Press & Media
Press & Media
Managing Director of Custom Heat & Cool — the family firm that has kept Midlands homes comfortable since 1980 and now installs the air conditioning the country is queueing up for. Plain-speaking, camera-ready and available at short notice for TV, radio and print.
Lincoln Smith — Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, Oxford Saïd
Amber heat-health alerts cover eight English regions including the West Midlands, and the Met Office says the heat may run into next week. Meanwhile new figures show just 45 households claimed the Government's £2,500 air-to-air heat pump (air conditioning) grant in its first month — and Lincoln is one of the installers who can explain, from the front line, exactly why.
He can also speak to the air-conditioning demand surge (industry data shows installation requests up ~320% this summer), how to avoid the cowboy cooling rush, and what it really costs to run a cool room — with filming access to live installations across Warwickshire this week.
Forty-six years of front-line trade experience, strong opinions held honestly, and no jargon. Six briefs he can carry on air today:
Housing built to trap heat, the rooms that become unusable, and how to make one room safe for a vulnerable person — the practical version of the climate-adaptation story.
What the phones are doing week by week at a 46-year-old boiler firm that now gets asked about cooling more than heating — demand, waiting lists, stock and prices.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme now covers air-to-air heat pumps — yet take-up is tiny. Lincoln explains the catch installers see, and what a workable cooling policy would look like.
The rip-offs emerging in the heat rush: oversized quotes, uncertified installs, "grant guaranteed" cold-callers — and what a fair, legal installation actually looks like.
Real running costs from real installs, why a modern split unit is a heat pump in disguise, and the winter heating bonus nobody mentions.
25 apprentices in a decade, one of the UK heating sector's first four-day weeks, and trial data the firm was invited to share with a House of Commons working-time council.
In 2022, Custom Heat fitted free air conditioning for Jenson, a four-year-old from Warwick living with 93% burns, after his family spent two years searching for funding. It transformed his summers.
This summer the firm is doing it again: a free air-conditioning installation worth up to £4,500 for a family in Royal Leamington Spa nominated by the charities, hospices and NHS teams who know them best.
Read the campaignA human story inside the heatwave: heat as a health issue, a private firm doing what national policy hasn't, and a hard deadline. Lincoln, the engineers and campaign details are available for interview and filming.
Numbers Lincoln can speak to on air, with sources your producers can check.
Recent coverage of Lincoln and Custom Heat & Cool. All links verified 11 July 2026.
Broadcast: hear Lincoln on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Coventry & Warwickshire in the Podcasts & Radio section below. Custom Heat has also featured on ITV — further clips, dates and references on request.
Hear how Lincoln performs before you book him. National radio, local radio and long-form podcast — unscripted and straight-talking.
A full hour on growing the family firm, branding and premium pricing in the trades, hiring engineers, AI and automation, and the four-day working week. Hosted by Keiran Yates and Pete Withers.
Listen on: YouTube · Buzzsprout / Spotify / Apple
Bonus clip: "AI is taking over… but in a good way"
Podcast hosts: Lincoln is available as a guest — heatwaves and the AC boom, scaling a 46-year family trades firm, the four-day week, apprenticeships and AI in the trades. Email lincoln@customheat.co.uk.
August 2025 — Lincoln live on 5 Live on why Britain's summers mean it's "not just about heating anymore". Three clips:
Clip 1 — "Air conditioning is the…" (1:08)
Clip 2 — customers changing (0:51)
Clip 3 — "the classic order" (0:35)
June 2026, live during the heatwave — supply pressures, protecting yourself from surge pricing and exploitation, and how the heating industry must adapt to climate control.
February 2024 — Lincoln with Vic Minett on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire on free heating help for struggling households.
More clips and appearances on the Custom Heat Facebook page. Producers: raw audio and dates available on request.
Lincoln Smith is Managing Director of Custom Heat & Cool, the family-run heating, plumbing and air-conditioning company founded by his parents, Robin and Hilary Smith, in Rugby in 1980. He learned the trade from the bottom up: a four-year plumbing & heating apprenticeship, then qualifying as a gas engineer, LPG engineer, OFTEC oil engineer, plumber and electrician — with more than 100 training courses across his career. He has serviced, repaired and fitted boilers, then spent ten years in sales, mastering the art of selling with a margin while maintaining a high conversion rate.
He has scaled the firm from 7 employees to more than 120, opened a second office in the South West, and is now focused on growing a national household brand with zero capital investment. In 2026 he graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme at Oxford's Saïd Business School — one of 71 owners selected from more than 1,100 applicants. He led one of the UK heating sector's first four-day working weeks, whose trial data was shared at a House of Commons working-time council, and has supported 25 apprentices into the trade over the past decade.
Custom Heat & Cool (Custom Heat Limited) is a family-run heating, plumbing, electrical and air-conditioning business established in Rugby, Warwickshire in 1980. The firm carries out thousands of installations a year, with its engineers making between 2,000 and 4,000 home visits every month across the Midlands and South West. It was named Boiler & Heating Installer & Contractor of the Year at the West Midlands Energy Efficiency Awards in both 2024 and 2025, and is a Worcester Bosch accredited installer. Its community work includes free heating and cooling installations for families in need — including this summer's £4,500 air-conditioning giveaway for a Leamington family.
www.customheat.co.uk · 0330 383 0000 · 9 Somers Road, Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7DB
Logos are available for editorial use. High-resolution headshots, install photography and b-roll available on request.
For interviews, comment, filming access or background — call or email Lincoln directly. Fast turnaround for broadcast; available down-the-line, in the Midlands same-day, or in London and Salford with notice.
0330 383 0000 lincoln@customheat.co.uk Visit customheat.co.uk