The Build Up

The Build Up is a podcast for marketers in the construction industry. Hosted by Daniel Moore, the Creative Director of dissident, a creative agency that creates disruptive content and social media marketing for some of the leading and most rebellious brands in the industry. The Build Up is a podcast that puts a spotlight on the unique world of construction marketing. Dan will be speaking to marketers of leading brands, other agencies, creatives, founders and influencers. The series aims to highlight and give insights into key areas of construction marketing and provide insight for fellow marketers, founders and creatives in the space.

The Build Up is a arts podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 27 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Build Up, a arts show with 27 episodes published.

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  Episode #6

  Tom Milham: On Marketing a One-Man Business Without Big Budgets

  Sep 28, 20261h 2mS2

  In this episode of The Build Up Podcast —Tom Milham of TCM Air Conditioning Services opens the books on how a one-engineer business actually finds work. He started his apprenticeship at 16 and went out on his own six years ago; today roughly 70% of what he does is subcontracted, and he is not afraid to say so. There is a stigma about it in the trade, and his answer is simple: he is feeding his family, the money is coming in and the customer gets a good service. What he and Dan pull at all episode is how you market your way out of that dependency when the budgets everyone talks about online are numbers a small business will never have. Tom is refreshingly straight about what has not worked. Eighteen months paying a lead generation service produced nothing usable — the one enquiry he remembers was somebody wanting a hole drilled through a wall for a portable unit’s hose. Dan matches him with the £12k dissident put into Google ads that came back with nothing, and an agency who mentioned afterwards that it takes about twelve months to kick in. A couple of hundred quid boosting a Facebook post was just as wishy-washy. What has worked is the unglamorous stuff: Screwfix Live and the Installer Show, cards handed over and passed on, and Instagram — where at least 80% of his subcontracting work comes from. The idea at the centre of it comes from his tattooist, who fills a feed with black and white work and then wonders why nobody books colour: only show what you want to do. Tom is caught in exactly that trap, because a feed built on his own face on the tools is why contractors ring him and homeowners do not. Along the way he and Dan map what each channel should actually be doing — LinkedIn for facilities management, Facebook for domestic, Instagram for the trade, TikTok for apprentices — and get into the £2k-to-£15k website gap with nothing in the middle, the mismatched logos on the van, why construction’s one-up mentality will get you thrown to the wolves over a detail in the corner of a photo, and the free marketing nobody is doing, starting with the sign-written van most tradespeople are still sleeping on. Plus the two things he would tell anyone starting out: charge what you are worth, and get used to other people making their problems yours. FOLLOW TCM AIR CONDITIONING SERVICES Website: https://tcmairconditioning.co.uk/ Tom Milham (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/tcmairconditionigservices/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tcmairconditioningservices/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tcmairconditioningservices/ Stay connected with dissident creative agency: https://linktr.ee/dissidentagency Subscribe now and don’t miss future episodes of The Build Up Podcast!

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  Episode #5

  Ryan Jones: on Why AI Could Help Marketers Do Marketing Properly

  Sep 14, 20261h 15mS2

  In this episode of The Build Up podcast, Ryan Jones — managing director of SLG Agency, the construction marketing specialists now top of the CMA agency league table, and The Build Up's first-ever returning guest — comes back two years on to argue that AI is the biggest chance marketers have had to do the job properly. His problem with how the industry uses it: they reach for efficiency and more output, when the real prize is using AI to understand their audience well enough to earn a seat at the board table. Ryan makes the case that efficiency and innovation pull in opposite directions, so cutting time and cost quietly kills the space you need to think — and with only about a third of people who call themselves marketers formally trained, he sees a reset on offer. He and Dan get into synthetic data hitting roughly 90% of the accuracy of six-figure research (SLG won best use of AI at the CMAs for it), the “cost of dull” finding that a boring B2B ad has to spend 600% more to land, and why only about 14% of paid-social spend actually works. Along the way he covers SLG's Horizon 2026 report — four years of data now — where brand awareness has overtaken leads and marketers say buyers are harder to reach despite more channels, the 95:5 rule (nearer 99:1 in construction) that makes the first brand recalled the one that wins, and the post-it note he thinks every marketer needs: “they don't give a shit.” It's a grounded, numbers-first argument for using AI to understand people rather than replace them, and a reminder that whoever can't show their value is the one AI puts in trouble. FOLLOW SLG AGENCY Website: https://www.slg.agency/ Ryan Jones (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjonesslg/ SLG Agency (LinkedIn): https://uk.linkedin.com/company/slg-agency Horizon report: https://www.slg.agency/horizon/ Stay connected with dissident creative agency: https://linktr.ee/dissidentagency Subscribe now and don't miss future episodes of The Build Up Podcast!

