Gunnedah boy competes in Mitre 10's Kids Challenge

The nine-year-old “blockhead” is mad for renovating and building and is currently in third place in Mitre 10’s Kids Challenge, with 291 votes.

The competition closes in six days and if Steven gets the most votes in NSW, he will go on to become part of the top five from which the winner will be chosen.

The winner will win a trip for one adult and one child (aged 12 years or under) to Melbourne, Victoria, for a VIP tour of The Block 2018, meet and greet with the contestants and host Scott Cam, and $250 spending money.

Steven said he saw the competition advertised when he was watching The Block and immediately entered, writing about the projects he has undertaken.

“I said, ‘I really want to go in this’, so I could be the first local person to go on The Block in Gunnedah,” Steven said.

The Year 4 student said he enjoyed watching The Block because “it gives us ideas of what to do” and said it was better if the project took a long time to do.

“My favourite thing to do would be to find stuff and do it up,” he said.

Steven’s projects include renovating furniture and a buggy, laying a wooden floor and constructing a screen door from scratch.

“It teaches me new things and I got taught hazards last year,” he said.

“I just like doing it for fun.”

His mum Nat Walters said he was “very good at what he does” and helped her to renovate houses.

“He’s been helping me when since he was a toddler because his dad is a tradie and I’ve been renovating, so he’s always been around it,” she said.

“He helped me build a trampoline when he was two-and-a-half years old.”

Ms Walters said his grandfather had also been a major influence as “my dad was always building something”.

“We bought some old furniture and [Steven] did that up and sold it and made a profit,” she said. 

“He’s very entrepreneurial.”

To vote for Steven Hopwood in the Kids Challenge, visit https://www.mitre10.com.au/kidschallenge before September 16.