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Episode 4: Breaking the Mould: Youth Leadership, Boardroom Warfare & Site Culture w/ Charlie Lewis
Season 1, Ep. 4
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In Episode 4 of Built on People, David Baker sits down with Charlie Lewis, the young and disruptive Managing Director commanding the Construction arm of the P+O Group.
Charlie has a simple but massive mandate: to build the subcontractor that bricklayers actually want to work for. But how do you command respect on site when you’re in your twenties? How do you shield your workforce from brutal boardroom negotiations, JCT contracts, and squeezed margins? And how does site mindset tie directly into mental survival?
David holds Charlie’s feet to the fire on the real commercial and cultural challenges facing subbies today—no PR spin, just raw trade reality.
In this episode, we cover:
- The "Where Are You in Life?" Check-In: Charlie’s current mindset managing rapid growth in a traditional sector.
- The 60-Second Charity Smuggle: Charlie rants about the public's worst assumptions regarding brickies and scaffolders while trying to smuggle four completely random words for cash! ⏱️
- Youth Leadership: Earning the respect of old-school site teams who have been laying bricks longer than you’ve been alive.
- Boardroom Warfare: Insulating your workforce and culture from brutal main contractor schedules and aggressive retentions.
- The Compliance vs. Skills Squeeze: Balancing the Building Safety Act and Net Zero targets against a national skills shortage (including insights from major sites like Davigdor Road).
- Mental Survival & SWAG: Why a positive site culture is a matter of life and death, and why subbies have a non-negotiable duty of care to their workforce.
- The Ambush: David putting Charlie on the spot for the upcoming SWAG charity clay pigeon shoot! 🎯
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2. Episode 2: Stripping away the "Director" illusion & the reality of the Main Contractor (with Lee Drew)
48:24||Season 1, Ep. 2On the Built On People podcast, host Dave speaks with Lee Drew, Construction Director at Arazu Construction, to unpack what the role really involves beyond stereotypes. Lee shares balancing a young company, five kids, and self-care, and explains Arazu’s collaborative culture and focus on health and safety first, then quality, commercial, and program. He discusses supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital and plays a charity rant game. Lee describes the biggest director-level shock as cashflow and responsibility for staff livelihoods, plus the need for long-term planning, disciplined overheads, and transparent communication. He outlines main contractor realities: tight margins (about 6.5%–8.5%), aggressive tendering, procurement and inflation risks under fixed-price contracts, and managing client, employer’s agent, and site expectations. A major theme is changing site culture to prioritize honesty and mental health, with Lee committing Arazu to donate to the Southern Wellness Action Group charity Clay Pigeon shoot later this year.
1. Episode 1: The Reality of Running the Business (with Jake Rogers)
25:59||Season 1, Ep. 1Host David Baker welcomes Jake Rogers, owner of Jack Rafter Carpentry, to discuss the realities of running a construction business beyond the “highlight reel.” Jake shares where he is in life—raising two young boys, balancing family plans, and feeling settled after seven tough years in the industry—and explains carpentry in simple terms. He recounts registering the company in 2017, moving from domestic work into commercial carpentry, pursuing accreditations, and taking the risk to avoid future regrets. Jake describes being blindsided by personal financial guarantees, reputation risk, and cashflow shocks, especially around COVID when clients went bust, leading him to trust his gut and walk away from bad contractors. He outlines the biggest stresses—constant calls, staffing, and client demands—and the rewards: flexibility and time with his children, plus building a respectful, non-hierarchical culture. He advises others to “just go for it,” build work on the side, and commit to hard early hours, and he agrees to support a charity clay shoot for SWAG, a mental health charity for construction.