The Site Shed is a global podcast for tradies and contractors who want clearer systems, stronger strategy, and steadier business growth. Each episode is designed to educate and inform around the topics that matter most in running and scaling a modern trade business.
Hosted by Tradie Web Guys digital agency owner Matt Jones, the podcast dives into real-world conversations on marketing, operations, apprenticeships, technology, hiring, leadership, finance, and more, all tailored to the trades and construction industry.
You’ll hear practical insights, honest lessons, and expert perspectives from across the globe.
Whether you work as a tradie, contractor, builder, electrician, landscaper, or run any service-based business, you’ll find ideas and experiences you can put into action straight away.
If you're ready to work smarter, not harder, The Site Shed gives you the tools, frameworks, and viewpoints to help your business move forward with confidence.
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Winning a building job creates a promise. The quote and contract matter, but so do the conversations, timeframes and expectations set before the client signs. Matt Jones sits down with Nathan Owen from Ground Floor Building Coach to unpack the costly gap between what a builder sells and what the team can actually deliver.
Nathan shares practical ways to document pre-contract changes, separate them from post-contract variations, plan realistic labour and lead times, and keep clients and subcontractors informed when things shift. You’ll also hear why software cannot fix a broken process, how small schedule milestones expose problems earlier, and why the client’s experience is the real test of the promise you made.
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 02:06 - Meet Nathan Owen 02:51 - The Sales-Delivery Disconnect 04:16 - How Expectations Become Scope 06:26 - Build a Variation Procedure 11:00 - Pre-Contract Changes vs Variations 13:09 - Document Every Agreement 15:15 - Capture Every Client Conversation 17:12 - Carry Changes Into Delivery 18:43 - Build Systems Before Automation 21:30 - Stop Repeating Mistakes 22:14 - The Risk of Time Creep 24:24 - Plan Labour and Lead Times 26:43 - Communicate Delays Immediately 31:54 - Build Time Buffers In 33:15 - Manage Work Through Micro Goals 36:10 - Keep Subcontractors Informed 38:29 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Nathan Owen Nathan Owen is the founder of Ground Floor Building Coach and has around 30 years of construction experience, including nearly 10 years running his own residential building business. He now coaches Australian builders to strengthen the systems, communication and commercial thinking behind the building work.
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Stop Cutting Headcount: Fix the Bottlenecks Draining Your Profit | ft. Nils Vesk | Ep. 515
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 01:01:17
🫱🏻🫲🏼 Book a Free Strategy Call with Tradie Web Guys: https://tradie.wiki/tssyt
When margins tighten, cutting staff can feel like the fastest way to steady the business. But if your best people are sitting behind broken handovers, unclear scopes and clunky processes, reducing headcount does not fix the cause. It makes the same bottlenecks harder to carry. Matt Jones sits down with Nils Vesk from Ideas With Legs to unpack a more resourceful way to lower costs and protect profit without damaging your team or reputation.
Nils explains how to run a friction hunt, diagnose behavioural, logistical and environmental causes, and turn the knowledge in your head into processes the whole team can improve. You will also hear his SCRAMBLE framework for generating practical alternatives, why substitution should come before elimination, and how to turn every mistake into a checklist, script, photo guide or training asset. If the business feels busy but the margin says otherwise, this conversation will help you find what is actually getting in the way.
🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/rzyCL6nOQo8
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:56 - Meet Nils Vesk 03:23 - Finding Hidden Business Bottlenecks 04:37 - Cutting Costs Without Cutting People 07:03 - Create Your Own Economy 11:05 - Focus on Higher-Margin Work 14:52 - Substitute Before You Eliminate 15:43 - Run a Team Friction Hunt 26:01 - Becoming a Resourceful Tradie 31:18 - Leverage What You Already Have 36:18 - Solve Causes, Not Symptoms 37:41 - Three Types of Root Cause 41:48 - Shift Your Business Perspective 43:32 - The SCRAMBLE Thinking Framework 46:16 - Get Knowledge Out of Your Head 48:12 - Document and Improve Processes 57:12 - Turn Mistakes Into Assets 01:02:07 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Nils Vesk
Nils Vesk is an innovation expert, author and the founder of Ideas With Legs. He helps organisations identify bottlenecks, improve processes and turn practical ideas into stronger commercial results. His work spans global brands and trade businesses, giving him a clear view of how resourcefulness can improve output while reducing unnecessary cost.
