The Block regular Danny Wallis’ surprise new business move with Gisborne Mowers and Chainsaws

Melbourne richlister and perenial The Block bidder Danny Wallis has come full circle, opening a ride-on mower and chainsaw store in Gisborne in a nod to his first ever job as a kid. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

Melbourne richlister and serial The Block bidder Danny Wallis is going back to his roots, opening a ride-on mower and chainsaw store in a nod to his first job as a kid.

The IT entrepreneur started his working life cutting lawns and fixing mowers for about $6 a day in the 1980s so he could save up to buy a bike.

Today Mr Wallis is worth north of $100m, has a long list of business successes to his name and is regularly seen behind the wheel of high-end cars with 750 horsepower under the hood.

RELATED: Danny Wallis: How the man known as the ‘serial Block bidder’ made his millions

The Block serial buyer and one of Australia’s biggest investors’ negative gearing warning

‘Devestated’: Why tradies refuse to work on The Block

Lately he’s been extolling the “therapeutic” benefits of driving a 24Hp ride-on mower to clip the lawns of the Gisborne holiday home he bought off The Block in 2022.

This week he opened Gisborne Mowers and Chainsaws — after buying out a recently closed local business.

Mr Wallis is hoping the Robinson St shop will help make the childhood hustle that got him started on his path to business success more accessible to amateurs, relocating it from a nearby industrial estate, giving it colourful decor, adding a coffee machine, as well as planning classes on more basic repairs and maintenance.

Wallis owns two luxury homes in the Gisborne area, purchased from The Block in 2022.

“I have been getting a bit more hands on in businesses lately, something to keep my brain active and busy,” Mr Wallis said.

“And mowing feels very much like it hasn’t moved much.

“As a kid I probably did think I would own a mower shop, but I just went past that straight to bigger business.”

With a lawn career that’s now straddled decades, Mr Wallis said his advice for other entrepreneurial youngsters firing up the mower around their neighbourhood on the weekend was simple.

“Mow around trees, not over them — not like I did when I was a younger,” he said.

Another of Wallis’ homes in the Gisborne area.

While he had been hoping to avoid buying any more Victorian properties as he disagrees with the government’s tax policies, Mr Wallis said he’d made an exception for the business as he believed enterprise was a better bet in the state today than real estate in his eyes.

“And it will mean I can get the mowers serviced without going to Daylesford. There’s just no-one else nearby.”

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: Bachelor star Sam Wood and wife Snezana trying to buy sprawling Brighton home

Angus & Julia Stone: ARIA Award-winning singer Julia Stone lists Melbourne apartment

Melbourne: Home’s cheeky bedroom mural by famous artist David Bromley titillates buyers