Trade Legends | Construction Podcast

On The Trade Legends Podcast this week, James from MKL sits down for an honest, unfiltered look at the chaotic graft of growing a trade business, surviving betrayals, and navigating life on the tools. We kick things off with his bizarre run of 21 jobs by age 21—including a brutal one-day stint as a minicab driver for an intimidating pirate of a boss—then get into how years of stacking shelves, pulling cables, and working on freezing factory lines shaped his approach to leadership and problem-solving. We pull no punches on the real graft it takes to find your feet in the trade after years of doing the jobs you hated. We also get straight to the harsh business lessons that catch so many tradesmen off guard: expanding too quickly, the trap of fake growth, and the nightmare of a trusted worker handing out his own cards to customers behind your back. James breaks down the financial hit of getting stitched up by both an accountant and bad clients, the harsh reality of running an AV and home-cinema installation firm, and why building a bespoke £20k–£50k cinema room means managing client expectations, custom lightboxes, and hidden cable routing. We also explore how running a tight ship with his daughter helped him cut overheads, ditch the lock-up unit, and regain total control of his business. Finally, we go deep into the personal mindset battles that rarely get talked about on site. James opens up about hitting rock bottom in an empty lock-up, turning severe dyslexia into his greatest superpower on client visits, and how dropping the ego and asking for help completely saved his sanity. We discuss his legendary Crunchie bar routine, how he defused road rage when an aggressive driver jumped out to fight him, and the invaluable apprenticeship rule: watch someone so closely you know their next move before they even ask.

On The Trade Legends Podcast this week, Joe Baker (Screed Papi), founder of Second City Screed & Resin, sits down for an honest, unfiltered look at the brutal realities of running a modern trade business.
We tackle the diesel price crisis squeezing trades up and down the country, the reality of spending £300 a week just to keep two vans running, and his genuine, warts-and-all experience of trialling a new electric van on real-world jobs. From range anxiety and towing heavy pumps to the sheer cost of living, we pull no punches on why UK trades feel battered at every turn.
We also get straight into the business graft: making the jump from screeding into high-margin resin driveways, the reality of managing subbies, and finding your own lane on social media without letting content take over your actual trade. Joe breaks down the trial and error of going viral with 3.3 million views, why overnight social media fame doesn’t pay the mortgage, and why honest branding and van signwriting are still the most powerful free marketing tools an honest business can have. Finally, we go deep into the personal battles that rarely get spoken about on site. Joe opens up about corporate burnout, battling severe alcohol addiction, and walking away from the edge of suicide on the M5 before completely turning his life around.
We discuss learning to control the controllables, why he made the conscious choice to reintroduce alcohol after four and a half years of total sobriety, and his upcoming 400km solo charity bike ride for suicide prevention. This is raw, straight-talking advice for anyone on the tools navigating business, mental health, and life.

A former British Gas engineer turned self-employed plumber exposes what it's really like to take on the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, corporate heating giants, and rogue customers. We take it right back to the beginning: being written off on school report cards, surviving dead-end factory shifts, and the reality of a plumbing apprenticeship where 22 lads started and only one made it through. We unpack why the UK trade shortage is getting worse, how corporate targets are stretching gas engineers, and why proposed trade deposit schemes could finish small businesses. We pull back the curtain on working for British Gas and what it’s really like inside "the Amazon of the heating world," where details are micromanaged down to the second, and first-time fix targets are chased. He breaks down why he walked away from corporate security to back himself, the graft of posting a thousand leaflets just to win one boiler install, and the harsh truth about overheads, rogue customers, and why proposed holding deposits will destroy honest trade businesses. Finally, we get into what happens when an ordinary, straight-talking tradesman steps into the snake pit of Westminster politics. From viral Question Time moments and media scrutiny to running against the political establishment in one of the most talked-about by-elections in the country, this is an honest, no-nonsense look at why working-class voices matter and why more blokes on the tools need to stand up and have their say.

On this episode of the Trade Legends Podcast, we’re joined by Kieran from Kobo Crete, a Devon-based business making cast stone and polished concrete products. Kieran explains how he worked his way up from production planning to running a precast concrete factory, helping produce everything from railway bridge components to seating for the Kia Oval. He also shares why he moved his young family to Devon to start a new life.When the company he joined went into liquidation, Kieran found a job in another industry. Then Covid hit. He had to tell colleagues they were losing their jobs before being made redundant himself. With three months of gardening leave, he decided it was time to give Kobo Crete his full attention. What began as a side business delivering garden ornaments to nurseries and garden centres grew into a company making window sills, coping stones, kitchen worktops, sinks and its own polished concrete fireplace surrounds.Kieran is honest about how difficult that growth became. Strong early sales made the business look healthy, but when his wife Fran joined and got a clearer view of the figures, they realised they needed to change course. They reduced hours, tightened spending and began questioning whether every piece of equipment would pay for itself. At one point, Kieran had to ask family for financial help, something he found especially hard after years of working towards running his own business.We also discuss why being busy doesn’t mean you’re making money, the danger of pricing yourself wrong, and how social media videos of concrete pours brought Kobo Crete millions of views. Kieran shares what helped him through the toughest period: asking for help, keeping control of the numbers, setting targets and taking the business one day at a time. It’s a candid conversation about family, setbacks and what it really takes to keep a trade business going.

On this episode of the Trade Legends Podcast, we’re joined by Ben Rudman, a driveway and landscaping contractor whose honest, no-filter videos have made him one of social media's most relatable tradesmen. Ben explains how he started his business at just 20 years old with little more than a Vauxhall Vectra, a spirit level and his son’s car seat on the back seat. He opens up about struggling at school with undiagnosed dyslexia, why people wrongly assumed he wasn’t intelligent, and how discovering martial arts gave his constantly active mind somewhere to focus.Ben shares the brutal lessons he learned as his business grew, including stepping away from the day-to-day work and trusting the wrong people. One employee began taking customer deposits without Ben’s knowledge, while other workers used his tools and business name to complete private jobs behind his back. When customers began calling about work they believed they had already paid for, Ben used his own money to complete the jobs and protect the reputation he had spent years building. We also discuss late-paying customers, why workers should never have to beg for a pay rise, and why business owners must always make sure their staff are paid before themselves.We also discuss the financial mistakes tradespeople make, from wasting money trying to look successful to reaching retirement without an exit plan. Ben explains how seeing a successful local tradesman arrive in a brand-new Mercedes changed his outlook as a teenager, why he began investing in property, and how breaking his leg showed him the importance of emergency savings. From building a martial arts academy and raising children involved in MMA and football to learning Spanish and planning a future in Spain, this is an honest conversation about loyalty, family, money and the harsh realities of building a trade business.