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  Episode #4

  Ryan Jones: On Why Branding is Not a Sponsored Art Project (FLASHBACK EPISODE)

  Aug 31, 20261h 17mS2

  Hope you enjoy this flashback episode, originally aired 14 Oct 2024. In this flashback episode of The Build Up Podcast, host Dan Moore, Creative Director at dissident creative agency, sits down with Ryan Jones, Managing Director of SLG Agency, to explore the evolving landscape of marketing in the construction industry. With over 12 years of experience at SLG, Ryan shares how his background in PR has influenced his approach to brand strategy and client services, emphasising the importance of positioning and audience understanding. Dan and Ryan dive into the value of research and data-driven strategies to inform creative decisions, the challenges of navigating client expectations, and the significance of brand guardianship. They also discuss the need for adapting to modern marketing practices in a traditionally conservative industry, while celebrating the potential for innovation and creativity in construction marketing. Together, they encourage listeners to embrace bold ideas and strive for excellence in their campaigns. Follow Ryan Jones: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjonesslg/ Explore SLG Agency: https://www.slg.agency/ Stay connected with dissident creative agency: https://linktr.ee/dissidentagency Subscribe now and don't miss future episodes of The Build Up Podcast!

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  Episode #3

  Aaron Worrall: On How £40 A Day Became £1.75 Million

  Aug 17, 20261h 7mS2

  In this episode of The Build Up Podcast, Aaron Worrall — co-founder of Weather Wise Solutions, the family-run damp, mould and condensation specialists in Newcastle-under-Lyme — shares how he took the business from £4,000 and a kitchen table in August 2024 to £1.75 million turnover in its first year, now forecasting £3.5–4 million with a team of 33. It started with a £20-a-day Google Ads campaign a friend set up as a favour, on one condition: don’t touch it. From there Aaron leaned into the channels most trades sleep on — Google My Business, Google Local Services and Checkatrade — building a shop front rather than chasing leads. Aaron makes the case that most construction businesses have it the wrong way round: sort the brand, the customer journey and the three things every customer actually wants — turn up when you say, be honest, do a good job — and the work follows. He and his brother Jake have racked up millions of organic views (mostly on Instagram, filmed on a phone), while being honest that they can’t fully attribute what social does for the bottom line — they post for trust and visibility, not vanity. Along the way he covers why he won’t listen to the "experts" in the comments, how reinvesting every penny into better materials protects the reputation, the Checkatrade strategic-account setup that hands the legwork to an account manager, and the conversation with his dad — a mortgage guaranteed for six months — that got him to take the risk in the first place. It’s a grounded, numbers-first look at growing a trades business on almost no marketing budget, and a reminder that the shop front beats the lead chase every time. Follow Weather Wise Solutions: Instagram: @weatherwiseuk_ LinkedIn (Aaron Worrall): https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-worrall-cstdb-75593795/ Website: https://weatherwiseuk.co.uk/ Stay connected with dissident creative agency: https://linktr.ee/dissidentagency Subscribe now and don’t miss future episodes of The Build Up Podcast!

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  Episode #2

  Lee Fuller: On the £3m LinkedIn Play With Zero Ad Spend

  Aug 3, 20261h 6mS2

  In this episode of The Build Up Podcast, Lee Fuller — a bricklayer of 21 years turned marketer and founder of Level Up Media (Trade Accelerator) — explains why almost everything tradespeople are being sold about lead generation has it backwards. He tells the story of building Thames Valley Brickwork from a standing start to £3 million of enquiries in year one on organic LinkedIn alone, with no paid ads, and how an accidental detour through film school and content-led marketing turned into a full-blown agency almost by accident. What sets Lee apart is his starting point: he’s a tradesman who learned marketing, not a marketer trying to learn construction — and he argues that difference is the whole game. Lee makes the case that leads come at the very end of the process, not the start — and that turning the taps on before a business has its messaging, positioning and sales process sorted is the fastest way to lose money and torch a reputation. He’s blunt about the two things trades get wrong (starting with talking about themselves — "no one cares until they care"), why every marketing campaign needs a villain, and why you should phone the clients who nearly bought and didn’t. Along the way he covers speed to lead and video sales letters, the fixed money mindset that has owners scoffing at a £12 CRM while chasing another £600k in revenue, and a contractor who fixed his messaging, added a few systems and walked into a seven-figure exit. It’s a refreshing, no-nonsense counter to the "get you leads" agencies flooding every tradesperson’s feed — and a reminder that the real work is knowing what you’re actually trying to build. Follow Lee Fuller / Level Up Media: LinkedIn (Lee Fuller): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-fuller-3013aa188/ Instagram (Level Up Media): https://www.instagram.com/tradeacceleratorltd Stay connected with dissident creative agency: https://linktr.ee/dissidentagency Subscribe now and don’t miss future episodes of The Build Up Podcast!

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