TV HOME RENOVATION SHOWS SET UNREALISTIC CLIENT EXPECTATIONS
TV HOME RENOVATION SHOWS SET UNREALISTIC CLIENT EXPECTATIONS We’ve all seen reality home renovation TV shows like ‘ The Block’, ‘Selling Houses Australia’, ‘Better Homes & Gardens’. Us tradies watch in awe (or horror) as they completely renovate a four bedroom, two-bathroom house PLUS a full deck and landscaping in under four days. To add insult to injury, they make it look so simple and easy— like it took barely any effort, and boast about how they did it on a budget that seems suspiciously cheap. As tradies, we watch this screaming over how “there’s no bloody way that waterproofed that bathroom in half a day… look how sh*t that vanity looks it’s not even straight!... I bet they didn’t undercoat that paint it’s just slap-dashed on.”
These TV shows give the impression that micicales can be worked on a shoestring budget, in just a few days. It’s so unrealistic that it’s almost funny. So, it’s no wonder clients’ jaws drop and they look dismayed when us tradies say it will take weeks..if not longer... to finish their one job, and will cost an arm and a leg. “But surely you can get it done faster... or cheaper” they protest as we struggle to explain how it is just not achievable. And in the end, we feel like we’re letting THEM down, how crazy is that!
Our clients watch these shows, and suddenly have stars in their eyes. They don’t have the technical know-how to understand the impossibleness of what we just witnessed. They only see that Shaynna Blaze from Selling houses did a whole bathroom in a day, so surely a professional plumber can too.
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