Congratulations to Tradesperson of the Year 2023, Mike Humphries

This year, we partnered with On The Tools for their annual awards ceremony. When we sponsored the Electrician of the Year category, we didn’t know the winner would be one of our valued members!

On the Tools is the largest online community for construction-based businesses in the UK. They want to ‘connect construction’, talking about industry issues and looking to get wider recognition for people working in construction.

Mike Humphries, one of the founders of Green Hawk Construction, joined Checkatrade in 2023 and we are privileged to be a part of their story. At this year’s awards, he won two trophies, taking home both Electrician of the Year and Tradesperson of the year.

We caught up with Mike to see what the awards mean for him and his business.

How does it feel to win?

Mike, thanks for chatting. A big congratulations for winning both Electrician and Tradesperson of the Year! How did it feel?

“It sort of blew my head a bit to be honest. It was surreal. I came from a background where I was told I wouldn’t amount to anything, being told that I was never going to make it, so this is a real honour.

These awards are full of amazing and super talented people, so to be voted best of the best was crazy.”

With construction as their main business, Mike oversees any electrical work that Green Hawk carries out for their clients. But when it comes to why he has won the awards, he simply credits one person for his success:

“Without my wife I wouldn’t be here”.

What were the awards for?

The annual On The Tools awards are a great way of recognising success in construction, and this year we were happy to be able to be an official partner.

2023’s Electrician of the Year award was sponsored by Checkatrade, and we were there at the ceremony to present Mike’s trophy in person.

When looking for winners, On The Tools were quite clear. Their Electrician of the Year needed to:

• Give out an ‘electric attitude’ to their trade
• Make sure their clients receive the best in quality
• Keep up to date with changing work regulations
• Collaborate well with others on site
• Be a fantastic problem solver

The 2023 Tradesperson of the Year award (sponsored by Jewson) was selected from the pool of category winners. It is awarded to someone the panel feels has particularly gone above and beyond.

The Tradesperson of the Year is someone who:

• Takes pride in their work
• Delivers work at a consistent high quality
• Makes sure that customers are getting great results
• Is approachable
• Is respectful
• Is a champion of the UK construction industry

On The Tools were looking for a lot of great qualities when it came to picking their winners. When the panel came to Mike Humphries, he was a natural fit.

Who are Green Hawk Construction?

After a brief career in the motor trade, Mike retrained at 21 for a career as an electrician, starting his own company ‘about’ 17 years ago.

Green Hawk Construction are a cross-trade business that founder Mike intends to keep as an equal partnership. He says it is the key element that makes sure everyone stays happy.

Within their team, they have the skills to cover:

• Electrical
• Building
• Carpentry
• Bricklaying

While first and foremost Green Hawk are a construction company, they decided to use Checkatrade for getting more electrical work. They saw it as a useful tool for selling when it came to the jobs they offer.

Mike says that they’ve got a good volume of both leads and work coming through so far, with some customers becoming “almost like friends”. As a tradesperson, Mike finds that it is sometimes “easy to be taken advantage of”, which is why the backing of a company and Checkatrade is so important.

Once again, a really big “well done” to Mike for his fantastic achievement. We look forward to seeing next year’s great line up of nominees and hearing some of the fantastic stories about what tradespeople are doing around the UK.