Trade Legends | Construction Podcast

Trade Legends
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Trade Legends is the UK's number one weekly construction podcast, hosted by Alex and Mark Tiff. Every week we sit down with tradespeople from across the industry, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, plasterers, builders, apprentices and more, for honest conversations about life on the tools. No filter, no fluff. Just real stories about skills, money, mental health, apprenticeships, business, and everything else that comes with working in the trades.

  1. 8h ago

    Why Most Tradesmen Go Broke Hiring Their First Employee | Trade Legends Podcast

    On this episode of the Trade Legends Podcast, carpenter Ben Bailey returns four years after his first appearance, and a lot has changed. When we first had Ben on the show, he'd just started out and was working with clients from Made in Chelsea. Since then, he's gone from cutting MDF under a gazebo on his driveway to running his own dedicated workshop, building bespoke carpentry and fitted furniture for celebrities and professional footballers, all sparked by one Instagram DM he thought was his mates winding him up. We dig into the real cost of hiring your first employee, the van insurance, tool insurance, training and overheads that most tradesmen never factor in until it's too late, and why getting your first hire wrong can seriously damage a small trade business. Ben explains why he turns down enough work to hire four people tomorrow, yet still chooses to stay small, and we debate whether "hire slow, fire fast" is the right approach when your lead times stretch past a year. We also break down the hidden costs of taking on your first unit or workshop, the business rates, electric bills and running costs that land after you've signed the lease, and why those unexpected bills kill so many new trade businesses in their first year. Ben shares exactly how he made the step up without taking a huge risk: renting a single spare workbench from a local firm and working on it until 11 pm after his day job, before finally committing to his own space. Along the way we cover starting a carpentry business during Covid, using social media and Instagram to win work and attract celebrity clients, working with tool brands, staging show homes for developers, quarterly tax and the admin nobody teaches you, and the family side of self-employment, why Ben structures his whole business around the school run, and why he'll never miss a sports day for a job.

    Why Most Tradesmen Go Broke Hiring Their First Employee | Trade Legends Podcast

  2. Jun 29

    I Hit Rock Bottom Two Years Ago. This is What Saved Me | Trade Legends Podcast

    This week on the Trade Legends Podcast, landscaper and content creator Tom joins us for his long-awaited return, and he doesn't hold back. It's been nearly three years since Tom last sat in the studio, and in that time his life has changed beyond recognition. Tom opens up about the moment, two years ago to the day we recorded this, when he hit rock bottom. He talks honestly about the help he got, the people who stepped up, and how he pulled himself back. This isn't a sob story. It's one of the most genuine, hopeful conversations we've had on the podcast, and Tom tells it the way only he can. Since we last spoke, Tom has gone from around 1,000 followers to closing in on 24,000, picked up brand deals and ambassadorships, and completely transformed how his landscaping business operates. He tried scaling up with a team of three, decided it wasn't for him, and went back to working solo, finishing every job ahead of schedule and making just as much money with far less stress. He also lost seven and a half stone. At his heaviest, he was 22 stone, and the weight he lost was equivalent to the combined weight of his two boys. We touch on Mounjaro, the journey that came with it, and why there's a part two coming on that topic alone. We round off with Tom's take on dodgy customers versus dodgy tradespeople, why he now takes a 50% deposit without exception, and what he'd tell himself ten years ago, starting out in the trade. If you're going through a difficult time, please reach out. Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

    I Hit Rock Bottom Two Years Ago. This is What Saved Me | Trade Legends Podcast

  3. Jun 15

    HORROR customer never paid me and almost closed my business | Trade Legends Podcast

    This week on the Trade Legends Podcast, Toni from ALO Electrical has spent over 15 years building a fire and security business from the ground up, and in this episode, he holds nothing back. Toni left school without grades, enrolled on a BTEC business course, bought a motorbike the same day and never went back. He ended up becoming a chef before retraining as an electrician in his 20s, inspired by a family member in the trade. His first job interview involved being handed a plug and told to wire it on the spot, and that moment stuck with him. He went self-employed in 2009, founded ALO Electrical, and has been building it ever since. But it hasn't always been smooth. Toni opens up about a large-door entry and auction system job at a stately home — £14-15k of work — that didn't pay for 9 months. Lying awake at night, wondering where the money was coming from. And how that experience made a 50% deposit on every job completely non-negotiable from that point forward.Toni also get's into the real challenges of taking on apprentices as a smaller firm, what colleges are getting badly wrong about preparing young people for the trades, and the hidden electrical dangers Toni regularly finds on site that builders have left behind, including a fire alarm system in an HMO that had been relocated, cabled chopped off, and left dead in the wall with tenants still living there. We round off with a conversation about the financial burden on self-employed people right now, and why understanding your own numbers is the single most important thing you can do as a trades business owner.

