Central Heating Quote

escapee

Hi All

I am considering having my sixteen year old gas fire/backboiler removed and replaced with a condensing combi boiler. I would also like the old tank and other surplus paraphernalia removed in the process and have 6 of my 7 existing radiators replaced as they are nearly 30 years old now! The new rads will have thermo valves fitted.

I have had two quotes for the work and both are within £50 of each other and a shade off £3700 inc. VAT, is this average? I was hoping to gain a quote within my budget of £3000 is this a pipe dream?

Although both quotes were very similar the heating engineers had very different ideas as where to site the boiler and basically contradicted each other, which threw my a little. They also offered to supply different makes of boiler, Engineer A quoted for a Glowworm CX30i and Engineer B quoted an Alpha CD32C, I am not really clued up on quality/reliability of boilers so am unable to decide which was the better value.

Should I try for a couple more quotes or are these roughly as cheap as I should expect. If it is of any information I am in the Nottinghamshire/East Midlands area.

Thank you in advance for any feedback!

Tallymanjohn

We've just paid £2,500 for boiler replacement (no radiators) & we had quotes ranging from £2,100 up to £3,400 (highest quotes from BG & Powergen). This was for a conventional condensing boiler rather than a combi.

We were told that GlowWorm are the cheapest boiler brand around & were recommended not to use them (we went for a Worcester Bosch in the end), also, I don't know about the size of the rooms in your house but we have had a 30kW boiler fitted to run 17 radiators in a 5 bed, reasonably modern, house - sounds like the same size boiler you've been quoted on for 7 rads, though this may be down to the combi bit. Don't know a lot about Alpha boilers, nobody quoted on them & judging by a quick Google they seem to be a new (to the UK) boiler manufacturer so I'd be a bit hesitant about using them.

Get a couple more quotes - doesn't cost you anything & may save in the long run (we got 7 quotes from very big to very small companies).

escapee

After a bit of research myself, I came to the conclusion the most popular brands are Worcester Bosch or Vailiant EcoTech, unfortunately plumbers tend to want to recommend their personal choices and are reluctant to install anything they are unfamiliar with.

My brother in law is a manager at a local plumbing and heating merchants so I was hoping to save costs and supply the materials myself, however this is lost revenue to plumbers so they make every excuse up under the sun why they cannot install goods they havent supplied.

I am also very hesitant to just pluck names out of the paper as chances are I will get a cowboy, but then no one local to me has had any similar work done, for me to obtain recommendations.

Thank you for the feedback tallymanjohn, I will try to get a few more quotes and see if they vary.

escapee

**Update**

We had another plumber round Saturday afternoon for a quote and he stated £2200 roughly for all the work plus a Biasi - B rated combi. After a little research I found Biasi was regarded as below average so I telephoned him Sunday before he had time to complete written quote to ask if it could be exchanged for a Glowworm (a sister company of Vaillant), to which he replied not a problem.

I had to call him again tonight for an update as to where the written quote was, it does seem a bit of a coincidence that I have had to chase all the plumbers up for the quote they promise, why are plumbers so reluctant to give you anything in writing!!!!

Funnily enough I still never got the second quote in writing

Dry_Flood

For cheap central heating systems go to
http://www.mrcentralheating.com

When I bought my system I was given the option to upgrade my boiler to a Baxi - A Rated, for £50

beermatt_3

Hi,

Have you had any luck with the plumbers?
I had a few quotes similar to you, one offering the glowworm, another with the Alpha. A third came round but was never heard from again!!!

I decided to go with the Glowworm but they never turned up to install it.
Several phone calls later and i was told i could "go elsewhere" !!
What is it with these guys? :mad:

Anyway, im now going with the Alpha system and its due to be installed next week. Heres hoping it all goes to plan.

Matt

escapee wrote:

Hi All

I am considering having my sixteen year old gas fire/backboiler removed and replaced with a condensing combi boiler. I would also like the old tank and other surplus paraphernalia removed in the process and have 6 of my 7 existing radiators replaced as they are nearly 30 years old now! The new rads will have thermo valves fitted.

