Jack of all trades: Dennis Scott’s extraordinary skill set is TV gold
- Dennis Scott played for the Brisbane Broncos, Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm in the late 90s and early 2000s
- The presenter on Foxtel’s Selling Houses is also a qualified multidisciplinary tradesman
- He’s been wearing Steel Blue work boots for almost a decade.
Dennis Scott makes a lie of the old saying that a jack-of-all-trades is a master of none.
“I’m a qualified petrol and diesel mechanic, a qualified carpenter, a qualified landscaper, I played NRL football for 14 years and I have a diploma of journalism,” he said.
While his playing career with the Brisbane Broncos, Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm made him a household name in the late 1990s, these days, Dennis is best known for a different role—as the host of Foxtel’s top-rated lifestyle show, Selling Houses Australia.
Undoubtedly, all those skills make Dennis the ideal television landscaper, but how did he rack up so many trades in the first place?
“Let’s just say I’m a person that doesn’t like to sit still and likes to get out and about and experience the world,” he said.
“I’m a country guy that grew up on a cattle farm in central Queensland. When I first moved to Brisbane as a 17-year-old I completed my mechanics apprenticeship, so I got that under my belt then went full-time into the NRL.”
Life after rugby
Dennis studied journalism during his playing career.
“After leaving the NRL I sort of went back to my grassroots and started helping my grandfather as a bowls greenskeeper. I enjoyed the outdoors so I hopped into landscaping, but then I got an opportunity to do a carpentry apprenticeship as a 31-year-old and I decided that that would be a good compliment for the landscaping. So, I did my trade and started my own landscaping business, Lush Landscaping Solutions. We’ll do anything from pulling weeds to high-end construction, like retaining walls and concrete driveways.”
Dennis said he loves his work because of the variety landscaping involves.
“It involves multiple trades, so it keeps your brain ticking and interested,” he said.
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Accidental TV stardom
He describes his transition into television as “a fluke”.
“I have a couple of friends in the business and one afternoon I had an email on my computer with a link to the show’s audition process,” he said. “My friend was having a crack at me and said, ‘you’d be good on camera; you don’t mind a chat’. I looked into it and thought, you know what, I’m going to have a crack at it. I’ve always been one of those people that would rather fail trying than not try at all.”
But Dennis was a natural—and almost five years later he’s preparing to film yet another season of the show.
A focus on quality and skill
So, how is landscaping on TV different to landscaping for clients? It’s certainly a lot faster! Dennis said the gardens go up in just four days.
“The hard part is plant selection and obviously we don’t want all the gardens to be cookie-cutter, cut-and-paste, always using the same plants. So, we try to push the boundaries a bit and come up with a unique design for each property. It’s a challenge that is enjoyable, sometimes stressful, especially when you’ve got a camera in your face and you’re trying to explain what you’re doing. There haven’t been too many failures. I think I’ve managed to come up with the right plan of attack for most houses.”
His favourite gardens have been for a church conversion in Ellalong, New South Wales, and a Victorian house in West Brunswick, Victoria.
Why Dennis loves wearing Steel Blue work boots
Dennis has been wearing Steel Blue work boots for almost a decade.
“I’ve tried so many boots over the years and then I saw the Steel Blue 100% Comfort Guarantee and I thought, if I’m going to have these on my feet for a long period of time—10, 12, 14 hours a day sometimes—I might as well make sure they’re comfy,” he said. “I tried Steel Blue and they were comfy from the moment I put them on. I just never had any problems with them; I’ve just continued to wear them; they’ve stood the test of time. Their 100% Comfort Guaranteed statement is 100% accurate as far as I’m concerned. They’ve never let me down, and I’m sticking with them.”
Head to your local Steel Blue stockist to discover work boots that are a mark of true skill, or shop online.