    HORROR customer never paid me and almost closed my business | Trade Legends Podcast

  4. Jun 1

    The Brutal Truth of Running a Luxury Construction Company | Trade Legends Podcast

    On this week's episode, Al sits down with Jermaine from Stately Home Developments, a luxury renovation and construction brand built from the ground up over the last five years. Jermaine's path into the trades is one of the most unexpected we've come across. Starting out on weekends with his granddad doing kitchen and bathroom fits in East London, he quickly realised construction was where he belonged. But before going all in, he took a serious detour into the world of acting, extra work on Spider-Man sets, BBC and ITV productions, film festivals, networking with directors, and eventually a gig in Atlanta after living in Malta and South Africa. When Covid hit, he came back to the UK and went full steam ahead with Stately Home Developments, and hasn't looked back. In this episode, we cover how social media has transformed the way he wins work, why putting your face to the brand gives you the upper hand before you even arrive on site, what he learned watching a terrible builder somehow win premium jobs, the real cost of running a construction business on relationships and mental load, and why investing in yourself early is always cheaper than waiting. Follow us on Spotify and YouTube, and use the link below for discounts from our sponsors, Powered Now and Pocket Receptionist.

    The Brutal Truth of Running a Luxury Construction Company | Trade Legends Podcast

  5. May 24

    Britain's Hidden Electrical Crisis Is About to Explode | Trade Legends Podcast

    On this Episode of Trade Legends, we talk about how Britain needs 25,000 new electricians a year. We're producing maybe 5,000. Mark Allison has spent 20 years in the electrical industry and is now on a mission to fix the training crisis from the inside, hands-on, accredited, no shortcuts. We get into the £12k course scams robbing people blind, why employers have stopped taking apprentices, what the government keeps getting wrong, and why the next decade is going to make electricians seriously wealthy, if they're ready for it.

    Britain's Hidden Electrical Crisis Is About to Explode | Trade Legends Podcast

  6. May 17

    The CRAZY Side of the Electrical Industry | Trade Legends Podcast

    Luke Freeman joins the Trade Legends podcast to talk about life as a self-employed electrician for two years. We cover the apprenticeship journey, going self-employed with no domestic experience, cash-flow realities, toxic trades on social media, pricing wars, and why building your reputation matters more than your follower count.

    The CRAZY Side of the Electrical Industry | Trade Legends Podcast

  7. May 10

    Apprentice Electrician EXPOSES the Electrical Industry | Trade Legends Podcast

    This week on Trade Legends, Sophie McGee is a third-year electrical apprentice, and she's had the full experience, good employers, bad ones, and everything in between. We talk about leaving nursing mid-COVID, getting into the trades with zero background, the apprenticeship system that's quietly falling apart, and why more women in trades is good for everyone. Honest, straight-talking, and worth your time whether you're an apprentice, an employer, or just thinking about making a change.

    Apprentice Electrician EXPOSES the Electrical Industry | Trade Legends Podcast

  8. May 3

    WHY your Trades Business is WORTH NOTHING | Trade Legends Podcast | Trade Legends Podcast

    Two Trade Legends return. Dom and Reiss are back on the podcast. Both businesses have grown, the jobs are bigger, the money's bigger, and so are the headaches. In this episode, we get into how having kids changes everything when you're running a business, why most tradesmen are leaving serious money on the table with their accountant, the real reason growing your team too fast will bury you in admin, and how Dom is building a multi-business group with a clean exit/business sale in mind.

    WHY your Trades Business is WORTH NOTHING | Trade Legends Podcast | Trade Legends Podcast
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About

Trade Legends is the UK's number one weekly construction podcast, hosted by Alex and Mark Tiff. Every week we sit down with tradespeople from across the industry, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, plasterers, builders, apprentices and more, for honest conversations about life on the tools. No filter, no fluff. Just real stories about skills, money, mental health, apprenticeships, business, and everything else that comes with working in the trades.

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