I have had two quotes for the work and both are within £50 of each other and a shade off £3700 inc. VAT, is this average? I was hoping to gain a quote within my budget of £3000 is this a pipe dream?

Although both quotes were very similar the heating engineers had very different ideas as where to site the boiler and basically contradicted each other, which threw my a little. They also offered to supply different makes of boiler, Engineer A quoted for a Glowworm CX30i and Engineer B quoted an Alpha CD32C, I am not really clued up on quality/reliability of boilers so am unable to decide which was the better value.

Should I try for a couple more quotes or are these roughly as cheap as I should expect. If it is of any information I am in the Nottinghamshire/East Midlands area.

Thank you in advance for any feedback!

Thefunkygibbons

I had no problem getting the plumber to install the boiler I sourced

But, the difference was that I allowed him to keep the purchase profit, but I still saved money as getting it off the internet was cheaper than the cost price to him from the local supplier

missk_ensington

Buy your own materials. I had my back boiler removed and had combi put in. My rads were okay but needed therms on them (they;re about £4 each though, so not expensive and take two minutes to fit)

I always advise buying your own materials and getting labour only. I bought a cheap boiler £399 from B&Q it does the job although takes a minute for the hot water to come through the tap.

In all mine cost me £399 for boiler £30 for therms £20 for a fillip loop and £700 labour for 2 men for 2 days. Total- £1149

Hope this helps. It should be noted though I paid the workmen in cash, their labout was £850 through the books or £700 cash. However if you go down this route you much check theyre CORGI reg (they should carry an ID card).

They will be obliged to fill in a certificate on completion which they send off and you receive something through the post, so you will have evidence they did the work even if you pay in cash.

angeleyes

we have just moved last friday to a house with back boiler/heating system and as we are doing the house up thought we should look into changing it (do my head in if decorated and after few months had to have it changed) so started getting quotes yesterday ranging from 2600 to 2300 for cash just had a feller out and take out and replace whole system ( with consensing combi )and 7radiators (one a towel rail) for £1850 jumped at it and booked it in for thursday (yes he is certified and everything)
while he was here (he could tell we had just moved in ) he said he had a bathroom store etc and did bathroom -arranging tilers electrician etc price for whole bathroom suite inc tiles spotlight , them shiney ceilings,fitting and the suite £4000 with a tilevision £3200 without .. made up with it as saves having to arrange everything seperatly.

so a productive day all in all me thinks

BobProperty

missk_ensington wrote:

Buy your own materials.......I always advise buying your own materials and getting labour only.....

But don't complain if it doesn't work too well, please.

missk_ensington wrote:

.... It should be noted though I paid the workmen in cash, their labout was £850 through the books or £700 cash. However if you go down this route you much check theyre CORGI reg (they should carry an ID card).

They will be obliged to fill in a certificate on completion which they send off and you receive something through the post, so you will have evidence they did the work even if you pay in cash.

What is it about paying cash that everyone automatically assumes it is going in someone back pocket? I have been paid cash for some of the work I have done, it's in my accounts. OK there are quite a number of people who will work for cash, some exclusively, but equally the chance of getting them back if anything goes wrong, I would say, is inversely proportional to the amount of work that goes straight into their back pockets.
I will say in the above example is that their CORGI cards may count for nothing as far as CORGI and any guarantee is concerned as it's not "on the books". Because it's "not on the books" they are hardly likely to fill in the certificate. Alternatively, if they do, their employers won't guarantee the work as it wasn't "on their books". (And do check the certificate hasn't been signed M Mouse too)

escapee

beermatt wrote:

Hi,

Have you had any luck with the plumbers?
I had a few quotes similar to you, one offering the glowworm, another with the Alpha. A third came round but was never heard from again!!!

I decided to go with the Glowworm but they never turned up to install it.
Several phone calls later and i was told i could "go elsewhere" !!
What is it with these guys? :mad:

Anyway, im now going with the Alpha system and its due to be installed next week. Heres hoping it all goes to plan.

Matt

Yes mate

We finally decided on a Glowworm Flexicom CX30 including six new rads with therms and room stat total is £2450 fitted from the third plumber who initially quoted for a Biasi. He is coming this Monday to fit, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!!