Off The Job: A Tradesman Podcast — Season 1, Episode 5
Three brothers start making home improvement videos. Two of them arrive on time for a podcast. That’s a decent introduction to The Home Improvements Channel UK, although it barely scratches the surface.
In this episode of Off The Job: A Tradesman Podcast, Keiran Yates and Pete Withers sit down with Brad and Phil, with younger brother Jack making a fashionably late entrance. They talk flooring, landscaping, a frightening illness, difficult customers and what it takes to turn trade skills into a full-time content business. If you have never heard the show before, expect an honest UK trades conversation with a few detours the satnav did not approve. Watch the full S1E5 interview on YouTube.
Who are The Home Improvements Channel UK?
Brad, Phil and Jack are brothers who make practical, funny videos about home improvements and working in the trades. When they recorded this conversation, their channel was about two years old. Their backgrounds weren’t invented for the camera: Phil had worked in building and landscaping before moving into flooring with Brad, while Jack talks about starting out in scaffolding and taking on different jobs. The brothers had helped one another with work long before they had an audience.
That matters when you watch their content. Phil can get deep into the measurements and build details; the others make sure someone seeing the job for the first time can follow what on earth he means. They also bring in specialists when a project crosses into another trade. Being good at flooring does not magically qualify someone to do every bit of plumbing or electrical work in a house.
How did Phil’s illness change the brothers’ work?
Before the videos took off, Phil was running a landscaping business when he became seriously ill. He describes an illness affecting his nervous system, losing sensation and being unable to walk properly. He spent months in hospital and had to work at getting back on his feet. It is a heavy story, told with the brothers’ usual humour, including an ill-advised hospital-bed prank. The frightening part is never far away.
Hard landscaping was physically demanding, so Phil began working alongside Brad in flooring as he recovered. They got faster, refined their work and kept going. It is a reminder that a career in the trades rarely travels in the nice straight line people draw for a school careers poster.
How did three tradesmen turn their work into a content business?
Brad floated the idea after seeing what people could do on YouTube. The brothers agreed to try it, even though Jack apparently operates in his own time zone. At first they set modest goals, including reaching 1,000 followers. In the episode, they say the combined audience across their platforms had grown into the millions. That’s their figure at the time of recording, not a live count today.
Their approach was more deliberate than uploading the occasional clip and hoping the algorithm took pity on them. They posted across several platforms, learned what caught attention and gradually moved from deliberately daft videos towards more substantial building work. One early video involving a slogan on a sofa brought in attention. As Brad explains, making people laugh gave them a way in; showing the actual skill gave people a reason to stay.
They also put money back into cameras, editing and bigger projects. None of that makes filming a free day off. Answering comments, planning work, shooting it and turning it into something people will watch is another job on top of the job. The brothers talk openly about the pressure to keep an audience interested when online success can feel temporary.
Can trade creators work with brands and still be trusted?
The brothers say brand work helps fund the projects they want to make, including work they can offer without charging the person receiving it. Their rule is to choose products they would use and turn down plenty they would not. They mention CT1 as an example of a product they knew before making sponsored content.
There is a useful lesson for anyone building a trade audience: the camera does not give a bad recommendation a free pass. If people trust your judgement on a job, they will remember what you tell them to buy. The brothers also make a point of collaborating with other tradespeople and answering genuine questions, rather than acting as if a big follower count puts them above everyone else.
What are their most awkward customer stories?
Every trades podcast needs a customer story that makes the room stop and say, “Hang on, what?” This episode has several. One homeowner saw the brothers talking to a builder outside for a few minutes and demanded they get back to work. They began taking up the grippers they had just laid and left instead. A clear brief, if not quite the one she intended.
Another customer put a camera in the room and left cash where it would be seen. The brothers took it as a test of whether they would steal it. Their response was to add a fiver. It is funny in the telling, but the point underneath is serious: trust matters when you invite someone into your home, and when your business depends on your reputation.
What should a tradesperson take from this episode?
You do not need a million followers to borrow the useful bits. Explain your work so a customer can understand it. Get the right person involved when a job needs another trade. Treat comments and collaborations as conversations, not just a way to push up a number. And if a platform pays you, consider what to put back into making the work better.
For another take on the skill and reputation behind trade content, read our conversation with master tiler Ken Hudson. Or watch Brad, Phil and Jack’s full Off The Job episode and see how long Keiran and Pete manage to keep the interview on track. Strong language and adult humour are part of the deal.
Frequently asked questions
Are Brad, Phil and Jack from The Home Improvements Channel UK brothers?
Yes. Brad, Phil and Jack are brothers. Brad and Phil start the interview; Jack joins them later in the episode.
What trades did they work in before making videos?
They discuss work in landscaping, building, flooring and scaffolding. Their home improvement videos also involve other tradespeople when a project needs specialist knowledge.
Did they stop working on the tools to make content?
At the time of the interview, they say content creation had become full-time work, but practical home improvement projects remained at the centre of what they filmed.
Working in electrics? Off The Job is produced by Trade Apps. For qualified electricians in our audience, Electrical Certificate App brings digital certificates, jobs, customer records, quotes and invoices together. It is our product, not a claim that the guests use it.
Follow The Home Improvements Channel UK on YouTube for their own projects, and find them on Instagram.
