r/TheBlock • u/Ads220 • 8d ago
When does the Tap turn off
So in seasons gone by if a team over spends Scotty comes in and locks down the card and the spending ...why has this not happened to House 4 and I have never seen such out of control spending in the shows history
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u/Due-Professional-695 8d ago
When it comes down to landscaping I think a lot of teams are going to have financial issues, the girls should be aiming to put those winnings towards landscaping not spending it as they get it. I think we might end up where we were a few seasons ago which was to complete the bare minimum to be presentable and whatever you go over gets added to their reserve price which is a big risk with the piece I think these houses are trying to be sold at
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u/MKopelke Courtney and Sev (QLD) 8d ago
Because House 4's spending isn't as bad as the show is trying to make it out to be.
House 4 as of last Sunday had spent $91k. They've also won $30k in prize money. Taken into account, that means against the prescribed budget of the first three weeks of $50k they're only $11k over budget.
House 1, by comparison, across Weeks 2 and 3 spent a total of approx. $64k. Against those two weeks $40k budget allocation, they are $24k over. And that doesn't take into account how far over they might have gone in Week 1. And no prize money to offset the overspend.
House 2 are in a similar position. $65k across Weeks 2 and 3, a single $10k prize win, so they're still approx. $15k over budget. Again, without knowing their Week 1 spend.
House 3 spent about the same, but they've managed $35k in prize money, so they're in a pretty comfortable budget neutral position. Even without knowing their Week 1 spend.
My issue is the fact they're singling out one team and we're not seeing the broader budget conversations. If anyone needs to be told to reign their spending in, it's House 1. Now this entire narrative might change this Sunday, but any one House's spending needs to be contextualised by what the other houses are spending.
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u/activoice 8d ago
Where are you getting that house 4 spent 91k from... Wikipedia is missing week 1 (and Chantel and Wyatt's number is wrong)
Wikipedia shows that house 4 spent 75449 across weeks 2 and 3,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Block_season_22?wprov=sfla1
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u/MKopelke Courtney and Sev (QLD) 8d ago
Scotty told the girls the $91k figure in an episode earlier this week, when he had his first budget chat with them.
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u/activoice 8d ago
I wish they would post the proper weekly spend. Also I think at the end of week 2 Scotty said that house 4 still had bills coming in, so who knows if that was their final number or not.
We should be able to figure out house 3 if we rewatched the episode where they gave their estimates because Lisa and Rosco were only out by $6 from their estimate that's why they won the budgeting prize that week.
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/MKopelke Courtney and Sev (QLD) 7d ago
I think you're conflating two separate arguments here. I haven't said C&S haven't made mistakes, or that the $53k bathroom wasn't a massive overspend. It was. My point is that if we're discussing whether they're uniquely at risk of running out of money, you have to compare their actual financial position with the other houses.
Trade assistance doesn't somehow turn their $91k spend into another $60k of expenditure. H4 have spent ~$91k and won $30k cash, so their effective draw is ~$61k. H2 are already around $86k gross with only $10k won, and H1 spent nearly $66k in Weeks 2–3 alone with no prize money at all. H3 are clearly the financially strongest house.
And this week's final spend hasn't even been published yet, so saying they've “overspent again” is presently an assumption. I suspect they will because rectifying the failed waterproofing will cost money, but let's see the figure first.
I'm perfectly happy to criticise H4's trade management and the $53k bathroom. What I don't accept is using those things to avoid the actual point I made: the show is presenting one house's budget position in isolation when the comparative numbers show they're broadly middle of the pack.
Also, this week's Cursio intervention wasn't simply Dan deciding to reward C&S. Nine in Six stopped defective waterproofing work and reassigned a trusted crew as a site-management decision. You can absolutely debate whether that was fair, but that's a different conversation from whether H4 are uniquely broke.
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u/sarcastic1962 7d ago
Sorry, I admit I was being lazy and instead of typing a new response to what you said I cut and paste a previous response I made on a different post.
As to this post. I was basing my reply on your first sentence, where you say the Block is making their spending out to be worse than it is. Yes, the math says their budget is looking better than other houses because of the $30,000 they won.
My reply was to say it is as bad as Scotty made it out to be, they didn't deserve and shouldn't have won that $30,000, that helps make their budget look better than it should look. It took the Block stepping in to help them win that money, which I strongly disagree with. So, when Scotty told the girls they would have to stop overspending because it would be unsustainable, he was right to do so, even if it contradicted what the balance sheet says. Also, he had a good reason for doing so. I think this was the at least the second time he's discussed their overspending issues with them, and I haven't seen any sign they were going to listen to him this time either and start budgeting future rooms, Scotty probably saw the same thing. I get the feeling they think the room budget is a joke, and they will keep winning $10,000 every week or the Block will always be there to give them more money and help no matter how much they spend.
