Cost of central heating - no telephone number quotes please !

[likaleica]

Thanks for your reply - good point about zoned heating.
As I said in the posting, I have had astronomical quotes from plumbers who have inspected - for no good reason. It's been really useful to get some rough ballpark figures for what a sensible price would be.

 

[dontknowitall]

Was that estimate that went 25% over the only quote/estimate for that job? I'm not saying you mustn't get a quote or must have an estimate but get 2-3 quotes/estimates then take your pick according to who you feel happier with who you feel will do a job to your standards, etc.

 

[HHP Ed]

Your saying you have had huge quotes from plumbers who have seen it. makes me think that there is problems that we cant see, so taking 6k as a price just from us guys sitting at the computer seems stupid. I would go with the guys who have seen its judgement, and if your not happy with them get a couple of guys from the forum to quote as they are all trust worthy. I know i wouldnt touch a 4 bed house in london for 6k.

 

[< 0.004 = :-)]

6k supply and fit, 4 bed (+2 public?) in London, full System, unvented and re-plumb good luck with that price.
heating alone for this size of pitch at least 10,000. property is probably worth at least 500,000.
boiler prices are up, rads are up, copper is through the roof, diesel doesnt get cheaper, yet i m seeing 1980s prices quoted for P+H installs, frightning
where s the profit after paying labour and materials at 6k ?

 

[Deleted member 25704]

7K is about right for this, and BG would quote around 10K - did one similar and under-cut the gas board by 3K - however, I included a new water main (3m of digging), which is something you may want to think about. In addition, the cielings on my job were 2.4, so heating these 3m high rooms will be difficult and you have to contend with the single glased windows - make sure you put two rads in the lounge - one under window and other larger area singles, rather than smaller doubles.

With this above in mind, long runs might require 28mm flow and return for big rads. In addition, if customer is fussy and demands stainless for cylinder (ariston glass lined are cheap) then the prices will be pushed up.

Hence - 7K absolute min, using cheap gear

10K - not over the top for this, and gives you a cushion, to use good gear (5 year guarantee etc)

 

[GQuigley67]

Thanks to everyone who has replied.
As I say, I have had stupidly high quotes for a straightforward job.
Obviously no-one can quote without inspecting - but quite a few of you have come up with a ballpark figure of 6k that looks in the right region to me.
Thanks again, guys - I now have a target figure to work from.

not being cheeky or nothing but how do you know its a straight forward job ??? does not sound straight forward to me, a straight forward job to me is a simple radiator swap, not a full replumb of a house

 

[Dannypipe]

Agreed. I hate it when customers tell you its a simple job.

If it's so simple, why not do it yourself?

As said, the materials will be very expensive. I did the heating and domestic hot/cold water on a 6 bed farm house in the summer. The material bill (including rads, pumps, boiler, cylinder etc) was £17K. Yes, it was a pretty big house, and the rads aren't standard pressed steel....but the copper pipe and fittings cost a fortune.

It should be zoned, and done by an experienced professional.

No one questions a dentist who wants £150 for a filling. Yet its ok for people to scrutinise a trained heating installer who wants to make more than £140 a day.

PS, here's the manifold on the 6 bedroom house. Just to illustrate that its not always as simple as people assume.

 

[dontknowitall]

Very impressive, Dannypipe. Makes me feel inadequate! And I quite agree with your comments too.

 

[Resolute]

Agreed. I hate it when customers tell you its a simple job.

If it's so simple, why not do it yourself?

As said, the materials will be very expensive. I did the heating and domestic hot/cold water on a 6 bed farm house in the summer. The material bill (including rads, pumps, boiler, cylinder etc) was £17K. Yes, it was a pretty big house, and the rads aren't standard pressed steel....but the copper pipe and fittings cost a fortune.

It should be zoned, and done by an experienced professional.

No one questions a dentist who wants £150 for a filling. Yet its ok for people to scrutinise a trained heating installer who wants to make more than £140 a day.

PS, here's the manifold on the 6 bedroom house. Just to illustrate that its not always as simple as people assume.

View attachment 4236

Nice work there mate!

 

[< 0.004 = :-)]

but Danny , you had a cellar to fit the manifolds so its simple
top post mate , at last a realistic figure for a proper heating system in a haf mil house .
6k LOL!!

 

[Dannypipe]

Cheers. My point it though.....that is a 6 bedroom house. Fair enough its a bigish house.....but no one can say how much it will cost without looking at it. His 'telephone number' quotes might be a result of the amount of work involved.

As I've said, he'll need £3K minimum just to cover materials. He wanted it in copper.....we all know how cheap that is these days!:93:

 

[Dannypipe]

but Danny , you had a cellar to fit the manifolds so its simple
top post mate , at last a realistic figure for a proper heating system in a haf mil house .
6k LOL!!

Yeah I know!! Simple, righto!!

 

[Dannypipe]

Just read the OP and realised its a 4 bedroom house, not 6!! Whoops.

My point still stands though!

 

[dontknowitall]

More difficult in a 4 bedroom house as there's less room on the landing.

 

[AWheating]

£6000 sounds low to me, without seeing the job of course...... you get what you pay for in this game.

 

[likaleica]

No - it was one of 4

 

[likaleica]

Beginning to wish I'd never posted here, frankly

 

[GQuigley67]

well your asking for too much from us, we cant give you nowhere near an accurate price without doing a survey of your home

 

[Gray0689]

Whys this???

 

[leelister6]

Beginning to wish I'd never posted here, frankly

Why's that? The people that have posted have been honest enough to tell you that it would be reckless to estimate without looking at the job. Any half decent engineer wouldn't charge for a estimate/quote, so you've nothing to lose by getting a couple of blokes off here to have a look. If all the quotes are coming in at similar amounts, that should tell you that you aren't being goosed. Try British Gas and you'll see more than telephone numbers!!

 

[SimonG]

Beginning to wish I'd never posted here, frankly

Can you expand on that? At the minute it sounds like sour grapes because people aren't saying what you want to hear!

Like everybody has posted, it's very difficult without seeing, but if you've got half a dozen quotes and they're pretty similiar, then to me it's a 'telephone number' job. Maybe there's something about the job that is driving this, maybe wrong time of year, maybe not enough people looked at it, maybe it might be your attitude, without seeing it's all guesswork.

Hopefully you've made contact with some of the engineers on here who will be able to help get you sorted.

Let us know how you get on and good luck.