Offer accepted changing gas warm air to radiators?

cashbackproblems · 6 March 2017 at 9:42PM

Hi all

I have just had an offer accepted of 330k on a 2 bed flat in south east, it was listed for 350k so not a bad deal considering how much surrounding flats go for

The flat has warm air gas heating which i really dont like so offered slightly less and needs redecorating (nothing major). The vendor said he got a quote to change to combi boiler/radiators 6 months back and quoted 5-6k..my offer was on the condition there are no nasty surprises re cost of changing and i hope to get british gas to quote me this saturday. Is 6k a realistic quote??

Also the windows in the block along one of the stairs are abit mouldy is it something the management company will replace? Othrrwise the block is old but looks well maintained.

Also when u hire decorators to do painting, changing doors and floors, do they buy the materials flooring etc for u as i dont drive? Where is best to buy flooring/skirting/doors homebase/ikea etc or online?

Thanks

Keezing · 6 March 2017 at 9:53PM

Personally I think that quote is a little bit on the high side, but others may correct me. If you go with British Gas you will get a mediocre installer at twice the price. See if you can find a recommended local gas safe heating engineer.

Decent Combi Boiler - £1400
6 Radiators - £800
Pipes/Fittings etc - £150
3 days Gas Safe Heating Engineer - £750
Total: £3100

If you want designer radiators £4k total maybe. Hard to get to £6k unless you use British Gas.

You'll probably need to notify building control as it's a new gas boiler install (I assume you do have mains gas going into the flat?), but I'm not an expert. Make sure you ask the installer about this.

tom9980 · 6 March 2017 at 10:20PM

You will be wasting your time getting British gas to even quote, get local recommendations and get it installed during the quiet, warm summer months.

ComicGeek · 6 March 2017 at 11:11PM

cashbackproblems wrote: »

i hope to get british gas to quote me this saturday.

British Gas??:eek:

If someone tried to negotiate with me based on a British Gas quotation there's no way that I would take them seriously. But a lot of people still wrongly use them as the gold plated benchmark of UK engineering despite all of the evidence to the contrary - trying to convince my retired neighbours to stop paying their huge monthly subscriptions for absolutely nothing is nigh on impossible!

Get a couple of local installers to quote instead - personally, I think for a full system install in the South-East you will be looking at about £5k, as there's a lot of pipework to install, potentially including hot and cold water pipework depending on what you will be replacing.

And how are they going to install the pipework around the flat? Are there ceiling/floor voids? Surface fixed pipework? Boxings for pipework? All this increases time and costs.

AnotherJoe · 6 March 2017 at 11:49PM

I suggest you live with the warm air for one winter before you change it (unless you have actual experience of it from elsewhere). I find it much preferable to the ridiculous, clunky and space robbing idea of circulating warm water round a house.

Silvine_2 · 7 March 2017 at 12:02AM

Just literally did this in my 3 bed house last week. Cost approx £3300, completed by Contractor found on checkatrade.

TBagpuss · 7 March 2017 at 10:25AM

As others have said, Brituish Gas tend to be very expensive so iof they wquote you £6K it's likely that you can get a good job done by an independent fitter for less than that. Cost will vary a bit depending on whaere you want the boiler and pipes.

i would agree that it may be worth waiting a little to see how you feel about the curent heating system before you change it.

In terms of workers and materials - most can and will supply materials and may well be able to do so for less than you would pay buying direct. Where you buy from depends on what you want.

When I have new skirting boards fitted my builder just showed me pictures of the diferent styles, I picked on andthey did the rest. Same with the decorators. I got tester pots and chose the colours I wanted, they then got the paint mixed - I think it was 'Dulux Trade' .

Obviously if you prefer to buy your own then you can do that, and if you are having new doors or a fittd kitchen you may want to. You'd need to speak with the tradespeople concerned as to whether they are willing to buy/collect your chosen style. if not, there are lots of 'man with a van' services. (And IKEA will deliver, for a price)

obay · 7 March 2017 at 10:29AM

We got a new combi bolier from BG, we got quoted £2750 for all the work to be carried out, we went with it and put it on £42/mo finance....

We had 1 new rad, this install included a complete cleanse of the system, new tempostat as well.

DoaM · 7 March 2017 at 11:20AM

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I suggest you live with the warm air for one winter before you change it (unless you have actual experience of it from elsewhere). I find it much preferable to the ridiculous, clunky and space robbing idea of circulating warm water round a house.

I guess it depends on personal circumstances. Mrs DoaM is asthmatic so when we were first looking at houses, any with ducted air heating were out of the question - it really affected her.

rtho782 · 7 March 2017 at 1:17PM

Consider a multi split air source heat pump.

Means you get aircon too, and just as cheap (or cheaper) to run than gas.

r2015 · 7 March 2017 at 1:27PM

I changed my warm air heating to radiators and it cost just over £6000.

I am now using 5-6,000 kWh less gas a year.

2 years ago I used 18,000 kWh of gas in the year with the warm air, it has been up to 23,000 kWh, this year I used 13,000 kWh of gas.

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Offer accepted changing gas warm air to radiators?

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