Brad Cranfield

Newcastle couple Brad Cranfield and Lara Welham are $606,000 richer and own a brand new Suzuki thanks to Channel Nine’s The Block, which they won last night. The spectacular result, which saw the South Melbourne house they renovated sell for $1.62 million, was just the start of an exciting night of TV and auctions where all the couples emerged with over $300,000 each. We spoke to Lara about working with a small budget, getting attached to the house and if she learnt anything surprising about Brad during the process.

Congratulations on your profit and winning The Block! It happened so fast on TV — what was going through your minds during the auction?
We didn’t actually believe it was happening. It didn’t seem real at all because it was happening so quickly and it was going up so fast. It was so much money as well.

Were you guys worried about the potential result given last year’s disappointing finale?
No. We all knew about what happened last year and we still all auditioned for this year, so we knew there could be a possibility where we didn’t sell. We were all prepared for the best and worst outcomes.

You guys had the biggest house to renovate with the smallest budget which really got to you at times — just how tough was it?
It was really tough at times. We were sometimes down by thousands and thousands of dollars, less than other couples, because we hadn’t won the rooms, and the challenges we seemed to win weren’t always big money challenges. It was really stressful at times.

More from Lara when you keep reading.

Brad Cranfield and Lara Welham are the winners of The Block 2012! The couple, who have been together for five years, were the first team to have their house go under the hammer. The house they renovated, which was the largest on the block with an area of 158 square metres, also had the highest reserve price at $1,120,000. A further $6,000 was deducted from the reserve as a result of Brad and Lara’s efforts in the show’s final renovation challenge, bringing it down to $1,114,000.

The offers rolled in quickly and before they knew it, Brad and Lara’s house had reached the $1.5 million mark. In the end, their house sold for $1,620,000, which meant they pocketed $506,000 in profit! On top of that, they received a bonus $100,000 and were also handed the keys to a new Suzuki after being voted the show’s “best sports.” Congrats to Brad and Lara, as well as the rest of the teams — Dan and Dani, Dale and Sophie, Mike and Andrew (more on that later!) — for a spectacular grand final result!