Fareham business Hayes Plumbing and Heating wins small business award from BBC top dragon Theo Paphitis

Ben Proctor, from Fareham, has seen his company, Hayes Plumbing and Heating go from strength to strength over the last year, and has since won a Small Business Sunday award from Theo Paphitis.

Ben was chosen by Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis to receive a shout out to his 488,000 Twitter followers.

Every Sunday, the entrepreneurial mogul encourages small business owners to Tweet using the hashtag #SBS.

He then chooses one lucky winner to receive recognition from him and join his community of more than 3,500 small businesses.

Ben met Theo Paphitis and his fellow Dragon, Touker Suleyman at a ceremony at The ICCC, Birmingham for the ninth annual celebration.

He said: ‘It was amazing to be at the event and to meet Theo. Just to win the SBS was great, especially out of all of the people that apply and after all the hard work that went in over lockdown and how much we tried to help as much as possible.

‘It also means we’re now eligible to enter the Scale Up Awards, which could lead to even more recognition. It’s been a great year for the business, so I hope it continues.’

Ben has also taken the next step by registering the business as a limited company, after operating as a sole trader since starting out.

He has expanded his team, with someone helping him out on a part-time basis due to the increase in demand for his services.

SEE ALSO: Clanfield café becomes community staple mere months after opening its doors following lockdown

During lockdown, Ben offered his services at half price for older people after being frustrated by stories he had heard about cowboy plumbers taking advantage of the elderly.

He said that he believes his success is down to building trust with his customers.

‘I managed to thrive throughout Covid because people felt that they could trust me and knew that I’d give them an honest service.

‘My prices have stayed the same, despite lots of other companies shooting their prices up and a shortage of boiler parts making costs go up. People will come back to me because they know where they stand, regardless of what’s going on in the industry or economy, which as we know is very up and down at the moment.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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