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UK’S Biggest Superhome Builder Guy Phoenix Reveals Multi Million Car Collection & Insane Home Builds
UK’S Biggest Superhome Builder Guy Phoenix Reveals Multi Million Car Collection & Insane Home Builds
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About this episode
Guy Phoenix shares his incredible journey from a troubled upbringing to becoming the UK's leading superhome builder with a multi-million dollar car collection. He discusses his extravagant home designs, including unique features like shark tanks and plans for the world's most luxurious house. The conversation delves into his confidence, risk-taking mindset, and the influence of his artistic mother on his creativity. Guy's candid reflections on success, personal growth, and the high-stakes world of luxury real estate make for an engaging listen.
Topics:
statement vehicle
Cars:
Buick Grand National
Chrysler Fifth Avenue
Dacia Duster
Lamborghini Countach
Lamborghini Urus
Land Rover Range Rover
Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Triumph Herald
Volkswagen Passat
Check out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/
From sleeping in his car to building some of the most extravagant homes in the UK — this is the unbelievable story of Guy Phoenix.
In this episode, we sit down with luxury property developer Guy Phoenix to unpack the journey behind the headlines. From getting kicked out, banned from driving, and living in a car… to borrowing millions, building shark tanks inside mansions, and creating what have been described as the “Rolls Royce and Ferrari of homebuilding.”
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more exciting content about your favourite shows and celebrities. Hit the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest episodes👍 Like, Comment, and Share this episode. Join our discussion in the comments sectionCheck out Tweak: https://www.tweakuk.com/🔗 Follow Us:Instagram: @Roadtosuccessofficialpodcast@benedictfowlerContact: [email protected]
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Land Rover Range Rover
"...the yellow Lamborghini Urus on the drive and a Range Rover."
The Range Rover is a high-end SUV made by Land Rover. It's known for being very comfortable and capable of driving off-road, making it a favorite among luxury car buyers.
The Range Rover is a luxury SUV known for its off-road capabilities and premium features. It offers a blend of comfort, performance, and advanced technology, making it a popular choice among luxury vehicle buyers.
Car
Lamborghini Urus
"...the yellow Lamborghini Urus on the drive and a Range Rover."
The Lamborghini Urus is a fancy SUV made by Lamborghini. It's known for being fast and stylish, combining the features of a sports car with those of an SUV.
The Lamborghini Urus is a luxury SUV that combines the performance of a sports car with the practicality of an SUV. It features a powerful twin-turbo V8 engine and is known for its distinctive design and high-end interior.
Car
Chrysler Fifth Avenue
"...axes with the little yellow dots driving down the Fifth Avenue in New York. And I was like, oh, but that is the..."
The Chrysler Fifth Avenue is a big, fancy car that was made a long time ago, mostly in the 1980s. It was popular for being comfortable and stylish, and people often remember it fondly because it was a symbol of luxury back then.
The Chrysler Fifth Avenue was a full-size luxury sedan produced from 1979 to 1989, known for its plush interior and classic styling. It represented the height of American luxury during its time and is often discussed for its nostalgic value and unique design. The car is significant as it embodies the era's automotive trends and consumer preferences.
Car
Buick Grand National
"...ter, you know, everybody. I mean, flutter at the Grand National or on a football match, whatever. There's nothin..."
The Buick Grand National is a fast car that was made in the 1980s and is known for its powerful engine and cool black look. It's popular among car fans because it was one of the quickest cars of its time and has a special place in car history.
The Buick Grand National is a high-performance version of the Buick Regal, produced in the 1980s, known for its turbocharged V6 engine and distinctive black exterior. It is significant in automotive history for its impressive performance and has a cult following among car enthusiasts. The Grand National is often discussed for its role in the muscle car era and its impact on American automotive culture.
Car
Triumph Herald 1966
"But the car I actually started in was a Triumph Herald 1966. And it was on my birthday."
The Triumph Herald is a classic British car that was made in the 1960s. It's known for being small and easy to drive, and it has a unique design that makes it stand out.
The Triumph Herald is a small car produced by the British manufacturer Triumph from 1959 to 1971. It was known for its innovative design and was one of the first cars to feature a unitary body structure, which contributed to its lightweight and efficient performance.
Car
Rolls-Royce Cullinan
"...now, how do I give it there? Why do people drive Cullinan Rolls Royces to go to A2B? You can go and buy a ..."
The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is a super fancy SUV that started being sold in 2018. It's known for being extremely luxurious and is made by a brand famous for high-end cars, making it a symbol of wealth and status.
The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is a luxury SUV introduced in 2018, named after the largest diamond ever found. It is significant for being the first SUV from the prestigious brand, combining opulence with off-road capability. The Cullinan is often discussed for its unmatched luxury features and the status it conveys to its owners.
Car
Volkswagen Passat
"You can go and buy a Y-Redge Passat for 180 quid that will still do the same thing."
The Volkswagen Passat is a car that is known for being reliable and comfortable. It's a good choice for families because it has a lot of space inside.
The Volkswagen Passat is a mid-size car known for its practicality and comfort. It's often chosen for its reliability and spacious interior, making it a popular family vehicle.
Term
statement vehicle
"But you want to go there in style and it's a statement and it's a, you know, so that's why you buy the Cullinan Rolls Royce."
A statement vehicle is a car that shows off the owner's style or wealth. People choose these cars to make an impression on others.
A statement vehicle is a car that is chosen not just for its functionality but also for its ability to convey a message about the owner's status, taste, or lifestyle. These vehicles often reflect luxury, exclusivity, or personal style.
Car
Lamborghini RS
"...I have a Lamborghini RS out there, and I have not driven it for six months..."
The Lamborghini RS refers to a special version of a Lamborghini car that is designed for high performance and luxury. It's one of the more exclusive and expensive cars made by Lamborghini.
The Lamborghini RS is a high-performance variant of Lamborghini's lineup, known for its luxury and speed. However, specific details about this model can vary, as Lamborghini has produced several models with performance-oriented trims.
Car
Dacia Duster
"...ery house, not three or four months ago, selling dusters. You know, he had a bag, just come out of prison..."
The Dacia Duster is a small SUV that is known for being cheap and practical. It has been around since 2010 and is popular because it gives people a good car without costing too much money.
The Dacia Duster is a compact SUV that has gained popularity for its affordability and practicality since its launch in 2010. It is significant as it offers a budget-friendly option in the SUV market, appealing to consumers looking for value without sacrificing utility. The Duster is often discussed for its rugged design and capability in various driving conditions.
Select text to request an explanation
I was a bum. I got kicked out of home.
I was banned from driving and lived in a car.
Guy, you don't just build houses.
You build statements.
The world's most expensive ceiling.
Do you buy your cars new?
I love my cars.
The yellow Lamborghini Urus on the drive and a Range Rover.
My homes have been described as the Rolls Royce and Ferrari of home building.
So the house that you're at, I put a shark tank in it.
Then I bought a house down the road.
I called it the Caimans because I was going to put crocodiles in it.
You want a car house and you come and see Guy Phoenix.
I want lava running down staircases.
I'll ask you about stress.
I borrow millions and millions and millions of pounds
and pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in interest.
I mean, how can you sleep at home?
I owe that money.
It's that much money now.
These people can't let me die.
Guy, you don't just build houses.
You build statements.
Literal statements.
And that was the same for when I pulled on to your drive today.
But in your own words, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Guy Phoenix and I am a property developer.
I now build, as you said, I started off building regular houses.
And now we've built up and climbed the ladder
till we build some of the most extravagant and expensive homes,
certainly in the country, if not the world.
And one of your life goals is to build the biggest, most expensive.
The most extravagant, the best house in the world.
The most extravagant, not necessarily the biggest,
because there are some ridiculous houses out there.
The most expensive, the most extravagant,
the most luxurious home ever built.
And there's only a few locations on Earth that will take it.
I have an idea of where it wants to be.
I go out there a lot to South France, Monaco.
You might better, you know, Miami.
You could do it in an apartment in Monaco
if you had the top 15 floor in New York.
If you had the top 15 floors.
But yes, I envisage its own island with, you know, sort of glass castle
with fountains and waterfalls and your own mooring for your boat
and your security and your outbuildings.
And then you can have all your, you know, you have your own golf course
and you can have your own casino and bowling alley and helipad and that sort of thing.
