Tradies In Business

Imagine knowing exactly where every pipe, cable and stud sits inside a wall before the plaster ever goes up. Construct Scans founder Luke Donegan is making that possible with 3D LiDAR scanning, giving builders and homeowners a measurable record of a build that lasts long after the walls are closed. A former architectural photographer and Army combat engineer, Luke shares how a builder’s fold...

Scott Wrigley, Head Building Certifier & Managing Director of ACT Certification , returns to the podcast to talk about how far his business has come in almost 4 years with Tradies in Business. He started out unable to step away from his business for a 2 day conference. This year he has taken a week at Hamilton Island and trips around Australia while his team kept things running. Scott shares h...

Apprenticeship numbers sit below where they were in 2015, even as the workforce has grown by more than 20 percent and Australia faces a housing shortage and a deepening trades skills gap. Ben Bardon, CEO of the National Australian Apprenticeship Association , explains why employers are stepping back, from shrinking government incentives to the real cost of taking on an apprentice in a tight econom...

Amii Jones has run Touchwood Tree Services , a tree removal business, with her husband for 15 years, and in this episode she gets honest about what that milestone actually looked like behind the scenes. She talks about the guilt of switching off, the loneliness of working from home, and how the hard stuff never disappears, it just looks different, from surviving the early days to managing sta...

Nicole flips the script and lets Angus take the coach role as they talk through why marketing in accounting is so tough. Angus talks about the licensing rules and restrictions that shape how accountants can talk about money, the split between clients who show up just to stay compliant versus those who want a real growth partnership, and how nearly all of his business has come from referrals and re...

Steven Daniels spent years grinding through the construction industry before burnout left him physically unable to get out of bed. That moment pushed him to study positive psychology and coaching, and he's now the founder of Align 56 Coaching , running retreats and workshops for construction business owners and their teams. Steven and Nic talk about why so many tradies wait until they hit the wall...

Lauren never set out to run a caravan hire business, she started out as a gymnastics coach before life threw her a curveball: her husband Greg's arm injury, exhausting hours away from her kids, and eventually a leap of faith into a lap around Australia in a caravan. What began as a way to fund the rego turned into Outback 2 Sea , a business built on giving other mums the same break, restoration, a...

Being flat out busy doesn't always mean you're winning, and most business owners avoid looking at the numbers that would prove it. Nic chats with Angus Gasbarri from Earnt Advisory about auditing where your time actually goes, why charge-out rates and margins are the two figures doing 80% of the heavy lifting for your profit, and what's ahead for tradies this financial year. Plus, an invite to the...

Joel Pritchett, from The Property Tradies , is a former plumber turned property investor and buyer's agent who built a 5-property portfolio before the age of 25. In this episode, Nic sits down with Joel to talk about how tradies can start building wealth through property, the common mistakes they make when choosing where to buy, why location does 80% of the heavy lifting, and how to find and use a...

Steve Rooney is no stranger to the Tradies in Business podcast, but this time he's back with a plot twist nobody saw coming. Fourteen years of running his own landscaping business, a community of mates, hard lessons in business partnerships, and a whole lot of head noise led Steve to one of the biggest decisions of his life. What he chose next will surprise you, and the reasoning behind it might j...

Running a trade business 700km from home while raising a young family on the coast is no small feat, but for Nick Allen of NJA Electrical , it's exactly what he built over 13 years in remote Western QLD. Nick shares what it's really like earning trust and loyalty in a town of just 200 people, where your reputation follows you everywhere and relationships run far deeper than just a job and an invoi...

The federal budget has landed and for most tradie business owners, the news is not good. Nic brings in Angus Gasbarri, founder of Earnt Advisory , an accountant who has built his career working closely with trade and construction businesses, rounding out his expertise with a background in mortgage broking. Together they talk about the biggest budget changes affecting tradies and small business own...

HR mistakes don't always look like mistakes; sometimes they look like efficiency. Nicole sits down with Kristy-Lee Billett, CEO of People Powered Business and founder of People Powered HR, who brings 20 years of experience helping small businesses build great teams without the chaos, the confusion, or the crippling contracts. Together they unpack the growing risk of using AI for people management,...

