Channel Nine / The Block
Imagine that you are doing a highly technical job that involves a lot of government regulations, a few untrained assistants, heavy machinery – and you are then featured on television, watched by about a million people on average four times a week for 12 weeks.
Exhausting? Intimidating? That’s the life of Aidan O’Shannessy of Nine in Six builders. He and his team are the builders behind The Block, preparing the site, creating the external structure of the houses as well as building structural elements such as walls and floors.
Aidan and the Nine in Six team often appear in front of the cameras (and more so in recent years). Scott Cam calls them “the boys in hi-vis”. They also do the certifying of work done by the contestants and their trades, especially “Gmac”, whose real name is Glenn Kiernan, and is the Technical Site Manager – well known for striking fear into the contestants as he checks their work before allowing them to move to the next stage of the build.
“It’s not two industries that you’d normally see in the same space,” admits Aidan, adding that he and the Nine in Six team have been working on The Block for about 13 years and for about 18 series (a few years ago, Channel 9 were doing two Blocks a year, which he said was nuts).
“Combining television with highly regulated construction sites creates an interesting environment, but an exciting one.”
Aidan O’Shannessy, Nine in Six
Why you need to be a little messed up to work on The Block
Aidan says that the television element makes the projects totally different from normal building work. “The requirements of The Block are very unusual,” he says. “It’s an acquired taste. There’s a saying that to work on The Block and to be there, you’ve got to be a little bit messed up. You’ve got to accept that the situation is a bit messed up and a bit mental, and then you can get over it and work through it.”
“There’s definitely a lot of adrenaline in it. I found out a few years ago when two of my sons got diagnosed with ADHD that I had ADHD. And I think a lot of things made sense after that.”
Over the years, the scope of The Block has changed a lot, with the last few seasons more about new builds rather than renovations, which means extra work for the builders. In fact, the Nine in Six team work on The Block pretty much all year round – preparing the site before filming and tidying up after filming finishes, before the homes are auctioned.
“You’ve got to accept that the situation is a bit messed up and a bit mental, and then you can get over it and work through it.”
Aidan O’Shannessy, Nine in Six
The secret head start on Mt Eliza
The 2026 season in Mt Eliza involves all new builds, so Aidan says they were working to a tight timeframe to get it ready before the teams came onsite. “We didn’t have a building permit until December and we had contestants starting in March,” he explained.
“Before contestants arrived, our team had done a 3- or 4-month project already – getting the slabs prepared and all the framework up and roofs on. So we had roofs on houses when everybody arrived.” It’s a crazy pace, so he adds that he and his fellow builders become a little like a “Block family”.
“I think probably it’s probably a different Block family than from a contestant perspective,” he says. “There are lots of us that have been working together for a very, very long time. So there’s a great deal of camaraderie between everybody on site. “And you need that to be able to actually execute the projects.”
Why the builder always cops the blame
Nine in Six are almost like ringmasters in a circus, managing their own trades, plus trades of five concurrent builds, as well as contestants (who are often new at building) – then ensuring that everyone does work within the regulatory guidelines and to code.
The Block building site can be frantic too, with up to 220 people on site for the day during landscaping weeks, which are traditionally the biggest days.
“From a regulatory perspective as the builder, everything’s our responsibility,” Aidan says.
“The buck will stop with us, so we’ve really got to make sure that we’re covering our bases and resourcing our safety and management teams appropriately. We are managing the OH&S and the quality and the compliance of the entire site. This includes making sure that we’re inducting all those people, signing in visitors and making sure everybody knows where they should be and what they should be doing at any given time.”
“It’s more than a game to us. It’s what we do. It’s competition for the contestants, but this is our livelihood and this is what we do every day.”
Is Aidan really the bad guy?
However, with all of this responsibility and the occasional drama, Aidan says he loves his work on The Block, even if he sometimes comes across as the bad guy on camera, rousing on the contestants for not doing the work right.
“It’s also nice to be a bit more involved. My job largely these days is sitting behind a desk and a keyboard more than anything else. So, being on-site is good and it’s fun and that’s what we do.”
“We’re very lucky to be doing The Block. It’s been a big part of our business, and it’s helped us grow our business over the years.”
In case you missed it…
Week 3: Main bedroom & walk-in wardrobe
Week 5: Living,dining & alfresco terrace
Week 6: Guest suite (bedroom & ensuite)
Week 7: Kitchen, pantry, WC & lift
Week 9: Kids’ bedrooms & redo room
Week 10: Outdoor terrace & pool
Week 11: Backyard & garage
Week 12: Front yard & facade
Everything we know about The Block 2026
The Block budget myth: Real cost vs TV magic
The Block 2026 houses: Which Mount Eliza home has the biggest advantage?
Where are they now? We tracked down every single The Block team ever
The Block 2026 contestants revealed: Meet the five renovation teams
A look at The Block 2026 Mt Eliza location
The Block Daylesford homes: Where are they now and what went wrong?
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