So a house that's literally, you know, a secure home where you've got,
you know, there's only three or four guys, you know, I'm talking about
that could afford this, it would cost billions, not half a billion,
not a billion, but billions to do to buy and build this.
But eventually that's what I want to work to.
That's the dream.
When did that dream begin?
A long time ago.
And if you start at Terris housing, working up to the dream,
I'm up here somewhere now, you know, I build some of the most expensive
houses for sports personalities, a high net with individuals.
I've already built for, you know, extremely wealthy people,
lots of famous clients who don't want their homes necessarily showcasing,
which is difficult because what we're trying to do is show what we're able to do.
But you come to me and you're a well-known sportsman slatter, a billionaire.
And I want you to be my house guy, but I don't want it all over the internet.
I don't want it on the TV.
And this is for me.
So I'm like,
I want to I want to show what we're able to do.
But you've got to take the, you know, some people like it.
Some people don't.
Is that been the same all your life?
And you've never changed in if you don't like me, you don't like me.
If you like me, you like me.
Or were you ever slightly less confident?
No, I've always been confident.
And that's what I explained to my son that he, you know, you can sort of pretend.
So if you're shy, you know, public speaking, for instance, and he was,
and Jack's hiding behind the camera there.
I know I can't see him, he's hiding behind the camera there.
I said to him, just pretend you're not.
And you know what?
First impressions when you stand up in the class for the first time,
you're the most confident person, that's it, set in stone.
You are then the most confident one.
And all of a sudden, all the confidence just flows into you.
Now I do lots of, you know, podcasts and TV and YouTube and Instagram and all that sort of stuff.
So it doesn't bother me, I enjoy it.
But confidence is the most important ingredient to me to become successful.
And when I build for, you know, I'm Marmite.
So a lot of people will love me.
And then you'll have a lot of people out there that say he's a f***ing overweight,
long-air, foul mouth, opinionated f***ing builder.
Do you know what I say?
Turn the off, turn the channel off, go on the other, you know what I'm saying?
So confidence, the most important ingredient to become successful and risk-taking.
So confidence and risk-taking come along.
Should I do it?
You'll always find a reason not to do something.
Should I buy that house?
Even if it's a little terrace house, should I change me?
You know, should I build an extension on it?
Well, is it going to be worth this?
Is it going to cost two more?
Don't know what I'm doing.
You'll find a million reasons not to do it.
You only need one to do it.
So take the risk, jump in, get it done.
And if it doesn't work, brush yourself off and get on with it.
Most of the time it works.
I always look to see which bits of someone's youth, which bits of their
ingredients are still there today at the other end of the piece of spaghetti.
And it's fair to say that your pieces of spaghetti are like a little bit
curled up in the middle, a little bit different, but some of them do translate.
And your mother, you see her on a lot of the different shows that you've done,
providing art, making amazing, emotional and quick pieces to go in the
properties that you build.
And she's always been artistically minded.
You can see that creativity come through in you.
Where do the other bits come through?
Because it's not necessarily a straightforward, right?
Well, my childhood was very different.
We weren't going to that because we only got an hour, but I had a
pretty miserable upbringing.
And that sort of crafted me to where I am today.
But, you know, I didn't live with my mom until a teenager and then I came to
not to him. We still fall out after 10.
We're in the same room for 10 minutes now.
We literally fall out.
So she's very artistic.
I watched her doing houses and hotels when I was a kid.
And, you know, like you said, so she can look at, you know, there's nobody
better at dressing her house up when it's when it's finished.
So you finish a house and you spend years building it and do all the
polished floors and the Venetian plaster and the glass and the liquid metal
and the lighting and all the other bits in the components that make a house.
And then you've got to know where to put the oversized sort of rubber
plant and the console table and the lamps and the coffee table and the
rugs and the sofas and everything needs to flow.
And it's very easy to screw it up by finishing a beautiful house and then
dressing it badly and killing it.
Stone dead.
And my mom is the best on a dress in the house.
She's now in California, so I've been forced to do it myself.
But what I've been doing is learning from her over, you know,
since I was a kid of how to myself.
I still can't do as well as her, but I'm better than most people.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
So, you know, there would all be a time when I can get, you know,
when I've done it now and I've had to do a few houses alone, I just think,
yeah, it looks good.
But if she was there, what would she do?
And she's really good.
And then, of course, I can't paint my campaign, but like a child, she will paint something.
I mean, I remember when I lived in California for a short period,
you know, she was painting for a living and I was much younger and had a go at it.
And I was like mixing yellows and blues and and it turned into into like liquid
diarrhea where they were all the colours mixed in.
So I was messing around with it.
I ended up throwing toilet roll out here and she just looked at it and said,
what the fuck have you done?
So but this brown canvas, I remember it one particular piece, big square piece.
She looked at it, stood back, got a pallet knife out and some yellow paint
and started doing this.
And within 90 seconds, you stood back 10 feet.
It was taxes with the little yellow dots driving down the Fifth Avenue in New York.
And I was like, oh, but that is the sheer talent.
So unfortunately, I didn't inherit that.
As I said, my mom's out in California now, but very, very fortunately,
Jack's new girlfriend is a super artist, so I've replaced mom with her art.
So we're very lucky in that aspect.
Do you think that's the happiest endorphin that you have is the ability
to enjoy other people's creativity?
I can see you absolutely love it, like a respect for doing something well.
Yeah, I mean, I've learned.
And I get lots of crazy ideas and where do my ideas come from?
I see the people just pop in there, but I guess we travel around the world.
We see we stay in lots of nice hotels and, you know,
I look on the Internet and you look in magazines and you might walk into a foyer
in a hotel and see him.
He went to one in Singapore not long ago.
We've got this great big open space with a sort of feature hanging from the ceiling,
which is not good, but it could have been so much better because it needed lighting.
And, you know, my favorite tool is lighting.
So what I can do is turn a house into a very special house by,
you know, pelmets, soffits, shadows.
And then you light it on and you get these warm feels and you put these
neutron system in which enables you to dim everything down and creased.
Yeah. And that's how I do it.
But what was your original question?
Well, some of the fundamentals from that creativity have obviously come
from your mother's creativity, running through your blood.
What I don't get, and this is kind of drawing a comparison of my moment,
my mom had a really difficult upbringing and what it made her was not a risk-taker.
Unconfident.
She's always told she couldn't do something and she ended up believing she couldn't do it.
Lovely.
She's been fantastic to me in my whole life, but my dad was where I got my kit.
Let's go.
And I feel like with you, it could have gone that one way or another
because you describe your childhood, but you went the other way.
Why? I was told I'd either be in jail,
dead or super successful.
And hopefully I've taken the latter.
But yes, it can.
So the way you're brought up and the people you surround yourself with, you become.
If you surround yourself with.
Drunks. Ultimately, you become a drunk.
You know, you hang around with a group of smokers, you start smoking.
And you hang yourself around with successful
people who are interested in business and, you know, creative.
A bit of that rubs off on you.
But when when you're younger, like you said, with your with your mom,
that's unfortunate. That's a sad story because what
if your dad's an alcoholic, you either become an alcoholic
or a very few don't drink because they've seen what it's what it's done.
I barely drink. You barely drink.
There you go. So obviously they were an alcoholic.
But I don't know.
He liked too many beers.
He liked too many.
I'm a drinker. I'm a gambler.
But what I can do is control it.
So it's everything in moderation.
I love to go and have a drink and I love to have a gamble.
But, you know, gambling, for instance, that can destroy anybody.
The amount of money you've got if you get deep into the gambling.
And so my boys have a flutter, you know, everybody.
I mean, flutter at the Grand National or on a football match, whatever.
There's nothing wrong with that.
But what I'm trying to say is you go one way or the other.
Unfortunately, not that my parents, my parents were just extremely,
extremely, not my mom, but I live with my father and his wife
for the majority of my childhood, and they were just ridiculously strict.
And what happened with me is my personality, when somebody tells you,
you will do this, you know, I'll do exactly the opposite.
If they said you must go out every night and get drunk
and come home early in the morning, you know what you're done?
You're probably staying in and worked hard.
What? So it's different personalities that craft you into the person you are today.
You know, whereas I'm not elated about the way I was brought up,
it's it's made me more successful and it's made me more focused.