Google Just Made Your Leads More Expensive (And Nobody Told You) | ft. Ethan Carter | Ep. 514
Episode 514
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 45:58
🫱🏻🫲🏼 Book a call with Tradie Web Guys: https://tradie.wiki/yt
Google changed how target-based bidding behaves, and an account that looks completely normal could quietly produce fewer leads at a higher cost. Matt Jones sits down with Ethan Carter, Ads Specialist and Account Manager at Tradie Web Guys, to explain the August 17 change, why campaigns marked “Limited by budget” carry the most exposure, and how a gap between your target cost per lead and your actual result can now work against you.
They break down a real $1,000-a-day plumbing account, the three checks to run inside Google Ads, and five possible responses, from resetting targets to changing bidding strategies or increasing budget. You will also learn why a cheap lead is meaningless without your close rate and job value, what to ask your agency, and why the worst response is leaving the account to drift.
🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/g43-VItf72Q
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 02:06 - Google Changed the Rules 03:10 - Meet Ethan Carter 03:49 - A Real Trade Business Example 06:00 - The New Target CPA Behaviour 07:53 - Which Campaigns Are Affected 11:02 - The Limited by Budget Risk 15:32 - A $1,000-a-Day Case Study 17:10 - Monitor Before You React 21:44 - Three Checks for Exposure 27:21 - Option One: Reset the Target 28:52 - Work Backwards From Job Value 31:54 - Alternative Bidding Strategies 35:27 - When More Budget Makes Sense 36:27 - The Cost of Doing Nothing 40:13 - What to Check This Week 42:21 - What to Ask Your Agency 43:31 - Know Your True Acquisition Cost 46:25 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Ethan Carter Ethan Carter is an Ads Specialist and Account Manager at Tradie Web Guys, where he manages paid advertising campaigns for trade and contractor businesses. He works directly with campaign data, bidding strategies and lead costs to help clients generate profitable opportunities rather than simply buying more traffic.
AI Can't Fix Your Fractured Business | ft. Matt Jones | Ep. 513
Episode 513
Sunday, August 30, 2026 • Duration 29:37
🫱🏻🫲🏼 Book a Free Strategy Call with Tradie Web Guys: https://tradie.wiki/tssyt
Every tradie and contractor is being sold an AI robot to answer their phones right now, and most of them are about to waste their money. Matt Jones goes solo on this one to explain why the missed call was never the real problem. Leads do not die on the phone, they die in your inbox, and bolting AI onto a fractured system just helps you lose jobs faster.
Matt covers where AI genuinely wins for trade businesses, speed to lead, after hours call capture and inward facing reminders that push humans to follow up, and where it consistently backfires, deep qualification, quoting and papering over a sales process that was never properly defined. He then maps the full lead management flow the agency runs with clients, capture, respond, pursue, qualify and nurture, including the Sydney solar business that went from 2% to 77% conversion once humans went back on the phones. If someone has told you AI is the answer, listen before you sign up to anything.
🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/EFsiq892xlE
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:40 - The AI Robot Pitch Every Tradie Hears 02:32 - Leads Die in Your Inbox 03:29 - Where AI Wins: Speed to Lead 04:53 - After Hours Call Capture 05:33 - Follow Ups and the Eighth Touch 06:41 - Where AI Backfires: Deep Qualification 08:25 - Quoting Chaos and Price Shock 09:27 - Why a Broken Process Stays Broken 11:03 - Solar Case Study: 2% to 77% 13:07 - Mapping Your Critical Client Flow 15:29 - Capture: Every Lead Into a CRM 16:55 - Respond: The Five Minute Rule 18:26 - Pursue: Twice a Day for Five Days 22:00 - Qualify: The Discovery Call 24:28 - Nurture: Useful, Relevant, Frequent 27:03 - Get Your Impact Roadmap 28:37 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Host: Matt Jones
Matt Jones is the founder of Tradie Web Guys and the host of The Site Shed. He works with tradies and contractors every day on the sales and marketing systems that turn leads into booked jobs. This episode is a straight read of what the agency sees working and failing across client accounts right now.
