blowout