And when somebody clips around the ear and says, you know,
you can get up early in the morning, you'll be a milkman.
Because, you know, that is I was like, no chance.
You know, I saw a Ferrari drive down the road and a man with a gold watch.
I'm going to have a Ferrari one day and I'm going to buy a gold Rolex watch.
And somebody said, don't be so ridiculous.
You know, you went out and did it just to prove them wrong, didn't you?
Well, I find that very fascinating because there's also a yellow Lamborghini
Eurus on the drive and a Range Rover.
And you know, we love cars on this podcast.
There's like that whole part of it.
And I think cars are a brilliant thing to put up there to be like,
I've stuck this thing up on the wall.
I can now chase it.
It gives you something to chase.
And it's no different to the project that you want to complete
with one of the most amazing houses in the world.
It gives you something to chase.
Yeah. But to get there, you mentioned that a key fundamental of that
is being in the right circles.
But the car you started in was one that you slept in.
So how the hell do you get in the right circles?
I mean, you've also done some research into it.
But the car I actually started in was a Triumph Herald 1966.
And it was on my birthday.
So I passed my test on my birthday, which, of course, they they helped me do.
Straight after within an hour of passing my test, I wrote the car off within an hour.
I went home that night and there were happy birthday cars on the table.
And there was also a learner car with a cross through it.
And I ripped one in my off and so crashed the car within one hour.
I'm passing my test on my birthday.
I actually wrote off the car that was given to me.
I won't give me another car.
I then had to, of course, work and build up.
But that's quite an interesting little story.
But then how do you get from that car into the right circles to get to?
I was in the wrong circles for a long, long time.
I was a bomb. I lived in a car.
I got kicked out home.
I was banned from driving and lived in a car.
So imagine how painful that is because that car was literally my house.
I remember being parked up in Radcliffe on Trent with a duvet and a load of pillows.
And the wind was steamed up.
And ultimately every morning you'd have a policeman or a neighbour knocking on the door.
So what are you doing?
And of course I wound the window down.
And then what I had to do was take the handbrake off and let it roll back
or push it to try and move the space away.
You know what I mean?
Or get one of your mates to move the car, whatever, because, you know,
my house was a car for not a long time.
I don't know, six weeks or something like that.
Problem solving.
Yeah, problem solving. That's what I am.
So what I do for a living in my business is I am a problem solver.
Everybody knows what they're doing.
I am not a skilled tradesman.
As I've said to various people before, if I hammer in, you know,
five nails into a piece of wood, I'll break four fingers doing it.
So I'm no good at that.
But I know how to do it because I've been doing it so long.
I know I've watched people who are good and watched people are crap.
And now I can give advice to new people how I want it doing
because I know how you should do it.
So, of course, I look like the expert, but when it comes to doing it,
there are there are, you know, the guys do that.
They're the they're the skilled guys in the fact that they carry out the work.
I say, I want that wall covered in liquid metal.
I want all soft bits all the way around.
And I want the staircase to float like this.
And then I give that to a task of somebody else
who actually has to come up with the, you know, the mechanics
to get that staircase to float.
You said you could have gone one of three ways that start the podcast.
And I think it's fair to say that you went the latter.
Yeah, I hope so.
How what what moment in those kind of years
after living in that car rolling it down the hill,
that without that moment, it could have been a bit of luck.
It could have been major.
It could have been whatever was the one that without you wouldn't be here.
Change her.
So until I met Michelle.
I was, you know, going out gambling, drinking,
going out with different women as we all do when we're younger.
And then when I met her, it all changed.
So very quickly, we had our first child
within, you know, six months of being together or a year of being together, whatever.
And then it was just something clicked in my mind, which is you've got to change now.
You've got to sort of step up and then I've got four kids all with Michelle.
We've been together for over 20 years and she's helped me
where she doesn't get involved in the business, in the design.
Or, you know, if I asked her to help me, she'll help me.
But she's not on a day to day basis involved in it.
But it was meeting my current wife and I've only been married once
that crafted me into becoming focused and happy.
But how does someone, you said earlier, say that if somebody tells you to do something,
you do the exact opposite normally?
How does then that person change, change that?
She didn't tell me what to do.
That's the thing. She would have been, she was happy.
Well, you know, we fell in love with each other and she fell in love with the old guy, if you like.
But didn't then say, this is why people split up.
Because if you, you know, the main thing, monogamy, is the important role.
Women care about is basically, you know, you're with a partner, you don't cheat, you know, and I don't.
But if she was saying to me, you've got to be in a certain time
and you can't do this and you can't do that, it won't work.
But what I'm saying is my personality is one.
Whatever you tell me to do, I will do the opposite, give me freedom.
And then you don't take the piss.
And then if there is a problem, you sit down and talk about it rather than an explosion and splitting up.
Like, you know, I'm sure you've got friends that have a fucking fallout every week.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I'm like so bored with it.
You know what I mean? Always splitting up.
No, you're not.
You can have an argument without splitting up.
But no, so Michelle was the component that changed my life.
I'm 50 odd now, I'm 51 now.
I'm like, how old am I?
I might even be 52, I can't remember.
52 now, like I said, 51.
And, you know, my life changed for the better.
After meeting her.
What was your first big build after that, that without that build,
without that thing, it wouldn't have catapulted you to?
There hasn't been.
Well, maybe.
So the house that you're at right now.
These guys can't see it, but maybe you can show a few pictures.
Yeah.
It was was one of the largest houses.
This house was built 25 years ago and I put a shark tank in it.
So a shark tank in the lounge.
And I got some black tip reef sharks in from Indonesia and I put them in.
And this house became known as the shark house.
And of course, people notice you because it was different.
Then I bought a house down the road.
I called it the Caimans because I was going to put crocodile in it.
And I actually sold it to a guy who came to me before and said,
I don't want the crocodiles to mine if I don't have the crocodiles.
And of course, we saw the house.
But that was one of my dreams.
And it was a bit crazy.
So I thought the next one will put monkeys in it, jumping about trees
and put Ivy hanging down and we can do fiberglass rock
and we can do rivers and we can do waterfall.
And all this is fun.
But you have to have a, you know, what's the word?
A balance between us.
A balance between selling houses and creating a theme park.
So it gave me lots of attention.
So this house is answer to your question.
And then what I did was rather than trying to do the crazy
crocodiles, monkeys, sharks, we went into just
pure luxury and extravagance and climate control and Polish marble
and beautiful Venetian plasters and all that sort of stuff.
And then so I managed to get the accolade of building
some of the best house in the country from just, you know, quality
rather than crazy.
Most people, as a barrier to doing that stuff, because you say
they put up barriers rather than tearing them down.
Yeah.
Well, I can't afford to do that.
I don't have the money. I can't afford to do that.
I find your stories with money absolutely fascinating.
So it just seems when you need to go and get X chunk, you can go and get it.
Big risk taken.
So you just jump through them. Is that true?
I borrow a lot of money.
I've had banks come to me and, you know, literally.
We cannot deal with this person.
So, you know, do me a cash flow.
How much are you going to cost? No idea.
Pardon. Absolutely no idea.
I tell you, I tell you how much it costs when it's done.
I'll let you know we cannot work like that.
And then a particular bank and we just got on
and they took the risk with me and they reaped the rewards for for many, many years
because after seeing the first one and delivered, you think, OK,
like how this guy does it, even though it's a bit off the wall.
Let's do another one.
And then, of course, we've done multiple houses down the line that have all succeeded.
And now I can ring them up and say, I want to buy the moon.
And they say.
Transfer is on the way.
That's all from relationship.
Relationship building, very important.
And I'm very honest.
So don't pay anybody back.
So I always pay my rent on time, never let anybody down.
You know, if you go around knocking people and banks and quibble
and even if it's a little bit paying a little bit more
interest than you should from the conventional banks, you know, I'm not talking
about one of the big four, I'm talking about sort of a money loan in your bank
who charge a little bit more.
But they prepare someone like Coots or people like that.
Well, Coots is one of them.
But they're really a wealth management company now.
Coots was bought out by RBS.
But I'm talking about the likes of Golden Tree, who were owned by Fred Don't,
the big gambling, you know, the guy that owns Betfred.
So that company subsidiary of Fred, he lent me money.
Many, many projects.
Yes, they charge me a bit more.
But without their money, you get it done.