You're the CEO of Your Health (Most Men Find Out Too Late) | ft. Dr. Stephen Sanders | Ep. 512
Episode 512
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 49:16
You're the CEO of Your Health (Most Men Find Out Too Late) | ft. Dr. Stephen Sanders | Ep. 512
🫱🏻🫲🏼 Book a Free Strategy Call with Tradie Web Guys: https://tradie.wiki/tssyt
You can run a business on four hours sleep, servo food and caffeine for a while. Then your body sends the invoice. Matt Jones sits down with Dr. B. Stephen Sanders, founder of Whole Men's Health, a physician who hit the wall himself in his late 30s with brain fog, fatigue and low libido at the exact point his career and family life were going well. His conclusion after ten years in primary care and years running men's health clinics is blunt. Most blokes normalise exhaustion until their performance, their relationships or their health force the issue.
Stephen breaks down the foundations that drive about 80 per cent of the result, which are sleep, nutrition and training, then covers what baseline blood work should actually include and how to read testosterone labs alongside symptoms instead of chasing a script. Matt and Stephen get into magnesium, vitamin D, zinc, omega 3s and creatine, why there is no one size fits all nutrition plan, the 3pm crash, peptides, and why trying to fix ten things at once collapses after 30 days. If you have been using your age as the excuse, this conversation takes it off you.
🎥 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/6seUic6paUw
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:49 - Meet Dr. Stephen Sanders 02:41 - The Wall He Hit in His Late 30s 04:08 - Why the 40s Hit Different 07:13 - Ageing Is Not an Excuse 11:28 - Training at 40 Versus 20 12:53 - The Foundations Are 80 Percent 16:20 - Relationships and Mindset 18:14 - Sleep, Training and Nutrition 19:33 - There Is No One Size Fits All 22:58 - Supplements Worth Taking 27:07 - Get Baseline Blood Work 30:11 - Testosterone, TRT and Symptoms 31:43 - The 3pm Crash 35:02 - You Are the CEO of Your Health 36:21 - Habits Beat 30 Day Sprints 43:16 - Health Scares and Second Chances46:14 - Phones, Kids and Presence49:21 - Closing Remarks and Resources
Your Customers Don't Want a Sales Pitch (Give Them a Diagnosis Instead) | ft. Chris Fresh | Ep. 511
Most plumbing businesses are losing jobs before the technician even picks up a wrench — because they're selling when they should be diagnosing. Matt Jones sits down with Chris Fresh from The Plumbing Sales Coach to break down why the traditional hard sell is costing trade businesses revenue, reputation, and repeat customers. Chris spent seven years inside a plumbing operation — first as a customer who hated the experience, then as the person who rebuilt it from the inside. Now he coaches hundreds of plumbing companies across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK on a service-first approach that's turned $238 average tickets into $1,400-plus.
This episode unpacks Chris's four-step diagnosing framework (symptom, cause, connections, and what else works just like it) and the three-option system that's pushing some of his clients past 96% close rates without a single pressure tactic. You'll hear why every call should trace from the fixture to the main, how to present repair-replace-upgrade options that let the customer decide, and why call-out fees become irrelevant when your conversion rate is high enough. If you've ever wondered how to increase your average ticket without feeling like a used car salesman, this one's worth your time.
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:54 - Meet Chris Fresh 02:37 - Looking for Problems Is Your Obligation 07:31 - Maximising Customer Lifetime Value 09:23 - Unreasonable Hospitality in Plumbing 12:22 - The Four-Step Diagnosing Framework 14:25 - Natural Progression vs Checklists 16:40 - Photo-Based Diagnosing Process 19:16 - Increasing Average Ticket Size 21:26 - Spend More to Win the Customer 23:49 - The Seventy Thousand Dollar Lifetime Value 25:24 - When Customer Retention Falls Away 29:04 - Lessons from Car Dealerships34:18 - The Call-Out Fee Debate35:34 - Fixing Conversions With the Three-Option System41:31 - Memberships That Actually Work45:04 - Closing Remarks and Resources
Your Business Will Never Outperform You | ft. Matt Jones | Ep. 510
Most trade business owners are running flat out, grinding through 12-hour days, and wondering why nothing ever seems to get easier. Matt Jones sits down with Matthew Jones from Cube Performance to unpack why no business will ever outperform the person running it.
