Nine
Jess Eva and Norm Hogan have put everything they have into their new renovation series, Budget Battlers… literally!
“100 per cent,” says Norm, who along with his fiancée sold the family home to finance the pilot for the show alongside a production company.
“We’re on a budget ourselves and it just got us through,” says Jess, who admits their big gamble has already paid off.
KINDNESS IS KING
“Two things happened – it definitely brought Norm and I closer together and it also reminded us how kind people are. We had volunteers fly interstate – it was just a great reminder that kindness still exists in this world.
“Without those people, this show just wouldn’t have happened. It was incredible,” Jess, 40, tells Woman’s Day about the series, which they started filming two years ago.
The show sees the couple transforming homes for $10,000 in five days – the tightest budget ever seen on Australian TV.
“Normy and I come from pretty humble beginnings, and all our mates watch reno shows and they’re very entertaining but we can’t bloody afford anything that’s on them,” says Jess. “So we thought let’s do a reno show people can afford to do.”
“If you’ve only got 10 bucks in the account, we’ll make sure there’s at least one thing you can do from every episode.”
Norm, 46, is hoping the show will be more relatable to Aussie families too. “We want to show people that you can actually do stuff on a lot lower budget,” says Norm. “You don’t have to have the expensive stone and you don’t have to have the flashiest appliances for your home.”
Jess says what the series lacks in cash, they make up for with heart. “When people walk into their home, it’s not like you’ve just paid some contractor. Everybody who works on the show – it’s made with love, and honesty and volunteers and people who want good. You just feel it – it’s been built with love and generosity and kindness,” says Jess.
“And it’s 100 per cent real. One night we didn’t know how we were going to get some tiling done and some tilers knocked on the door and asked, ‘Do you need a hand?’ and we were like ‘Bloody oath!’ [laughs].”
“In a time where things are tough, people were drawn to that positivity, sometimes we had 30 or 40 people on site volunteering their time. The word just got out.”
BACK TO THE BLOCK
Even the couples’ children, Fred, 10, and Matilda, seven, got stuck in and lent a hand.
“Sometimes we were so low on labourers, we had to get the kids involved,” laughs Jess. “They really saved the day on a few things.”
Jess is already working on her next show but says she and Norm would leap at the chance to return to The Block if they were ever asked back for an All Stars season.
“Of course!” she says.
“They probably wouldn’t have us,” jokes Norm.
Now, with Christmas approaching, the couple are looking forward to a quiet festive season at home in Sydney, and this year have “scaled back like everybody else”, says Jess.
“We’ve put a lot of time and energy and money into our projects,” she says. “It’s about company, and laughter and love. Having a good time, we like to think, is free.”
