Episodes
Robin Clevett is joined by several guests from the trade to discuss their approach to preparing quotes and estimates. Max Lee from Pitch Perfect talks about his approach to quoting with his team when conducting structural work, John Argyle talks about the digital assets he has in place to assist his quoting stages and Richard Wagner from The River Shop shares his past experiences and lesson's he's learnt the hard way
Robin Clevett brings you part two of his discussion with Simon Bowler where they discuss how Simon approaches the quoting and planning process as well as design, favourite tool brands and more
Award winning tradesperson, Simon Bowler joins Robin Clevett in the studio to discuss his journey through the trade, His business and social media journey. Theyre will be more from Simon next week where he will discuss how he approaches working on projects and will talk about some memorable projects as well
Robin Clevett is joined by three chainsaw artists that create some incredible scluptures and artwork out of timber. Robin talks about some of their notable projects, how they got into this line of work, some of the challenging and dangerous aspects of working with chainsaws and the timber they use
Robin Clevett looks at the year ahead and what it might be like for Carpenters and Joiners across the UK. Robin is joined by award winning Tradesperson, Astrid Arnold so that she can talk about the year ahead for her and the trade as a whole. Robin also has some voice notes from three previous guests about the year ahead and gives his own thoughts, advice and predictions for 2024
Robin Clevett looks back on 2023 for Carpenters/Joiners and the building trade as a whole. Robin, is joined by Builder, Jack Auletta discusses some things to be mindful of in the year ahead and Robin plays some voice notes from previous guests
Robin Clevett gets asked this all the time so he's invited John Argyle from Enfield Refurbishments to join him so that they can share their experiences with regards to expanding their business and offerings
Robin Clevett brings you his interview with CITB CEO, Tim Balcon at SkillBuild and asks what they're trying to achieve with SkillBuild as well as how training and education could be improved for trade and construction, across the UK. Robin also talks with Huw Thomas, who has three finalists competing from his colleges in West Wales and finds out why SkillBuild is so important in implementing their learner experiences
Robin Clevett has recoded this show at CITB's SkillBuild finals in Milton Keynes so that he can put himself in the shoes of a finalist and find out what it's like to be one of the final eight competing to win
Robin Clevett is joined by Jason Joyce to discuss his experience focussing on timber roofing, structural carpentry and cladding. Jason talks about how he came to specialise in this, the best aspects of focussing on this work, his favourite jobs so far and ambitions going forward
Robin Clevett takes a quick look at working during the winter months, staying warm and how much time you should take off over Christmas. Robin is also joined by Max Lee from Pitch Perfect and Richard Wagner from The River Shop to discuss their experiences working in the winter, how 2023 has been businesswise and plans for 2024
Robin Clevett is joined by two new guests on the show, both are nominated for the 'On the Tools Carpenter/Joiner of the Year' award and they explain the principles of how they work, discuss their experiences in the trade and more
Robin Clevett asks 'if it's okay to...' have certain ways of working, certain business practices and approaches to the trade
Robin Clevett talks to Carpentry influencer, Gary Banks about his experiences building a following on social media and also invites fellow Fix Radio presenter, Izzy The Bricky onto the show so that he can give him some advice about handling the pressure that comes with working with brands and keeping the content flowing
Sam Thomas and Sean Matthew return to do some 'fill in the blanks' style exercises about the trade
Sam Thomas returns for another appearance and joining Robin for the first time in person is also Sean Matthews. They talk about their experiences on the tools and give some thoughts about the trade in 2023
Robin is joined by two time served, well respected Carpenters to find out how they go above and beyond for their customers to create a lasting impression
Jason Howe from City & Guilds joins Robin to explain in more detail how T-Levels have been rolled out in the UK, How they feel they will benefit the industry and standards on-site as well as discussing taking on apprentices and giving students real on-site oppertunities
As we enter the final quarter of 2023, Robin Clevett looks at what 2023 has been like in our trade and offers some advice to anyone struggling with lack of demand, struggling to make profit, interest rates/cost of living spiralling and labour demands
Peter Hannam talks about his experience working in churches which date back as far as the 12th century. Peter talks about taking a modern approach with restoration work and some of the aspects of the churches that he's restored on the several jobs he's completed so far
Ryan Jones from LJ Construction decided to set up The Carpentry Academy after finding that many new entrants into the trade were just not site ready and also lack the oppertunity for real on-site experience. Ryan talks about what his goals are with the academy, how apprenticeships work at LJ Construction and also talks about the reform needed in how the trade is taught
We've found Robin some different customer interactions and issues shared online by tradespeople so that he can go through them, discuss what he would do in each circumstance and hopefully offer some advice to anyone that's come up against something similar
Ahead of the new academic year, Robin decides to take a look at T-Levels, a new qualification for the trade and wants to find out how they differ from what we have already and how it's going to improve the standards on-site. Joining him to explain T-Levels and share their experiences rolling out T-Levels are two lecturers from South Essex college
Charlie Cameron from Treehouse Life returns to talk about how treehouses and rope bridges are designed and constructed
Robin Clevett is joined by Charlie Cameron from Treehouse Life (treehouselife.com). Treehouse Life is a family run business that travels the world building treehouses and rope bridges. Charlie talks about working in Hawaii, India, Seychelles, Monaco and also talks about the logistics of traveling and building in exotic destinations
Robin talks all the time about the need for more people to join the trade. Can re-training be a viable path into the industry? What should people re-training or looking to re-train know about the trade? Robin has two Carpenters join him to discuss all of this and more
Robin is joined by Marc Firkins & Dan Brown to talk about how they approach diet and exercise in their personal and professional lives. Robin shares how he approaches both and also reads some comments from well known Carpenters that join us on the show from time to time
Robin goes through some common and not so common Carpentry/Joinery issues faces by people working in the trade. This is everything from measuring to tools, working with builders and more
How do you know you're charging enough? That seems to be a question that's becoming harder to answer in 2023 with cost of living, tricky customers, material price increases and everything that can go wrong over the course of a job. Robin has invited Festool influencer John Argyle on the show to talk about how he works out his costs and former Screwfix Top Tradesperson Sean Matthews talks about how he's had to adjust his prices, how he works out his costs and both (along with Robin) offer you some valuable tips on how to protect your bottom line
Phil returns to touch on the private work he takes on, how he got started in the trade, how he approaches the design process, favourite projects completed and also talks tools