The Block partners with Kubota for Tree Change season

Long-time host, Scott Cam, and the five new pairs of ‘Blockheads’ were certainly the stars of the popular Channel Nine renovation show, The Block, but they were not the only ones. This year, Kubota has been called upon to provide a fleet of machinery for the filming of the show, from preparation to filming and everything in between, in particular its range of excavators and RTVs.

For its 18th season, titled The Block: Tree Change, the show decided to go regional, with contestants tasked with renovating five family homes on 10-acre lots in just 12 weeks.

Co-creator and Producer, Julian Cress, said the team purchased the land in Gisborne, Victoria, last August to reflect the urban exodus brought on by COVID-19, with Kubota being the first call they made.

“We knew from the start that there was no way we were going to be able to make this show on the geography of this location without Kubota,” he said.

“We needed to cut 70-acre pastureland of waist high grass before we could even break ground. This is where the Kubota tractor and mulcher came in allowing us to prepare for the building team.”

Prior to the contestants’ arrival onsite, the footings for each house were constructed using Kubota excavators.

“We've never made a series of The Block where we've needed a fleet of excavators. It was the busiest day in The Block’s history, we had 350 people working onsite and at least a dozen excavators operating activities."

Directors of Nine in Six Builders and The Block veterans, Andrew Simmons and Aiden O’Shannessy, said the sheer logistics of setting up the site was immense, even for The Block.

“We had six weeks to get the houses up and ready before the interior building began. Just getting things from A to B, and the amount of machinery we needed as well has been massive,” Simmons said.

Completing his 12th season to date, O’Shannessy said this year has been different to any of his work on The Block before.

“The sheer scale and size, along with the rural nature of the land, added a whole layer of complexity for us – and the partnership with Kubota has been vital to us executing the project,” he said.

“We’ve had a wide variety of machinery on-site at our disposal including RTVs, and the quality and reliability has been second to none. The SVL5 was so efficient, I’m planning on buying one for myself.”

Kubota said its easy-to-use equipment has been a much-needed time-saver for the latest season, with several workers easily obtaining their license on-site to tackle one of the most challenging seasons in the show's history.

As filming went on, the contestants also received equipment training and were officially ticketed into operation.

“They were able to get in there and help their landscape teams to save money and do some of the work themselves. The contestants were on excavators moving rocks and mulch where it needed to go, it was a huge success,” Cress said.

Kubota ANZ Senior General Manager, Malcolm Owens, said the business was thrilled to join The Block for its 2022 season.

“Kubota has reliable machinery to get any job done, it was a no brainer for us to partner with The Block to provide equipment for the biggest season in history,” he said.

“Kubota is known for delivering easy to use machinery, so it was great seeing this come to life for the contestants who were able to do some of the work themselves and save on costs in the landscaping challenge.

“We are excited to see who will win this year and the finished product of the rural renovation.”

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