I won't be able to do it.
So with their money, I got it done.
But without their money, I wouldn't be able to go forward.
What I find fascinating about your projects is obviously a lot of customers
on certain projects.
If you're building a house for the client rather than building the house
and selling it to a client, you have to work with them.
There's a relationship.
Now, when I was younger, I struggled with a few people I had in an office
I was managing. So I got made to do this thing called a disc personality profile.
And it gives me a code and it turned out my code is exactly the same as my dad's code.
They give you this code, you're dominant, you're this, you're that.
What code was that? It wasn't C, that's just C was it?
It was DI something, not CK.
Anyway, they then good did all the other people in the office
and told me how I could talk to them better.
And suddenly I got way more out of all these people from talking to
it worked unbelievable.
So psychology, unbelievable.
I recommend it to anyone because it is
a woman called Tanya from Oxford.
So what does she do?
It's basically what she does.
She sits down with everybody for two hours as a conversation with them.
Make them has some code, which is just like, I guess, your number.
Like that's that code.
Each one of those letters means something different.
That's the one on top of the one you got the most of.
Dating agency sort of thing.
It says, if you're one of those codes and that person's one of those codes,
if you change this about the way you speak to them,
you're going to have a far better time doing it.
And the way that worked for me is I used to go as confident,
crazy Ben running at the accountants and going, I need 20 grand.
So I've got this new idea to build this new thing on the store
and it's going to be amazing.
And if it works, people are going to flood it.
And what the accountants would see is like a snake.
They'd see red, danger, danger, danger.
So they taught me that I needed,
if I actually went with a piece of paper and said, I've thought about this,
I've wrote some numbers down, I'd get something better out of them.
What I'm getting at is the way that you and some of your customers interact.
Is it very, very difficult sometimes when you're two different disks,
two different personality profiles?
How would you crack that?
So you don't, you make sure you can sort that before.
So the current project I'm working on, very successful guy.
Really go on with his wife as well.
And then they have sort of given me a free reign.
So what I say to people is you come to me to build your house.
Let me build you the house.
I understand when you're having a house built,
you want an involvement in the finishes and the colour of the tiles.
And the woman, particularly in the kitchen and where the apparatus is,
you know, the appliances and stuff are going.
But I've always had clients that have come to me to build them a house.
And literally for day one, they're telling me how to drive a dumper.
You know, I mean, what do you do?
You know, you do this.
So you I come across because I come across the only people
who I build homes for extremely successful people, you know,
and they may have run their businesses
in a particular way and be very good at it, but you've got to give me freedom.
You know what I mean? Otherwise, you don't work.
That's what I'm getting at, because if you're both DICs,
dominant individuals, this is normally when the people at that company
say you get the clashes.
And you're two silverbacks walking around site, you know,
but ultimately they're the one with the money and they've employed me.
So it's difficult.
But what will what will happen?
It never has happened.
Is I just say, do you know what?
Do you've never walked off a job?
Never walked off a job.
Got close?
Yes. Many times.
Go on, tell us a story.
Um, not not just once.
Multiple times where I start with a battle.
I've got a fiery, I've got a fiery temper.
And when, you know, you've got a building site and somebody's turning up.
And in some instances, literally
sticking a hat on and jumping on a machine
and telling all the lads who, by the way, are seasoned professionals
and specialists of how to do a particular task.
And they're telling them how to do it differently.
I got lads coming to me saying, we can't do this.
We can't work with this good.
I'm like, just bear with it, bear with it, bear with it.
And then when they do come and say, I am leaving, if this goes on.
So then I have to go back to the client and say, listen, best win in the world.
You made a ton of money.
You're super successful.
I know you're interested in building a house, but fuck off.
Go on holiday.
Enjoy yourself because building a house, remember, can be very, very stressful.
What people don't understand is you get couples,
whether it be a 75 year old man who sold his business
or whether it be a 20 year old internet whiz, you know,
both have got the important ingredient for me, a lot of money, you know, cash.
Once you've got a lot of money and come to build a house,
some people decide to do it themselves.
So we're doing it, but I've watched people actually split up.
I had two lottery winners that they won nearly 50 million quid, 46 million quid.
And they decide they got a house designed and it was, you know, it was insane.
I mean, literally insane.
It was 50,000 square feet, not too far from here.
But they decide they were going to do it themselves.
They didn't even get to poor concrete because they fell out before
because he wanted that.
She wanted that.
And, you know, that was an early example of how it can go wrong.
But take the stress out.
That's what I get coming for.
Yes, you can have an input.
Yes, there's a dialogue.
And what what's crazy is clients want to come down all the time.
And sometimes I've got clients to come down on a Friday night.
You know, just I'm walking out the door.
I'm going to have a pint with my mates in the pub.
And, of course, the priority is to show them around the house.
And, you know, you only came three days ago.
And then on Monday morning, sometimes, or can we come down again?
No, it's been a weekend.
So, you know, it's not Friday night.
It's the same as on Monday morning.
But you have to absorb that and you have to play the game.
Can you tell me a bit about your mates down the pub?
Yeah.
Tell me some of their names.
Can you tell me what they do?
Oh, hang on a minute.
Is this HMR series?
Is this a pub card? No, no. Clive.
And Clive does
conservatories, big guy, lovely guy.
One of the kindest men you'll ever meet.
Mark, who owns a pub.
So he's a pub owner.
I've got Ratty, who is a...
What is it? An exterminator, is he?
So Ratty, his name isn't Ratty.
I call him... I don't even actually know who the real name is.
I call him Ratty. I do know his name.
His name's Jamie.
Everybody else calls him Jamie, I call him Ratty.
But he, you know, I met him because he came here.
We had an insect problem and he sorted it out.
And there, we've got a close group of friends.
I've got Jason, who's my closest friend, who lives in Cyprus.
And it's just easy. You can release it at the end of the day.
The reason I ask you is because there's only so much media
about a person you can take in before you actually sit in a van
and meet with them.
And the bit that you see is that,
I'm throwing a party for my fifth deer down in the south of France.
There's going to be famous people.
There's the Ellie Bannins.
Yeah, go on.
You said it's about the people
that you surround yourself with as way successful.
Is it important for you to stay grounded and just go down the pub
and be able to tell us any of the guys?
And if I showed you the pub I went to,
it is a horrible, shitty little pub.
Mark will never forgive me for that.
But what I'm saying is you would expect me to go and sit in the ritz.
You know, we do that once every three years and we do it with the family.
But what I like at the end of the day is to go and have a pint of Bud Light
with my mates and the races on the telly.
And we swear and we chuck beer matters to each other
and it's a release.
And then I come home and have my tea at the same time every night.
I'm not putting any of them down in any way.
That's not what I'm doing.
What I'm saying is is it sometimes hard to be like,
right, what have you done today?
So and so I've done it.
What have you done today?
I've been building a 70 million pound mansion for the Kardashian.
It's like, like, do you ever struggle with that?
No, no, no, no.
You are in different lives.
That's why I like going to the pub
because never ever do we talk about work.
We go down there and it's the release.
I talk about work all the time.
Everybody's super interested in what I'm doing.
But let me give you an example.
If you know famous people and I know a few of them
to start with, you get excited, right?
You know, after a few months, it's normal.
So that superstar who can't walk two steps down the road
without somebody asking for a selfie or an autograph
then becomes a normal person.
And what is lovely is to go there and it's my release.
And I said to myself, you know what?
I'm not going to go in there.
A lot of the time I'm down in London or I've got meetings
or like I said, I've got clients coming to the house
or we're catching up on paperwork.
But it's an important hour for me after work.
Fortunately, it's on the way home from the local project
to pull in there and literally go in and have a pint
or sometimes two, it depends, you know, how long I've got.
I always come home for the same time at tea.
Michelle and I are like a 40-year-old married couple
or sorry, should I say a couple from the 40s
where she cooks tea at the same time.
We all eat together, you know,
families eat together, stay together.
And we've just got a regime.
She doesn't work.
I don't want her to work.
And it works for us.
But the release is not about, you know, like you're here
and I'm sitting in front of this microphone now
because I build some of the most extravagant homes
in the world, but it's not all about that.
Yeah, that's fun, but the downtime is important too.
Many of you might not know this,
but away from the recordings that I do in my van studios,
I've actually got a digital marketing agency.
