9. July 2026
The Rise of Trade and Construction Influencers in the UK
A few years ago, if you'd suggested a marketing campaign built around a plasterer with a phone propped against a bag of grout, you might have got a polite nod and a swift change of subject. But today, that plasterer has half a million followers and a waiting list of brands wanting to work with them.
So, welcome to the rise of trade and construction influencers, which is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the UK home and DIY space and one that a lot of brands are still overlooking.
Who are these trade influencers exactly?
Trade influencers are the skilled professionals turned content creators; they’re carpenters, joiners, plumbers, plasterers and builders who've built audiences by sharing their work. They aren’t about glossy, agency-produced campaigns because they’re grounded in realness and show the good, what went wrong and how they fixed it type of content.
They sit slightly apart from the interiors and home decor creators most brands already know. Where an interiors creator shows you the finished room, a trade creator shows you the wall going up behind it. Both are very important, but the trades' content has a rawness and realness that audiences trust, precisely because nobody's pretending it's effortless.
Why trade and construction accounts are booming
The audience was always there; it just wasn't being catered to. Homeowners planning a renovation, first-time buyers sizing up a project, weekend DIYers who want to do it properly, and other tradespeople are all starting to follow these accounts due to increasing awareness. According to CORQ, seven million Brits are planning home renovations by 2027 and for brands trying to reach people who are actively spending on their homes, trade and construction creators are sitting on exactly the right audience.
Social media finally gave that audience somewhere to find each other, and short-form video turned out to be the perfect format for it. They were made for things like "watch me do this thing properly in 60 seconds," and a tiler explaining why grout keeps cracking is genuinely useful, watchable, and also product-led.
What makes these creators flourish isn't polished brand campaigns. The people who follow them do so because they are real, honest and credible. They are not being sold to; they are being taught. In the trades world, that trust runs deep. When a working tradesperson says a particular tool has earned its place in their van, their audience hears a tip from someone who knows, not an ad.
Why should brands care?
For senior marketers and PR teams, construction and trade influencers solve a problem that's hard to crack any other way, because they reach the people who actually buy the specific products.
Think about who follows a working tradesperson: other trades, renovators, self-taught DIYers and merchants. They aren't passive scrollers, they're buyers who often buy in volume and use that influence to decide which brand of sealant or power tool a whole site will use. So, a single trusted recommendation can have a positive effect a long way down the supply chain.
Because the content is focused on real work, it tends to age well; it’s evergreen content. A well-made "how to fit this properly" video keeps earning views and keeps mentioning the product, long after a polished campaign ad has been forgotten.
The catch, of course, is credibility. Trades audiences are quick to spot a creator who clearly hasn't held the tool before the shoot. Get the match wrong, and the partnership can actively dent trust.
How to work with construction and trade influencers
A few principles worth keeping in mind:
- Pick doers, not just posters. The creators who convert are the ones whose audience believes they actually do the work.
- Let them keep their voice. The fastest way to ruin trade content is to hand a creator a script. So the best thing to do is to give them the product and the main message, then trust them to talk in their most natural way.
- Think long-term. A creator who features your brand across several real jobs builds far more credibility than a one-off post.
- Measure properly. Engagement is nice, but link clicks, code redemptions and merchant sales tell you what actually worked.
If that sounds like more legwork than your team has time for, that's fair, because vetting genuine trade creators and matching them to the right brand is a job in itself. So, this is where we come in.
The trades are on camera now
Trade influencers are a fast-growing, highly trusted route to some of the most valuable buyers in the home and DIY market, and the brands moving early are the ones building the relationships that'll matter most.
At Build and Bloom Management, we represent trusted DIY, trade and home improvement creators across the UK, and match them with brands that want content that has an impact and drives conversions and brand awareness.
See who we work with on our Our Creators and For Brands pages, or talk to us about your next campaign.