Trade Legends — The UK's number 1 Tradesman & Construction 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.

Chirag is back on Trade Legends, and this time he's revealing all, including how he went from recruitment and estate agency to qualifying as a gas engineer in just two weeks. We get into whether that's actually enough to be safe on the job, the real cowboys in the industry, growing a YouTube channel to 16K subscribers, why long-form content beats shorts every time, the customer comments that make every tradesperson's blood boil, and why consistency is the only thing that actually builds a career.

Anthony from Rothenberger joins us to talk about how a 75-year-old titan of the industry is staying ahead of the curve. From Lee’s start as an engineer in '97 to Rothenberger’s massive €2 Billion global presence, we dive deep into the tech that’s making tradespeople faster, more efficient, and more profitable.

Rich Cockerline cold-approached sparks on building sites for 18 months just to get his first break, and that relentless mindset never left him. From working inside the National Cyber Security Centre with zero electronics allowed, to why 13 electrical deaths in a single year is an industry scandal nobody's talking about, this episode goes places most podcasts won't. Fake business coaches, the 2-million-homes pipe dream, and a mission that could save lives.

Tom from Testo reveals how the same precision technology used by heating engineers is trusted by McDonald's, KFC and high-end pharmaceutical labs to keep their operations safe. From why relying on guesswork in the trades isn't just unprofessional but genuinely dangerous, to how Awaab's Law is forcing a reckoning in social housing, this conversation goes places most trade podcasts won't. AI fault diagnosis, CO monitoring, heat pumps and why digital documentation is becoming your biggest professional weapon.

Andreas Degiulio from Woodway Windows lost his mum at 24, and explains how that moment fundamentally changed everything about how he approaches work, life and resilience. From early site graft to carving out one of the most specialised niches in period window restoration, this is a conversation about what it really costs to do things properly in the trades. Old school work ethic, charging what you're worth, and building real authority, not empty attention.

Mark and Alex pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to run one of the UK's leading trade podcasts, from last-minute cancellations and juggling real life to conversations that ended up in Parliament. They revisit the hardest-hitting guest stories of 2025 and get honest about why niche trades and real stories will always beat chasing big names. Plus, what's coming in 2026.

Sean from Monster Rigs started on the tools at 16, survived the post-2008 construction crash in Ireland, and has reinvested every penny building a physical product brand while still staying on the tools. He gets brutally honest about product failures, manufacturing costs, branding mistakes and why most people massively underestimate what launching a trades brand actually costs, in time, money and sacrifice. No shortcuts, no influencer fluff, just the unfiltered reality of building something real.

Mark Marshall went from cutting grass and quoting garden jobs to working alongside Gary Vee, Mike Posner and Colin Furze, and he breaks down exactly how those doors opened and what it really costs to stay authentic when fame hits hard. One of the most influential landscapers on the planet gets honest about viral content, building a global audience, and why most people massively underestimate what it takes to turn a trade into a brand. The blueprint is all here.

George, founder of Hoskins Innovations, started with a £150 loan for a lawnmower and built a landscaping business with over 300,000 social media followers, and he breaks down exactly how social media became his most powerful sales tool for building customer trust. From pricing jobs without square-metre rates to structuring payments that keep cash flow steady, this is genuinely actionable advice for any tradesperson thinking about building a brand. The grit, the mistakes and the lessons are all here.

Mark Marshall went from a rebellious teen forced to repair a farmer's land to one of the UK's most recognisable names in landscaping and social media, and he gets honest about the burnout, the losses, and what lengthy brand negotiations with the likes of Makita and NatWest actually look like behind the scenes. This is the side of influencer life nobody shows you.

Sammi lost her job of sixteen years overnight, was managing type 1 diabetes through Covid, and anxiety had taken over to the point she couldn't leave her car. From that lowest point, she started making hoodies from her kitchen table and built Branded by Sammi into one of the most recognisable names in UK construction workwear. She holds nothing back about what rock bottom actually looks like and what it really took to climb out of it.

Gemma's first viral TikTok mural got millions of views, and triggered enough online abuse to nearly make her quit social media entirely. She gets honest about turning a lockdown hobby into a commercial mural business, the reality of pricing creative work, handling difficult client requests, and why staying true to your art is harder than it looks when business takes over.