Starting a trade business can feel like a massive leap, especially when you’re not sure if you’re ready or where to begin. This week, Nic sits down with one our our Tradiepreneurs, Josh Prineas from Ecostream Plumbing , a plumber who backed himself and went from side jobs to running his own business in just two years. They talked about Josh’s journey into the trades, the moment h...

Avoiding your numbers doesn’t make the pressure go away, it quietly makes it worse. Daniel Palmer from Bold Wealth talks about why so many tradies put off getting on top of their finances, how that avoidance impacts long-term wealth especially super, and what actually changes when you face it head-on. Daniel also shares why having the right people around you matters, how to protect your inco...

Moving from being on the tools to leading a team is where many tradies start to feel the pressure, and it’s often the people side of the business that creates the biggest challenges. Nic Stephen from You Who shares what effective leadership actually looks like in a trade business, and why most “people problems” come back to how leaders show up. The conversation covers adaptive le...

Most tradies don’t need more marketing.. They need clarity on what actually works. This week, Nic is joined by Rhys Clay, Partner and Head Geek at Kaha Digital , to strip digital marketing back to the essentials for service-based trade businesses. They unpack vanity metrics, overpriced packages, and the common traps that keep tradies stuck, while highlighting what genuinely drives results: a...

Australia’s growing trade deficit isn’t just a headline, it’s something business owners are feeling every day. Nic chats with tradie turned Workex founder Ian Cooper to unpack the real pressure on the ground, from a 48% apprenticeship churn rate to ageing workforces and stretched safety systems. With experience spanning trade school, food and beverage manufacturing, project manag...

Feeling stuck on the business hamster wheel, working hard but never quite getting ahead is where Daniel from Dreamscapes Landscapes & Garden Solutions found himself before he took the leap, asked for help, and started seeing real change. Nic sits down with Daniel about his first 12 months in business, the early grind of taking any job to make payroll, learning pricing and systems the hard way,...

Solar installs get all the attention. But what happens after the panels go on the roof is where many trade businesses are quietly leaking opportunity. In this episode, Nic sits down with Daniel Lazarus from Industrias to unpack the overlooked role of solar maintenance and why it’s becoming one of the most stable, scalable business models in the industry. They talk about recurring revenue, la...

Paperwork alone does not keep people safe on site. Systems do. Nic sits down with Gareth Davies, Managing Director of SafeAssure , to break down what practical and effective safety really looks like in a trade business. They explore why so many safety documents fail once the work starts, and how to build simple systems that tradies actually understand and follow on site. Drawing on real world inci...

In this special episode, Nic invites you for a stroll down memory lane, sharing how the TIB podcast began, the unexpected moments that shaped it, and the evolution from early guest chats to Real Tradie Stories, F#ck It Friday, and the daily TradieRonaCast episodes. It’s a warm and honest look at the journey and the community that has grown around it, wrapped up with a little nostalgia and a...

When December starts piling on the pressure, most tradies slip straight into survival mode. Nic digs into why the lead-up to Christmas feels so chaotic for so many business owners and offers simple, real-world shifts you can make right now to steady your cashflow, set clearer boundaries, get your crew aligned, and protect your energy heading into shutdown. The goal is to help you finish the year f...

What does it really mean to be a man today? Nic sits down with John Broadbent, author of Man Unplugged , to unpack the pressures, confusion, and disconnection many men face. From business collapse to personal rebuilding, John shares his own story and the lessons learned through men’s groups, rites of passage, and connection. This is an honest chat about self-worth, leadership, and legacy&mda...

Real change starts when you stop performing and start unbecoming. Nic sits down with Dr. Ash Moreland, neuroscientist and founder of the Re-MIND Institute , to unpack the hidden programming that keeps tradies stuck half on the tools and half in business. They explore identity, purpose, and the cost of hustle on marriages, kids, and mental health, then map a simple path forward: awareness, educatio...