Now we specialize in a lot of automotive clients,
but we cover everything really.
Our team is made up of PPC specialists, SEO specialists
and the most talented designers I've ever seen,
which have done work like the Starnagloss website,
the TWR website and many more.
We've actually just built icon box
for the auto Alex crew as well,
meaning that people that watch their channel
can buy their favorite merch seamlessly and in style.
So if you're interested in starting a project
and you'd love to speak to us,
just tap the link below and let's hop on a call.
How did you get on TV?
Paul of Gosh TV knocked on my door at a project
in Colson Bassett.
And literally I said, hello.
And he said, do you mind your guy, Phoenix?
Do you mind if I come and film your house?
Now at the time I was trying to sell it
and I thought any publicity is gonna do good.
I let him come in and he sat me down on the sofa
and he did a 10 minute interview with me,
just asking me how I built it and blah, blah, blah.
And he was gobsmacked and then he buggered off
and thought, you know what?
Never anything from it.
If it gets on the TV, great, a bit more publicity.
And then he rang me back a couple of months later
and said, I've been to Channel 4
and they said, fuck me, we love this kid.
You can make a show out of this.
And he put a schedule together
and the next project we did,
we started filming from day one,
all the way through to the finish.
And it was a pain because I'll tell you,
you've got guys, you know, that it was exciting at first.
It was all like, you know, the camera people are here
and you've got the sound guy or whatever
and you've got a couple of, you know,
so there's a couple of them there or the producers there
and the memory all excited,
bear in mind we've been doing this five years now.
And it doesn't pay a lot.
You know, they didn't pay me a ton of money
but it was excited.
But the men would have to carry a steel in
and he would miss it and say to everybody,
couldn't do that again.
So it would mean carrying the steel back out, yeah?
And then back in again when he can film it.
So do the job three times.
So I said, the only thing we've got to do though,
if we're going to do this is you must capture real life.
Don't ever fucking ask me to do the same job again.
You need to be there.
And since then we've been fine
because he just makes sure that he comes to me.
He's got 15,000 hours of footage
of which we've used like 300 minutes.
So there's a lot of footage out there
and there's a lot more shows that are coming out soon.
We're actually filming in April in California
for a super new show.
I can't tell you too much because I haven't signed yet
but I'm going to do it for the Americans,
for one of the big streamers
and they are very excited about it.
You know what the Americans are like, they look like the English.
Got some apprentices?
Tell them.
Got some apprentices.
That has been spoke about.
They wanted to a show.
We haven't done anything with that show yet
but they wanted me to do an Alan Sugar-style show
where I take on half a dozen couples or individuals
that are aspiring to be property developers.
You did that before.
Why didn't they split up on the concrete build?
What you saw?
You did that with those ones years ago
and they split up on the concrete pour, the lottery winners.
Oh yeah.
So I never, that wasn't my project.
What I'm saying is that house I was interested in doing
because it was so extravagant
but they split up before it even started.
Yeah.
But no, so we've got lots of exciting stuff.
Jack, my son has started a little YouTube series
called Life a Guy, which is 20 minutes,
you know, 20, 30 minutes every Thursday.
And, you know, I thought social media was a load of bollocks.
You know what you're doing now?
That what a waste of time this is.
And then I realized,
he showed me this kid called Mr Beast.
He's like a fucking superhero of social media
who apparently makes tens, if not hundreds of millions a year
out of this sort of stuff.
You know, you said initially you thought it was bollocks.
Yeah.
Do you have that portion of your mind
that thinks it might not be, even at that moment?
No, because I thought, who's going to watch?
Who wants to watch anything on the phone?
It's that big.
You can't see it.
It's distracting.
See, I hate all this.
You know, I can't use my telling now.
So we've got all the channels on Sky, I go upstairs.
You know, you put Sky on and I have to click this button
and click that button.
Do you know why I used to like it when I was a kid?
You had four channels
and you used to have the TV times and the radio times.
And do you know what used to come out in December?
I used to sit down.
It was the best hour of my life
where I used to go through it and tick.
Jaws is on.
Raiders of the Lost Arcs on in three weeks time.
And you know that three weeks,
I used to look forward and get excited
as it got closer to when Raiders of the Lost Arcs on.
Now you can watch what the fuck you want when you want.
It's defeated the object for me.
Can also build what the hell you want whenever you want.
Does that ever defeat it?
Well.
Or the fact that you've still got one to aim at,
does that keep you going?
No, no.
I mean, we're happy with what we do.
I thoroughly enjoy.
I've said it many, many times for most people
who are out there listening to this now.
You know, you need to enjoy what you do.
So you can be successful in anything,
but if you don't enjoy it, you won't stick at it.
And you had loads of jobs growing up
before you found what you wanted to do.
Oh, mate.
I was a chef for an hour and a half at the Baltimore Diner
and realised I couldn't cook or take instructions.
And my mum bought me all the chef whites.
I started at one o'clock and before three o'clock
I was sacked because I was absolutely useless.
I have tried loads.
I mean, this was when I was a lot younger.
But I realised that I am pretty much unemployable.
Yeah, I was going to say,
did you realise you're unemployable?
Unemployable.
You know, a very short attention span.
And I've got, you know, according to various psychiatrists
and psychiatrists are a bit strong, but OCD in the fact
that whatever I do, whether it be going out on a night out
or whether it be, you know, creative in building a house,
I take it to the absolute excess.
And that's just my personality.
But what I learnt is if you can control that,
you know, that sort of chink in your DNA,
you can make it work for you.
I'll ask you about stress.
Because I've built a few projects,
nothing on the scale that you have,
but have been through the process.
And one of the things that drives me crazy
about the world and people is when people are acting
or telling me something, I deem to be a logical,
illogical thinking.
How can that possibly be your train of thought?
And no one does that better than the planning officers.
Yeah.
Is that the most stress that you come up against?
I get on very well with a lot of the planning officers
because in the original, so they all know
I'm pretty unconventional in the fact that...
What's the plan? There is no plan at the minute.
Well, there always has to be a plan
of what the house is going to look like externally.
That is unfortunately the, you know,
if I was born in the 14th century building fucking castles,
it'd have been great, but I'm not.
And, you know, so you have an architect to do a design.
I sit down with him and explain what I want to build,
whether it be a traditional stone mullion or red brick
or modern crisp lines with glass, do you know what I mean?
So you've got to decide and that's what I do with the client.
Decide what you want to build.
And then you start and ultimately,
I go back multiple times throughout the build
to think, can I just do that a bit?
Can I just build this extension on here?
Or can I put a basement in?
Or can I change that section?
And then inside, I change everything around.
And they don't care about what you do inside.
They care about, you know, doing an eyesore.
And what I've got a reputation for now,
especially in these Midlands,
is guy will deliver a superb looking home.
And ultimately they will be the people
that would have passed that project designed by my architect.
And people talk, don't they?
People talk and when they see it on the TV
or when they see it on one of these podcasts
or social media, that planner who's accepted that,
because they're very involved.
They come down and I have to pass the aluminium covering
or the stone that we're going to use
or the brick we're going to use.
Or you know what I mean?
So there are lots of components in building a house,
but I built a great relationship with the planners now.
And they, I think they support what I'm doing.
Ultimately, you know, Nottingham isn't Central London.
Central London.
So I, you know, I build the most expensive houses in the area.
And what we're trying to do as well is,
is build our city or build our town up.
So if I go and build in just Monaco or just London
or just Miami or just in LA,
then who's going to build the super duper super homes,
which is now my phrase, by the way, in the East Midlands?
Nobody. And aren't we trying to attract,
you know, successful wealthy people to Nottingham?
And of course, we're all in it together.
It's a knock on effect, isn't it?
The guy that lived in the Tarrish House who's done well
in whatever, you know, set his own business up
or just climbed his ladder and whatever he works for,
buys a better house.
That guy then, ultimately in the medium sized house,
wants a, you know, a large house.
And then eventually you work up to me
and the ladder, which is you've done really, really well
and you want a house and you come and see Guy Phoenix.
So it's a statement.
People now come to Guy Phoenix when they,
it's just like buying a, you know, how do I give it there?
Why do people drive Cullinan Rolls Royces to go to A2B?
You can go and buy a Y-Redge Passat for 180 quid
that will still do the same thing.
