From diving into carpentry and building a house, to suddenly being thrust into the world of reality TV, the last 18 months have been an absolute roller coaster for Jenny Heath. The 25-year-old chippy, along with partner Dylan, form a dynamic duo competing in this year’s season of NINE’s The Block. The couple found their knack for building homes after buying a plot of land at Palm Beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Dylan’s family are born and bred builders, but this was Jenny’s first foray into the world of tradies.
STRONG FOUNDATION
An apprenticeship in carpentry wasn’t on the cards at first, but once Jenny found she could complete the TAFE course online she was hooked. “I’m just doing it all online. I don’t have to go into TAFE – it’s awesome,” she said. “When we started building our own place, I thought I’d do my own apprenticeship to save money and it would just be the two of us.” With the couple starting the day with the gym at 6am, their can-do attitude had them working through until sunset.
“We got up nice and early, go the gym then got to the house before seven,” Jenny said. “Because it’s our house, we’re working on it pretty late. Normally we’d finished by three, but we definitely don’t do that.” Dylan’s years of expertise may be one thing, but Jenny’s freshness makes for an exciting combo on the worksite.
“Sometimes I’ll ask him if he’s sure we’re doing something right, and he’ll say, ‘Jen, right now I know more than you’,” Jenny laughed.
“I think when I know just as much as him, we’ll be even better because we can bounce ideas off each other. “I’ve learnt so much, I feel like I’ve come so far. Between the two of us, we built our whole house.”
POOLED RESOURCES
It was during the initial stages of building the house Jenny came across the chance to appear on The Block, and like many who take their shot at reality-TV stardom, she threw her hat in the ring with little hope. However, a quirky application video had producers buzzing to get the two on the show.
“I must have clicked something because I got an email asking to apply for The Block, and I thought, ‘Maybe we should’,” Jenny said. “We had started building our place at Palm Beach, and we literally just filmed ourselves in the dirt with the pool we’d just put in. Dyl was in the pool sipping on a cocktail while I was digging a hole in a trench and getting him to come over and help me – it was pretty funny. I guess they liked it.”
FAIR TRADE
As well as being one of the more enigmatic pairings on the show, Jenny is breaking new ground as the first female tradie to appear on The Block.
“I think it’s pretty awesome. So many women have reached out to me saying I inspired them to take up a trade,” she said. “That’s so cool, because people know anyone can do it. It’s not just a male industry. Females are just as good too. “I think it’s just empowering to know women can do it. I think more women should take it up.”
CHOPPING BLOCK
From building a wood-fired hot tub and testing ice baths, to assembling the show’s longest hallway (40 metres!), Jenny has provided viewers with plenty of entertainment as she navigates the world of homebuilding. But building a five-bedroom, two-bathroom mega home in the Macedon Ranges within a few weeks certainly provided a steep learning curve. “Oh my gosh! The things you see on The Block in 12 weeks you couldn’t do in a year normally!” Jenny exclaimed. With Dylan and Jenny having plenty of time on the tools at their Palm Beach property, the two formed a powerful one-two tradie punch heading into The Block.
“Dylan’s had the tool belt on since he was five,” Jenny said. “Then when we got on The Block, I had an upper hand because I knew what Dylan was talking about when he’d say ‘let’s do this or that’, because I knew we could do pretty much anything we wanted. It was pretty handy.”
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
With this season of The Block now complete, Jenny and Dylan are putting the finishing touches on their Palm Beach home and growing their building business – Smooth Sailing Designs. “We were sailing on a yacht in Sydney and we were trying to think of a name for ourselves, and we came up with ‘Smooth Sailing’,” Jenny said.
“It was hard doing our house with just the two of us, but we work so well together it was easy at the same time.”
Once they’ve completed the home, Jenny and Dylan plan to sell it and start over somewhere else, forming a building power couple on the Gold Coast. As well as pursuing their homebuilding dreams, Jenny will also finish up her apprenticeship and become a fully qualified chippy.
“I could do the course for the next six months and I’ll be fully qualified. I just need to sit down and get all the theory work done,” she said.
“I’ve got a bit of catching up to do – when I was on The Block, I didn’t do any online work.” Between building a house at Palm Beach and her time on The Block, you could say Jenny’s welcome into the world of trades was unlike many. Both presented her with plenty of challenges, but Jenny wouldn’t want to change one bit. “It’s a lot of hard work, but once you know what you’re doing it’s easier,” she said.
“In the beginning, if you’re not used to standing all day or being hands-on, you can get really tired. Once you push past the six-month mark, I think it gets a lot easier and you can get to enjoy it a bit more.”