Drawing on 35 years in the business space — including running his own plumbing business and coaching thousands of trade business owners — Matthew lays out the real reason so many owners hit a ceiling: they've accidentally become the engine of their business instead of its architect.
This episode breaks down the Personal Operating System — a structured approach to protecting the three things that matter most: energy, focus, and priorities. You'll hear practical takeaways like auditing your sleep for seven and a half hours a night, scheduling 30 minutes of movement daily, blocking deep work into your calendar three times a week, and identifying the one question your team keeps asking you (because that's where your biggest dependency sits). If you've ever told yourself you're "too busy" to work on the business, this conversation will challenge that — and give you a framework to change it.
KEY CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 03:15 - Meet Matt Jones: Cube Performance 05:35 - Why Owners Neglect Themselves 06:40 - Running A Business Is Brutal 08:57 - The Personal Operating System 09:54 - Why You Need To Step Away 11:23 - More Hours Is Not The Answer 19:10 - Energy, Focus And Priorities 22:58 - Sleep As The Foundation 29:28 - Food, Supplements And Balance 34:44 - Movement As Non-Negotiable 36:09 - Clear Start And Finish Times 39:16 - Focus As Competitive Advantage 41:38 - The Pomodoro Deep Work Hack 48:08 - Finding Your Vital Few Priorities 60:42 - Three Audits To Start Tomorrow 65:33 - Cube Performance's Annual Conference 67:06 - Closing Remarks and Resources
How to Turn a Trade Business Into a Sellable Asset | ft. Shayne Connolly | Ep. 509
80% of businesses that go up for sale never actually sell. Shayne Connolly is one of the ones who did, and even he wasn't ready for what came after. He thought he'd be popping champagne. Instead, on the day the money hit the bank, he says he's never felt so deflated in his life.
In this episode, Matt Jones sits down with Shayne Connolly, a returning guest who spent the last few years turning his trade business into something he could actually sell, then went through the process of doing exactly that. Shane walks through the mindset shift from "business owner" to "asset owner," why the emotional side of exiting gets ignored in favour of the mechanics, what he wishes he'd asked himself before signing anything, and why he's now building a platform to help other owners see the asset sitting in front of them before it's too late to plan for it.
Being good at your trade is the price of entry now, not the point of difference. Every customer already assumes you can do the job, so it's the stuff underneath that decides whether they hire you, refer you, or quietly go looking elsewhere. Matt Jones sits down with Justin Herald, entrepreneur, speaker and the man behind Service Rebellion, to unpack the eight things every customer is silently weighing up every time they deal with a trade business, most of which have nothing to do with how good the work actually is.
Justin built his first business on a $50 loan and $1.25 in the bank, grew it into a licensed brand sold in more than 180 companies worldwide, and has spent the years since studying why customers stay loyal to some businesses and quietly vanish from others. In this one you'll get the eight invisible evaluations customers make (importance, emotion, expectation, effort, certainty, understanding, personalisation and consistency), the phone call that cost four different trade businesses a job before they even picked up, and the emotional bank account concept that decides whether your business survives its next stuff-up. If a technically brilliant job still isn't winning you repeat customers, this is the missing piece.
Most tradies can tell you their hourly rate and their material margins off the top of their head. Ask what it actually costs them to take a card payment, and you get a shrug. That shrug is where the money leaks. Matt Jones sits down with Jimmy Moore from FLO Business Solutions to pull apart the machinery behind every transaction: where your fees really go, why the "3.4%" on your statement is often the least of your worries, and how proprietary software quietly inflates what you pay year after year.