But you want to go there in style and it's a statement
and it's a, you know, so that's why you buy the Cullinan Rolls Royce.
The same way the house is now for me,
that my homes have been described as the Rolls Royce
and Ferrari of home building, you know.
And the last three or four guys that I built houses for
were successful.
Don't get me wrong.
Since they've lived in my homes and the climate control
and the lighting and the automatic curtains
and everything and the upholstery and the luxury
and the, you know, the soft cushions everywhere,
they've actually become more successful.
Now, I'm not sure I can claim that, but what I'm saying is
when you live in a, you know, people have nice holidays
and have nice cars, but surely the most important thing
you should spend with your money when you get some
is having the best house and where you live.
Do you think that ultimately reduces that stress we talk about?
The stress, so the stress, I don't...
People manage stress.
And it's fair to say builders are some people in the world
that become under the most stress.
I know a lot of them, I know a lot of them get stressed.
Do I get stressed?
Oh, I would say.
People say to me, you know, how can you, you know,
I borrow millions and millions and millions of pounds
and pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions in interest.
I mean, how can you sleep at night?
I'm like, I sleep easy.
They're the ones that should be worried.
I owe that money, that much money now.
These people can't let me die.
Do you know what I mean?
I am literally that important to them.
So it doesn't bother...
They're stressing other ways.
They're stressing other ways when something doesn't turn up.
And ultimately, as I said, I'm a problem solver.
But...
So you relish it because of that big relish it.
That's what I'm trying to say.
So it took me 10 minutes to get to where you've just said.
Yeah.
I get it.
Sometimes you can flip things on their heads
and they look exactly completely opposite, like houses.
So it taught me through because I can't not ask you about your style,
the way you build your houses internally.
Because the first thing I sort of thought,
I think the first project I ever watched was a house you'd built.
I think it was in Nottingham.
I think there was some tennis courts, some woodland downloads on a hill.
Oh, the park.
You weren't getting on very well with the guy that you were doing it with.
I think that there had been some moments in that day.
No, no, no.
That's what he saw on the TV.
So that guy...
And could quite decide on the best basement.
So that house was very stressful
because we had to build it through a hole small on this table.
The way it was built on a cliff,
you couldn't knock it down and start again.
So we had to cut a hole in the floor
and get everything through a hole this size.
A meter by a meter it was.
Well, that's, you know, one and a half meters.
So Steelers had to go down and be cut and welded back together.
And it was very, very good.
Keyhole surgery of house building.
The guy that you're on about is actually, you know,
one of my favorite people in the world.
And we had a couple of moments
where he'd come in and say, I want to do this.
And I'd say, fuck off, get out.
You know, don't be so bloody ridiculous.
But when you're close with somebody, as I am with James,
you know, the producer decided to capture those bits.
But we're still friends.
Love the man to bits.
But and then there is stressful moments.
And when somebody gives a suggestion, and I think it's wrong,
I'm unable to say, okay, I can't do it.
I say, no, I'm not doing it.
Do you wish you could change that about yourself?
No, because let me give you an example.
I did a house once for a chap who was going on holiday.
We were just about to put the floor down
and he came up this time.
And I looked at that love, what's that?
He said, I want this everywhere.
I said, no, no, no, it won't work.
It won't work.
That will not work.
Guy, we want it.
I'm not doing it.
Well, if you're not going to do it,
it's all right, put it down.
Soon as I put it down, I was like, oh my God,
it looked like fucking snakes crawling on the fucking floor.
Anyway, we did it all.
And it was, as I said, absolutely horrendous.
Came back from holiday and said, oh, what's that?
And I was like, that's the time I gave me.
Oh, it looked good on the piece that big.
Yes, mate.
Next time, so we ripped it all up
and put down a lovely polished tile
that reflected the lighting
and made the room feel spacious.
Listen to me.
You're paying me to do a job for you.
And, you know, if you want to buy a stupid fucking painting,
then, I can't say it.
I'm going to say, put it on when I've gone.
Put it on when I've gone.
Have you ever got to get a bet you have?
Have you ever had many moments where you go and meet the client
and she's like, I just will not be able to work with you?
Yes, many.
They say, like, shake your hand.
Light to me, but we can't work together.
Yeah, and vice versa.
People have met me and I've turned up.
And then within 20 minutes, we've sort of finished our coffees.
And for whatever reason, it's like, I can't work with you.
And yeah, that's happened two or three times in my life
where I've turned up and just not gone on with them.
And the way they're sort of skin flinting from day one.
You sure you want more milk in that coffee, mate?
Because that's going to cost me.
You're not the person for me.
You know, if I get the vibe that you want to build
the most extravagant super duper home,
but you don't want to spend any money,
then it is not going to work.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
And then likewise, people have met me and think,
hang on a minute, I've got a fucking headache guy.
I've only been talking to you for 20 minutes.
They then declined me.
And it's just, we have to click instantly for it to work
because ultimately I'll be working on your project
for the next two, three, sometimes five years.
And I'll be seeing you as the client.
You know, you've just sold your business for mega millions
more than I perhaps see my wife and my children.
So if we can't get on, it ain't going to work.
And the last thing you want to do is start,
get to a certain position,
and then find out that you're pulling in different directions.
Because then all I'll say is, you know what,
finish your own ass, mate.
And then you'll be like, especially the way I design them, remember?
Yeah, because someone else can walk in and be like,
let's see the plans.
It's like, there are no plans.
There are no plans.
It's all in my head.
But as I said, you can still come down and I can walk you through.
And I draw on the floor.
Where the kitchen's going to go, where the island's going to go,
where this sofa should sit.
And nobody else does it.
They do it all on fancy CGI's and computers and stuff.
I like to physically stand in the room,
put that there, and then I bring the client around,
put my arm around them and say to the lady, right,
this is the island.
I suggest your double dishwashers go here.
I suggest you put your section for your herbs and stuff in here.
This will be your secondary cooking area for the smelly stuff.
And this is where your sink goes.
This is where your double hobbs go.
And this is where your walk-in fridge goes.
And sometimes people say, ah, I'm a real lazy cunt, right?
And what I need to do, you probably have to believe that bit out.
But I need 14 dishwashers because I don't,
but you know, my hands do not get soapy.
Okay.
So we can put a bank of dishwashers down there for you.
And every now and again, you get, you know,
I've got people who want golf simulators.
I've got people who want bowling now this.
I've got people who want helipads.
I've got people who want football pitches.
I've got people who want woodland walks.
And you can have whatever you want, providing you sit down
and we discuss how we do it.
And ultimately it's going to cost.
You then broke out of Nottingham and started building houses all over the world.
Yes.
Now you talk about businessmen selling their businesses for many millions.
And on that journey, they decide sometimes
they're going to keep their business where they started it in the UK.
Or they're going to take that step and go abroad.
I had to do a similar thing with this podcast.
I was like, I've no idea how to operate a business in the US.
Hands to the man.
Screw it.
I'm just going to send some money over there
and hope to God that the van don't go missing.
Is it working?
Yes.
Oh, well done.
When was that moment for you?
Like, Joe, I'm going to build house abroad.
I always wanted to build a house abroad,
but could never afford to do it.
And what I've had is, I'm fortunate enough,
I've met friends of mine who I built homes for
who've got a lot of money.
So a lot of these guys, or some of these guys,
should I say, are interested and they love the drama.
Unfortunately, like my personality,
and they have successful businesses,
whether they've sold them or got existing businesses that run on their own.
That's the problem.
I tell you, the problem with my businesses,
I saw a post the other day which said,
if your business needs you every day,
you have created a jail, not a business.
And the problem with my businesses is all me.
So all the ideas, the creativity, all comes from me.
I couldn't literally go away for six months
because each and every job would stop.
So the only way to change that
is to start trying to get the designs right at the planning stage.
So all the rooms are where they're supposed to be.
All the drains and the foul and the top water
and everything can go in as normal to begin with in the foundations.
And then you can build a house, build a structure,
and discuss the end of it.
You can get a pamphlet that big if you want,
and how to build a house from start to finish.
But where's the fun in that?
Do you know what I mean?
I enjoy it so much when I do.
I'm rocking your wagon.
Look, you've got a camera going all over.
And I enjoy it.
As I said, Monday morning is the favorite morning of the week
because I've not been over the weekend often.
Sometimes we work on Saturdays.