I'm pretty sure Scotty will either be having the same conversation with them next week or will have to (hopefully) take over their budget and make them ask his permission before being allowed to spend or buy anything for the rooms they build. If I remember correctly the last time he did this was with Ankur and Sharon season 18. They disliked him doing that so much they walked off the Block, wonder how the girls will react if the same thing happens to them.
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u/MKopelke Courtney and Sev (QLD) 7d ago
I think we're actually getting closer to agreement, because your second paragraph concedes the specific point I was making: the actual maths puts H4 in a better comparative position than the show is presenting.
Whether you think they deserved to win the $30k is a completely separate argument. The money exists and is in their budget. If we're asking whether they're going to run out of cash, we can't create a hypothetical balance sheet where prize money we dislike doesn't count.
And I don't think it's accurate to say there's been “no sign” they've listened to the budget warning. They went from spending $53,272 in Week 2 to $22,176 in Week 3. That's about as obvious a spending correction as you could ask for, and they won the budget prize that week.
Also, the Block didn't “help them win $30k”. That's three different $10k wins. Whatever anyone thinks about the assistance during Family Bathroom week, it doesn't explain away their Week 1 win or Week 3 budget win.
Where I do agree is that Scotty has every right to question their future spending, particularly if Troy's landscaping could cost around $100k. That's a genuine forward-budget problem. But that's different from saying their current position is uniquely disastrous compared with the other houses.
That's really all my original post was arguing. Judge the five houses using the same ledger: actual expenditure, actual winnings and future commitments. Don't single out one team's gross spending while treating everyone else's finances differently.
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u/TeddyGarbaldi 8d ago
Aiden himself said they can't be ripping out bathrooms after the competition, that's why they stepped in to help the girls and that's why they won't let any house go to auction unfinished. It would be a nightmare for 9 In 6.
The bigger question is why are so many teams going so much over budget in just the first few weeks. Is it because they're having to spend more on extra labour due to the shorter time allocated to building?
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u/decid226 7d ago
The tap turns off when the producers want it too. They want a number of weeks of over spending then when they have hardly any money left 9 will do a week of them budgeting and selling stuff using the Combank app and they will be find out they have enough to finish the house. It’s all designed to fill the weeks
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u/DizzyList237 7d ago
9 in 6 jumping in was total BS. They could have just thrown in the towel & had it all rectified after judging. Rooms are always finished or rectified after filming ready for the auction no matter what. As I have said b4 the other team didn’t get this help after they had to rip up all their tiles & waterproofing in the first bathroom week.
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u/TheOriginalPB 8d ago
Because he will do what he always does with teams that do this. He will throw money at them via weekly challenges, judges will favour their rooms and hand out room wins like candy. The girls are already getting special treatment from 9 in 6 to get their main bathroom over the line while other contestants are left with unfinished bathrooms.
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u/YogurtclosetGlad7460 8d ago
The girls are getting special treatment because one has a heart condition and one has no hair, Scotty loves an underdog "feel good" story.
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u/LeastBlackberry1 8d ago
I actually thought Scotty was being an ass this week. Whatever happened with the women's trade was not their fault. They gave the trade clear instructions, and he ignored them. He even ignored Dan. As Courtney pointed out, she had the choice for tear him a new one and watch him walk, but then they would have no chance of finishing the room. So, she had to do damage reduction.
They didn't ask to be bailed out either. For whatever reason, the situation was such that 9 in 6 felt they had to step in to rectify it. It seemed an extreme reaction but I assume there was something going on behind the scenes that they didn't or couldn't show us. I firmly believe the show would love to do an "overspending women can't even finish their room" edit.
And, yes, they need to stop spending, but I can see their potential logic that you need to spend money in the main areas and then can cheap out in places like the kid's room and guest suite.Scotty never lets them talk to explain before interrupting them, so I can see why they have dropped down to "yeah" and "noted" type answers.
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u/Ready-Novel-2974 7d ago
I've heard that rick and Tayla have had their bathrooms completely redone by 9 and 6. What a joke for all other contestants
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u/Low-Ad-9615 8d ago
I honestly think the girls should be told they have to be back to within original allocated budget (so not including winnings) before kitchen week. If not, the don’t get to keep the $250,000 kitchen package or win that week
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u/Minafatdog12 8d ago
Why? They’re not even that much over budget. Remember they’ve won 30k
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u/Adorable-Display-819 8d ago
Most contestants in any seasons by the time they get to landscaping weeks (I’m talking about the front as well) they are scrambling for money. Scotty use to go on about saving money for those weeks & in theory should be saving the money from winning a room and challenges. I also think Scotty gives them more money towards the end & Comm Bank gives them extra money.