Building Ideas - with Mark Millar

Mark Millar has joined Fix Radio to host our brand new property development show!Every week the show offers practical advice, shares real-life experiences and introduces ‘out of the box’ thinking, designed to help working tradespeople develop their property.Mark and his panel of guests take a look at all the big questions, including financing, project management, finding the right partners, planning permission and embracing new building techniques and technologies.

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Episodes

• Your Future Home Standard Strategy

  Sunday, 13 April 2025

  22 minutes

  Mark Millar talks to Journalist, Tim Pollard and finds out what the Future Home Standard is, why it matters to self builders and how you can put a plan in place to ensure you meet the requirements. Mark also talks to Daniel Smith from Internorm about how windows can play a key role in improving your property to meet the demands of the Future Home Standard

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• Rural Areas & Cottages

  Sunday, 6 April 2025

  33 minutes

  Mark Millar looks into the challenges and logistics involved with rural construction, renovation, taking on a cottage and the maintenance involved with features like thatched roofs. Guests include: Jacob Harrell, Paul Shelly & Tim Phillips

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• Mortgaging, Borrowing & Financing Self Build Projects

  Sunday, 30 March 2025

  30 minutes

  Robin Clevett steps in for Mark Millar one final time and looks into options for mortgages, borrowing and also financing your self build projects properly. Robin asks top quality builder, Jack Auletta to give an honest rundown of how financing your build and budgeting should work. Tom McSherry from Buildstore Mortgage Services explains how you can go about getting a mortgage or borrowing the money to finance a building project. Tom also touches on the current climate on the market and gives other financial insight

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• Building Your House Without Trade Experience

  Sunday, 23 March 2025

  29 minutes

  Robin Clevett returns to cover for Mark Millar for a second week and is joined by Callum Davies-Russell,who has taken on many aspects of his self build project without any previous trade experience. Robin asks Callum about the build, the wins and challenges so far and the limit of what he's been able to achieve without being professionally trained

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• How To Become A Top Quality Builder

  Sunday, 16 March 2025

  34 minutes

  Robin Clevett covers for Mark Millar and talks to top quality Builder, Jack Auletta. Jack talks about how he went from being an Electrician to getting into house building, How he approaches building and gives advice for those with no trade experience who are working with a Builder on their self build project

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• Getting Your Paperwork In Order

  Sunday, 9 March 2025

  21 minutes

  Mark Millar talks to Self Build Expert, Mark Stevenson about how you can go about getting your paperwork in order and keeping on top of one of the most stressful aspects of self build

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• Building Sustainably In London

  Sunday, 2 March 2025

  30 minutes

  Mark Millar talks to Rachel Owens from The National Retrofit Hub to discuss the options, challenges & virtues of modernising the capital’s properties. Mark is also joined by Architect, Nikolay Shahpazov about his renovation project in the capital that he's aiming to do as sustainably as possible

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• Flat Conversions With Robin Callister

  Sunday, 23 February 2025

  30 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by Robin Callister from Urbanist Architecture to talk you through flat conversions for HMOs 

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• Keeping In Line & On Top of Building Regs

  Sunday, 16 February 2025

  28 minutes

  Mark Millar talks about building regs, the latest changes, Approved documents, the order and which to do things and how to engage Building Control when self building. Guests include: Martin Conlon & Nicholas Lambert

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• Another Look At Retrofit

  Sunday, 9 February 2025

  23 minutes

  Mark Millar invites some guests who are Retrofit advocates and at the forefront of Retrofit training and implementation here in the UK to join him and talk about the virtues of Retrofit. Mark talks about the different and new options with regards to tech and renovation as well as talking about how the next generation of tradespeople here in the UK are getting taught to embrace it. Guests include: Victoria Isaac & Joe Booth

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• Getting Into Property Development

  Sunday, 2 February 2025

  25 minutes

  Mark Millar talks to tradespeople getting into property development this year and also talks to Stuart Wyeth about his experiences after having found success getting into property development in recent years. Guests include: James Naughton (Bricklayer), Alex Burman AKA Valley Viking (Carpenter/Roofer) & Stuart Wyeth (Property Developer)

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• Advice For Self Builders From Fix Radio Presenters

  Sunday, 26 January 2025

  27 minutes

  Mark Millar invites fellow Fix Radio presenters to join him and give advice for all of you getting into self build. Mark talks to Robin Clevett about how to properly prepare for a large scale domestic building projects. John Roberts talks about how much of the landscaping you can realistically take on and Todd Glister shares some current learnings from his second ongoing self build project

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• Find Your Plot

  Sunday, 19 January 2025

  31 minutes

  Mark Millar looks at finding a plot for your self build project. Mark talks to Architect, Julian Owen about the considerations you need to make with regards to design and planning as you select a plot. Andrew Smith from Addland joins Mark to discuss the challenges and nuances to finding a location, considering the surroundings and accessability of each potential plot as well as providing some insight into what aquiring a plot involves 

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• Some Great Renovation Ideas From Scott Baggaley AKA Scott DIY

  Sunday, 12 January 2025

  25 minutes

  Scott Baggaley AKA Scott DIY joins Mark Millar to discuss how buying a property that needed a huge amount of work doing transformed into an incredible renovation journey that's seem him gain a huge following online, with an upcoming Channel 4 show on the horizon. Scott gives some tips and ideas for renovating your home and for those who aren't in the trade explains the limits of what you could and should attempt with regards to DIY 

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• Dr. Joe Jack Williams Discusses Zero Carbon Housing

  Sunday, 15 December 2024

  30 minutes

  Sustainability expert & advocate, Dr. Joe Jack Williams discusses Zero caron homes, building with timber, his collaboration with a Japanese forestry company and plans to lobby the Government with regards to Zero Carbon houses and sustainable building methods

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• Architect Laura Jane Clark's Georgian Property & More!

