For Shepparton brothers Jason and Mark Pungitore, it was an opportunity of a lifetime when they were given a chance to work on the recent season of The Block in Gisborne.
Both work for Shepparton's Concrete Culture Australia, which designs high-end landscaping across Australia.
The brothers were given a call by Love It Landscaping when the opportunity arose to work on team ‘Tom and Sarah-Jane’ for House One on the Channel Nine reality show.
Both worked on building the barbecue area and an expansive front entrance, which the judges of the show believed would tug at buyers' heartstrings.
“It was a crazy three and half weeks,” Jason said.
“You would start something and then you would have to stop because the TV crews would have to come through, it was pure madness,” Mark said.
The brothers gave an insight into how the contestants discussed ideas with the tradesmen.
“We would chat to Tom on a regular basis and deal with other landscapers to work out what would be the design for the front of house, especially the front entrance,” Mark said.
With their TV cameo over, the brothers didn’t sound keen on becoming contestants on the show.
“It is a really big job but I don’t know if we could be contestants, it is just a little too big for us,” Jason said.
To add to their 15 minutes of fame, the brothers have been receiving phone calls from across Shepparton, asking if they can emulate the famous barbecue area.
“Well, we are getting phone calls from people if we can build the barbecue we built on the show, and everyone is calling us Blockheads, but seriously though, we have really seen a high number of inquiries,” Mark said.
“From this, we are hoping we keep working local and keep producing great work,” Jason said.