But going in with the next challenges,
and especially at this stage, we're working on a project now,
the lighting's in.
We're doing the finishes on the walls.
We're doing the whole street.
You know pouring concrete in a ditch in February
in the freezing fucking cold
with a pump, we're getting splashed concrete on your face.
It's not so much fun.
This bit of a bit.
I like what I'm doing now.
What was like one of the biggest lessons
you ever learned from a house?
But when did it go wrong?
You'd have had stuff go wrong.
When was like a big like, ah.
Built houses that haven't spent too much money.
So if you're building a house in an area,
you do not want to over develop.
So I'm renowned for building the most extravagant.
But to begin with in my career,
I couldn't pick the most extravagant areas.
So I went and bought a house for X in a mediocre,
should we say, area.
And I've gone and built a super duper house
in replacement of that mediocre house.
And what I ended up being is the most expensive house
on the, you know, the cheap street.
If you're going to do it right,
you want to be the cheapest house
on the most expensive street.
So I bought houses that I've lost a load of money on
and recovered and have had to rent them out.
I've sold them for losses in the past.
I don't do it anymore.
But you've just learned, don't you?
So you learn that, and I built for clients that,
you know, they wanted to spend X
and I get excited and have spent Y
and they don't want to pay you anymore.
So if I were to ask you,
you don't even need to say what it was just when.
Like what was one of your darkest days?
Would that have been pre-starting your business
rather than after starting your business?
Yes, almost certainly.
Absolutely.
I had many dark days as a kid.
And, you know, it wasn't until I moved to Nottingham
and then I had many dark days in Nottingham.
Because when you, I felt like I was restricted in this box
where I knew I was capable of doing something,
but I didn't know what it was.
And then bought my first house
and put some decking down outside
and changed the doors on the kitchen units,
not even the units themselves,
just changed the doors and put some sort of flash handles
at the time, which were about six quid.
You know, now we put 600 quid handles on, if you like,
and they're bespoke made out of bronze and blah, blah, blah, blah.
And put a cheap carpet down and painted all the walls
and made a small profit.
And though that is what, you know, made me think,
hang on a minute.
You just as passionately doing that project.
Yeah, because then when you had nothing, it was a win, wasn't it?
Do you know what I mean?
So when you got that first win, it was like,
hang on a minute, I can do this again.
Can we just dive in the wins, like in the three-quarter section,
between the first ones and the houses you build now?
Because what I think happens too often
when you've only got an hour or so to talk to somebody
and get a conversation across is people create a barrier
because they hear the bit of changing the doors, first one,
and then they see 100 million inside of a cliff.
And I think they think, well, that jumps too impossible.
Yeah.
But like how many years for context?
Because context is brilliant between that and that.
25.
And is that 25 been, or has that been like that?
It's been like that.
So it's been a graph, so the cheap one, 35,000 quid.
I mean, the house is probably 100 grand now,
but at the time it's 35,000 quid.
And then the next one was the house next door,
which was a similar price.
Then it was one in Maplipark,
which was, I think it was 20, 150 grand.
And then the next one was 300.
And then I ended up selling a house for a million quid,
or 1.3 million quid,
when everyone told me you couldn't get over a million.
And then you built up again to the twos and the fours.
And then, of course, all the way up to your Monaco apartments,
which are 20 million plus.
So it was, yes, no, it wasn't like that, as you said.
It was a gradual line, perhaps.
So I've gone from maybe five million up to 20.
So there's a little bit of a jump at the end.
I'm a bit fascinated about this one.
Which one?
This question, I'm about to ask.
Do you buy your cars new so that you can spec them up,
or do you happy to buy a used one?
I've done both.
So what makes you, what's the most exciting bit for you?
New now.
Try a little bit of cars,
but if you ask me what engines in that car outside,
I have no idea.
Would you know?
Yeah, fully a V8.
It is, I have no idea.
It's a URSS, for example.
Okay, I have no idea.
But I bought cars, nice cars, off the magazines.
What's that magazine called?
The famous one.
Evo Auto Car.
No, neither of them.
Trades from that.
Trader.
Trader.
Or to trade it.
Or trade it, there you are.
And then what is the problem?
So the fact that you referred to it as a magazine,
not an app, that's what blew my mind.
That's what stopped me.
Well, because I'm old, you see.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's not a magazine anymore.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Well, it used to be an article where you should go through,
and you can see the cars.
So I like the look of that.
So I just imagine you in the spec-up room of Porsche or Ferrari.
I've done that many times.
I feel mental with the leathers and the stitching and everything.
What do you think?
It's not me, is it?
Or does that passion not there for them as it is the houses?
Oh, not even close.
So if you do a pie chart of houses and cars,
there'll be a line for cars.
What can a car not give you that a house can?
Well, you can't go to the toilet in there for a start, can you?
Unless you bought any cars in the toilet, say,
what would it be?
Because I see how obsessed you get over the detail.
In the house, yeah.
And I'm amazed that doesn't transfer to other luxury objects.
I have a Lamborghini RS out there,
and I have not driven it for six months.
Not interested.
Not that I'm not interested.
I just like my comforts now.
Now, you know, you know, super wealthy people as well.
So I got a Ferrari and got it all, you know,
on finance and hopped it up and couldn't really afford it,
and driving it around like billy big bollocks.
Do you know what I mean?
And everybody looks at you and thinks,
fuck an alley's rich.
You know, when you get rich,
you know, these guys are super rich.
They all drive around in a little tiny car
because they're beyond that level.
Whether they've got a garage somewhere with 40 of them
in that they collect and never drive,
what I'm saying is it's interesting that
it won't bother me anymore.
If I got a little cheap car outside,
I drive a Range Rover because it's big and it's comfortable.
And I'm a big guy and I can sit there.
And most people say, oh, Range Rover costs too much in fuel
or whatever.
But I could take whatever car I want.
But hang on, I need to get that.
I'm allowed to get that.
Can I go on?
Sorry, people.
Sorry, people.
That's all right.
Dan, nobody's there, mate, today,
because it's been raining.
Are you on the way?
I was going to be.
I could still drive around and do it another day
if that makes it easier.
Well, I could probably ring somebody
and get you in if you really need to.
Or it'd be better if you couldn't divert it.
Yeah, let's divert it, guys.
Sorry, buddy.
I'm just doing a podcast.
I've got to be quick.
Speak to you later.
You've got to catch it so high by my eyes.
But that's an example of what your life's like.
400 times a day.
So the only thing is I knew that that man
is waiting at one of my sites in London
and it would have been rude not to answer it.
But that phone is wrong 13 times
since I've been sitting with you.
All fucking day.
So people, ringing you,
do you ever get frustrated and how do you manage it?
Because I understand this from being in a position
where if you have a nice car, Range Rover, Euros on the drive,
nice house, people automatically assume
you must have millions and millions in the bank
of readily available cash constantly.
His rich is fine.
Does that wind you up when you're like,
on a project, there's efferal budget left in it.
You're trying to make a deadline.
How do you manage blokes coming to work
because they're just saying, I find he's rich?
Well, that is a problem.
So one of the problems of building
most extravagant luxurious homes
is when you want a third party to come
and do some work for you,
they want to charge you more because they walk in.
Instantly, your price is elevated
or they know I'm building for a super, super wealthy client.
So I make it very, very clear from day one
before we even meet that the reason
some of these people are so wealthy
is because they are smart people.
Now, don't be charging extra
because what you're going to come and see
and what you want to do is look after me
because the difference with me is I build lots of homes.
Look after me on this one
because I'm going to get multiple quotes.
If you try and take the piss,
the best you'll get is one job, right?
You know, after because all that quotes
guy quotes you this, but this is changing,
this is changing, this is changing,
and when they're halfway through the work,
you've got to pay him.
But you'll never ever get any more work for me again.
So what we want to do is build a relationship.
I understand you've got to eat
and so have I, but don't take the piss.
So building extravagant homes.
I mean, I've had lots of examples where I've got a minute.
When you do this for me at my little terrace house,
here and across, this is a bit per square meter.
Well, come on, it's double now.
No, mate, you're not charging double
because you're not doing any more,
putting any more effort in
or you're not buying more expensive material.
So it's important that guys understand
that just because who you're building for,
whether that be Guy Phoenix,
whether that be a super wealthy client,
look after me and in return, I will give you future work.