Jimmy has worked with more than 20,000 businesses and helps oversee over a billion dollars in annual processing volume, so he knows exactly where trade business owners bleed cash. You'll learn how to work out your true effective rate in under two minutes, the three compliant ways to pass fees on to customers without copping a fine, and why chargebacks and "friendly fraud" might be costing you 2 to 4% of revenue a year. If you take card payments, and you do, this one pays for itself.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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About the Guest: Stephen Sanders Dr. B. Stephen Sanders is a board certified family medicine physician and the founder of Whole Men's Health, with clinics in Florida and Alabama plus nationwide telehealth. He spent his first ten years in traditional primary care before hitting his own wall in his late 30s, then rebuilt himself from the inside out. He now works with entrepreneurs, business owners and high performing men on energy, hormones, recovery and long term vitality. Husband and father of four.
Website: https://www.wholemenshealth.com Work with Dr. Sanders: https://www.wholemenshealth.com/provider/b-stephen-sanders-md-mph LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephensandersmd
CONNECT WITH THE TRADIE WEB GUYS! Website: https://www.tradiewebguys.com.au/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TradieWebGuysOfficial?sub_confirmation=1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TradieWebGuysOfficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tradiewebguys/ LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/tradie-web-guys Matt's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamthemattj/
If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
Love the audio version of this podcast? Subscribe to the link below: ⭐ https://followthepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
About the Guest: Chris Fresh Chris Fresh is the founder and CEO of The Plumbing Sales Coach, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. A former carpenter turned home service operator, he spent seven years running and rebuilding a plumbing business before launching a coaching programme that now works with hundreds of plumbing companies across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. His approach centres on diagnosing over selling and giving customers the information they need to make their own decisions.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
Love the audio version of this podcast? Subscribe to the link below: ⭐ https://followthepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
About the Guest: Matthew Jones Matthew Jones is the founder of Cube Performance and the Institute of Trade Professionals, based in Australia. A former plumber turned business coach, he's spent over 20 years helping trade business owners shift from being enslaved by their business to building operations that run without them. His background includes working with Olympic athletes in sprint kayaking, and he brings that same performance-driven discipline to business coaching.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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46:26 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Shayne Connolly built his trade business into a genuine asset, one that could run without him, then sold it to a trusted team member rather than going through a broker. He's the author of Exit Plan and is now building OwnerHQ, a platform designed to help business owners understand the real value of what they've built and plan their exit long before they need one.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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23:37 - The Reason Behind The Form
29:16 - Hiring For Personality
31:34 - Paying For Referrals
34:02 - The Market You're Not Tapping
37:21 - Letterbox Drops And QR Codes
45:22 - Websites Are For Storytelling
48:46 - The Emotional Bank Account
54:18 - Service Rebellion, The Book
55:52 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Justin Herald Justin Herald is an entrepreneur, speaker and the author of nine books, including his latest, Service Rebellion. He built his first business, the Attitude clothing brand, from a $50 loan into a licensed brand sold in every country through more than 180 companies, before selling it and moving into speaking and writing full time. He now speaks at more than 100 conferences a year and works with businesses, plenty of them trades, on the customer experience standards that keep clients loyal and referring.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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26:55 - Card Not Present Risk
33:47 - Breaking Free From Software Lock-In
37:13 - Start With Your Statements
40:54 - The Rewards Card Maths
43:46 - Chargebacks And Friendly Fraud
49:42 - Jimmy's Free Scorecard
51:24 - Closing Remarks and Resources
About the Guest: Jimmy Moore Jimmy Moore is the driving force behind FLO Business Solutions in Columbia, South Carolina, where he helps field-service businesses get paid compliantly, at a fair cost, without the fee creep. Across his career he's worked with more than 20,000 businesses and helps oversee over a billion dollars in annual processing volume. He knows the payments world from the inside, which is exactly why he's good at spotting where trade business owners overpay.
If you enjoyed this podcast and the series, please take 5 minutes to leave us a review: ⭐ https://lovethepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
Love the audio version of this podcast? Subscribe to the link below: ⭐ https://followthepodcast.com/TheSiteShed
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