General News
8 August, 2025
Horsham builder leads construction for Mat and Robby on The Block
How does a builder from Horsham end up on one of Australia's biggest reality shows?
It's a good question and one that builder Sam Winfield, owner of building company Winstar, isn't completely all over, either.
Regardless of how, Mr Winfield was chosen by The Block contestants Mat and Robby, from Adelaide, as their builder, and after filming began in March and was completed in 12 weeks, the build is currently being televised on Channel Nine.
But first, some background on Mat and Robby, the contestants Mr Winfield is working with.
The duo met 15 years ago when Mat cut Robby's hair, and they have been best buddies ever since.
The boisterous and hilarious duo have already made a big impact on the show, given that it's only been on our screens for a bit over a week.
It was Robby's idea to apply for The Block while Mat was in Bali celebrating his 40th birthday.
They have minimal building experience – the least of all the couples on the series this season – with Mat not having even previously seen an episode of the show.
The duo say they think Australia will relate to them well, with Robby adding they are a couple of best mates: "a hairdresser and a barber, gay and straight".
Mat is in charge of the shopping and styling while Robby oversees the tradies.
And it could be a combination that proves successful, with their pair having already claimed the win in week one for their bathroom.
Judges labelled the bathroom as a "Goldilocks bathroom" where everything was just right, thanks in part to Mr Winfield and his interior decorator wife, Brylee, who were responsible for decisions like the height of the vanity and the use of specific rails for towels.
Mr Winfield was born and bred in Horsham and has built his business to what it is today over nine years, with offices now in Bendigo, Geelong and Horsham.
Winstar carries out construction, commercial, government and school building and maintenance, disability upgrades and project management.
It also looks after insurance projects.
Never in a million years did Mr Winfield think he would end up as a contestant's builder on The Block, though.
But not even a couple of weeks before The Block commenced filming, Mr Winfield received a call – one he describes as "completely random" – from Robby after a connection was made between a guy Mr Winfield used to play footy with at Laharum and the contestants.
It came after Mat and Robby realised, at almost the last minute, that they had to source their builder as The Block wouldn't arrange one for them.
"They went into a meeting with Channel Nine and it was a comment from Channel Nine along the lines of 'When you organise your builder, you need to make sure they have this, this and this...' and the boys were like: 'What do you mean: don't you give us a builder?' and Channel Nine told them: 'Nah, you have to bring your own'," Mr Winfield explained.
"They came out of the meeting panicked and, not knowing anyone in Daylesford or Ballarat, they called Jimmy, one of my mates and a builder, thinking he would know of one.
"I got the call on a Thursday, we arranged to have dinner in Melbourne the following Wednesday and we started the following Monday on site."
But it was a bit of a delayed start – accidentally, of course.
"It was a public holiday on the Monday," Mr Winfield recalled.
"I went to Round Zero of the footy and when I was going up there, I told the boys there was no way the show would start on Monday, being it was a holiday in Victoria.
"'It won't happen, I'm telling you', I told them, saying as soon as they knew what the go was they were to let me know and we'd map out a plan for the following week."
But even making a plan didn't go to plan, with Mr Winfield receiving a couple of missed calls on getting off his flight from Sydney.
"I rang Robby back when I got in the car and we were straight on camera, on loudspeaker, with him saying: 'Hey mate, just letting you know the first week is bathroom and it started three hours ago'," Mr Winfield laughed.
"I'm in the car with the family and friends driving back from Geelong, all my boys are away, being a long weekend, so I got home, got changed and I drove to Daylesford and away we went.
"I didn't roll in until lunchtime on Monday but we were first to plaster, first to waterproof and first to tile, and we actually took the chocolates week one after an extremely slow start."
Mr Winfield confirmed he's part of the below-the-ground cellar the contestants have just announced on screen they are going to build, which has been deemed "the biggest gamble in The Block history".
"Robbie came up with the idea and posed it to me," Mr Winfield said.
"He loves his wine, he's from the Adelaide Hills and obviously he's in Daylesford.
"He said: 'We needed a point of difference – all the houses were the same, I want to do a cellar.'
"So I said: 'Cool. Where are we going to do this: in a bedroom or something?'
"And he said 'No, underground' and I was like: 'Ahhhh, Robbie, bloody hell, we are pushing sh*t uphill, Monday to Saturday, attempting to deliver these rooms, and then you are trying to put in an underground cellar.'
"The budget was the biggest thing, though.
"That just killed us because we had to fund something no one else had to so we had to over and above deliver all our rooms so we could try to win money."
And he confirmed the deadlines on the show were as harsh as portrayed on screen, with contestants having to completely construct and decorate a room or two in just a week.
Mr Winfield said his Geelong team was tasked with the construction job, with the owner intermittently on site.
"They did an amazing job," he added.
"The hours on site change a lot, but it's 7am to 6pm most days, but Thursday and Friday are later.
"But we had an hour and 20 minutes of travel each way so the boys were on their way at 5.30am and getting home at 7.30pm, pretty much, six and seven days a week, so it was solid."
Mr Winfield described the crew for production as a big family, accommodating up to 200 people on site each day.
"There are 10 contestants and we might have 15 to 20 people in our house – times that by five and that's 100," Mr Winfield said.
"And that is just trades, without the camera crew, control for traffic, security etc.
"It's phenomenal."
But what will unfold for Mat and Robby?
There isn't much Mr Winfeld can tell us but he did say this: "There is a room that doesn't go to plan, but these are the challenges we have," he revealed.
Mr Winfield said it wasn't until the end, when the boys and he were chatting, that it dawned on them how grateful they were for what they had been able to achieve as a team.
"Australia doesn't know the results, I don't know the results, because auction day hasn't happened," Mr Winfield said.
"So I've got no idea, but we can walk away proud of what has transpired and I think they are the same.
"But the thing is what you see is what you get with both us and them.
"Mat and Robby: the way they are on tele is the way they are in life – they are all in."