  Sunday, 8 December 2024

  24 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by Architect, Laura Jane Clark to discuss her experiences, ideas, Her own Georgian home renovation and other notable projects 

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• Will 2025 Be A Good Year To Build?

  Sunday, 1 December 2024

  28 minutes

  As we come into the final month of 2024, Mark Millar invites a range of guests to join him and discuss what 2025 might have in store if you're planning to build. Guests include: Paddy O'Hart (selfbuildconsultancy.co.uk), John Newcomb, CEO of the Builder's Merchants Federation & Katy Ashcroft from the National Self Build & Renovation Centre 

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• Colour & Design Options For Your Walls

  Sunday, 24 November 2024

  27 minutes

  Mark Millar invites artist, designer & decorator Claire Noble to join him and give you a guide to colour choices, design options and mural creation for the walls of your self build, new home or existing property

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• Building With Timber

  Sunday, 17 November 2024

  18 minutes

  Mark Millar invites some champions of wood and timber framed construction to join him and discuss the benefits of using timber in your building practices. Andrew Waugh from Waugh Thistleton Architects talks about the possibilities and sustainability with regards to timber frame structures and Carpenter/Builder, Garvin Morey (Sterlingdale) discusses a notable build he completed with wood at the center of his building methods

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• A Chat With Architectural Technologist Angela Rossi

  Sunday, 10 November 2024

  25 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by Achitectural Technologist, Angela Rossi so that Mark can ask her about her approach to design and about her building ideas

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• Avoiding Running Out of Money On Projects

  Sunday, 3 November 2024

  30 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by guests so that he can get both expert advice and the experience of the self builder with regards to running out of money on self build projects. Guests include: Tom McSherry from Buildstore, QS Tim Phillips & Charlotte Gowers 

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• Product Knowledge For Self Builders

  Sunday, 27 October 2024

  28 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by industry expert and TV personality, Roger Bisby to discuss product knowledge. Mark has found that this is one aspect of construction that can trip up self builders, particularly those with little to no trade experience. Mark asks Roger a range of questions from where and who to get advice from to specific product knowledge, warranties and more.

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• A Look At The History & Future of Heat Pumps

  Sunday, 20 October 2024

  28 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by Dan Roberts, Technical Manager at Kensa to discuss the history of heat pumps, stretching back 25 years and is joined by Kimbo Betty. Kimbo is well known for his work training installers in plumbing & heating and has been at the forefront of training in renewables. Kimbo discusses some of the naunces of how heat pumps work and his experiences training people to install them

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• What's The Hardest Aspect of Self Build?

  Sunday, 13 October 2024

  32 minutes

  Mark Millar has invited two previous guests with self build experience to join him and explain what they felt were the hardest aspects of self build to get right. There's insight, tips and advice on how to approach your self build project from those that have been there and done it. Guests include: Nicky Marcus & Lucy Hutchings

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• Building Regs & Compliance with John Ryan (Symterra)

  Sunday, 6 October 2024

  34 minutes

  Mark Millar has invited John Ryan from Symterra (symterra.co.uk) to join him and give an overview on current building regs and compliance

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• Mark Millar & Robin Clevett Discuss Domestic Building Methods

  Sunday, 29 September 2024

  39 minutes

  Mark Millar has invited accomplished Carpenter, well known on social media and for his show on Fix Radio, Robin Clevett to join him and discuss his building ideas. Mark runs a range of domestic building options past Robin to get his thoughts on them and he also discussing the house building market and construction industry as a whole with Robin

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• What is Going Wrong At Some New Build Sites?

  Sunday, 22 September 2024

  31 minutes

  Mark Millar is joined by Mick from MTB Construction, who has had first hand experiences working at some bad new build sites to discuss his experiences. Mark then talks with Kelly Cartwright from Core Recruiter about how they bring tradespeople onto new build sites and the issue of rogue recruiters

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• Why Sustainability Matters When Building

  Sunday, 15 September 2024

  34 minutes

  Dr Joe Jack Williams, Sustainability advocate and expert, who has done some great work here in the UK around sustainable building practices, joins Mark Millar for a discussion. Mark asks Joe about how we would bring sustainable practices into focus when building houses, what different materials and ideas you could use in self building. There's also discussion about sustainability, retrofitting, building methods and listed buildings

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• Mark Millar Q&A!

  Sunday, 8 September 2024

  26 minutes

  Mark Millar takes the oppertunity without any guests joining him, to answer some frequently asked questions about his thoughts on self build, experiences in the trade, the UK house building market, his media work and much more

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• Young People Getting Into Self Build - Part 2

  Sunday, 1 September 2024

  20 minutes

  Todd Glister, host of the Heating & Plumbing Show talks about getting into self build at the age of 26 and his second ongoing build. Andrew Smith, Chief Customer Officer at Addland - joins us to explain how the 'help to build' scheme is a great tool/starting point to finance self build projects for young people

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More episodes...