The best guys you've got working for you,
the ones that challenge you the most?
I've got a great team, it's took 25 years
and I've been through literally hundreds,
if not thousands of men over 25 years.
And I know within two minutes, somebody walked on site,
I can, you know, a new starter, whether you're interested.
I actually had a guy come to this very house,
not three or four months ago, selling dusters.
You know, he had a bag, just come out of prison on my ass
and I looked at him and thought,
oh, that's a cheap sponge and a thing, I'll buy him off you.
And then I said, you know what, I can give you a break.
Come tomorrow morning and you can come work for me,
doing a bit of gardening and a bit of anything.
And if you're any good and you put some effort in,
I'll take you to a building tonight, you can do some labouring.
Kids just come out of jail, got nothing.
You know what I mean?
Living in a hostel or wherever he's living.
Turned up next day, called past eight,
supposed to be their eight.
So I thought, oh, great start.
What you should have been there is at quarter to eight.
Anyway, half an hour later,
he sat out there on the wall having a fag.
I said, what are you doing man, am I?
He says, why am I having a fag break?
Still not, get your fags and fuck off.
Try to help you.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
But the best helping hand you'll ever find,
they say, is at the end of your own arm.
And your question was, I have a lot of men
who are very, very smart.
They know that I am a fiery character.
So just like, you know, I can explode instantly and explode.
Are they all afraid to ask you questions?
No, they're not afraid to ask me questions.
That's what I'm getting at.
No, no, no, no.
I hope not.
Jack, answer that from behind the camera.
They're not afraid to ask me questions.
And you get more confident.
So I've got some men that even go too far,
well, they'll try and sort of make a decision without me.
Now, what I should really do is commend that,
because it removes me from...
And as long as it's the right decision,
I don't come back and all the walls are painted black or something.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like, I get so many phone calls.
I mean, I've phone ring again.
I get so many phone calls with the slightest detail.
I'm like, man, it's a simple...
But they feel like they've got to ring me.
And what I'm trying to do in my business now
is to employ, and I've got a number of them,
some key players that are able to make decisions
and have learned the way I like things done
over the last 25 years.
And I've had guys work for me for the whole time, by the way.
I've got one guy that literally was there changing those doors
with me in the little cheap or inexpensive,
I want to say, house.
Still with me today.
Now he does Monaco, 20 million quid houses.
And in his life, in that 25 years, he's retiring now,
but he was younger than me when he started working for me
and he's retiring now, which is nice.
I bet he won't be fully retired.
You know, fall down well.
His phone's going to be ringing when you want him to do something.
He was my security blanket for so many years.
And, you know, yes, you've still got to have,
whereas I can do it on myself now,
you still want to rely on somebody else.
He still sometimes needs some advice from somebody else
and advice is free.
I say to a couple of people, what do you think to this?
One will say that.
I'll say to you, don't speak to me again.
You're fucking, you're without being rude to them.
You've got people who have got something about them
and you've got other people that just don't know
what fucking day of the week is.
The kids that don't know what day of the week is
are not making design decisions, they're cleaning up.
Do you know what I mean?
Does that make sense?
It makes complete sense.
You always go on that you've yet to build your best house
because the podcast has asked you, I've heard you on podcast,
they're like, what's going on?
What's the best house you've ever built?
But I'm not going to ask you that.
What's the best piece of legacy you've ever built for Guy Fenix?
As in, it's my favourite.
I mean, you've got to remember, it explains you
and all you guys are watching.
My best houses you've never seen.
You've never seen, they've never seen.
My kids have seen, you know, a couple of times,
but most of the houses are super wealthy.
They don't want them showcasing.
They don't want them on TV.
That's not on the telly.
They don't want them on TV.
If a TV wagon drove by, they'd have the shutters.
Do you know what I mean?
So I'm not even allowed to take a picture.
No pictures, we have equipment in there to stop that happening
and these houses are, you know, private.
And some of these people are some of the richest people
in the world who literally want nothing.
And that has to be made clear because I'm like, oh, man.
You know, when I'm negotiating with them, I'm like, I'm great.
And the final thing is, what we'll be doing is,
this will be featured in the next series
of Building Britain's Super Homes.
No, mate.
No, I'm famous enough sort of thing.
I don't want the fame.
I don't want to attract, you know, viewers to where I live.
I am completely opposite.
So that's very difficult for me
because my best work has yet to be shown to the public.
However, houses that my favourite house
is a split between hermitage, great big bold house,
glass floor as you walk in, chandelier that hangs all the way down,
seven bedrooms, multiple car garages in,
great big high ceilings, marble floors.
And then another one I built,
which was very, very different in the woods
with branches down on the handles.
Oh, it's stunning.
And that was called the Knoll.
So they're my two favourite homes that I built for myself and sold.
What's the coolest garage you've ever done?
The coolest garage.
Come on, car link podcast.
What I'm doing now.
So you would love the one I'm doing now.
So I'm building a basement so big you could put 40 cars in it.
And you've got water coming down.
You walk through a glass sliding door like fucking Star Trek.
You know what I mean?
And you walk in there and we'll have a,
you know, my vision is a sort of off-white, polished floor
with lights with your cars all in a line.
So you get this glow and then we'll probably put a light in.
Not quite the same as yours.
I've said to you, you need to get rid of that.
That's horrible.
That's an, one, it's an horrible colour.
And two, I can see all the bleeding dots.
So what I should really do is going out in my shed now
and get you some proper light.
And I can swap that for you in two seconds.
You have my lecture with you.
I'll do it, but he's not.
And as I said, I don't use my fingers.
But that is, I'm building one now.
And the guy is going around buying sort of iconic cars to fill this garage.
Wait and see.
Do you think your development business or outlive you?
I hope so, because Jack, even though he's heavily involved in the social media,
is ultimately interested in building houses.
He went to university in Monaco.
He loves it out there in the sunshine.
And he wants to do what I do, like a lot of father and sons throughout the country.
You know, if your dad's a joiner, he'll become a joiner.
If your dad's a roofer, he'll become a roofer.
I would like Jack to become a property developer
and learn all the aspects of it.
And that's why I dump a lot of this shit on him.
And what he does now is, because there's a lot of paperwork in our game,
is he manages to do it.
You know, I think, would you do that?
Which I know takes me an hour and 20 minutes.
Three minutes later, he says, I've done that.
I said, how the fuck you done it?
You know, you need to do that.
The way he says, you know, I just put it into this machine and it just, oh,
I wish I knew how to use a computer.
What I do is I use notes.
So when he first came to me, I was building multiple million pound houses,
using notes on an iPad, multiple million.
Literally putting the data on and typing it all out, typing it out,
and pressing return all the time, sort of jump.
And then Jack puts it all in this spreadsheet.
He can add it all up.
He can segregate it.
He can tell me what I spent on this.
And I was like, oh, but nobody ever taught me how to use a computer.
When I was a kid, we used to play daily Thompson on that ZX Spectrum.
Do you remember the two rubber keys?
And of course, it was a rubber key thing.
And, you know, very, very different world.
But as nobody taught me how to use a computer, I never taught myself.
I need someone like him to streamline and refine my business.
Are you the happiest you've ever been?
Yeah, I could, I'm pretty sure I can say that.
Absolutely.
I've been happy for a long while.
I've got a great life.
I am very, very lucky.
I have a beautiful wife.
We have a good home life.
You know, I've got happy, healthy children.
I've got a great business.
We get lots of trips.
Absolutely.
Have you ever made peace with your dad?
Sort of.
So we haven't spoken for a while, but I didn't speak for 20 years.
Complicated.
It's not really him.
It's the other side.
But my dad, you know, he was a poor dad.
Put it that way.
He was a poor dad.
And that, I think, is what's made me, hopefully,
he'll tell you, but a good dad because he wasn't.
Are you at peace if you weren't to make peace?
I am.
If you weren't to make peace with your dad and it just couldn't work,
would you be fine with that?
Yes, absolutely.
So for me, I can turn off like a light switch.
Well, I think that's the perfect point to turn this podcast off,
like a light switch.
Thank you so much for your hour, guys.
Really good to meet you.
Really good to meet you.
Have you enjoyed it?
Can you sit in the back of my van
and hopefully we'll have you again soon.
Change your lighting.
Well.
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