Central heating installation - advice please!

FTB-FTW

Hi all

We're about to move into a 2-bed flat with no central heating and want to sort this out before the winter. Our estate agent actually told us that a quote had come in for this at 5k, which seems absolutely astranomical to me- the flat is fairly spacious (technically a maisonette as over two floors) but not huge, and I've not heard of people paying more than about 3k for this at most.

Few things I'd like to know just to stop the pre-move jitters on this:

- does 5k seem a lot (in London) for a 2-bed maisonette and would it be worth shopping around a lot more than the previous owner did? NB we checked at the survey if installing a condensing boiler would be complicated in any way and the answer came back as 'absolutely no problem'.

- Would getting it installed asap (i.e. during the summer months) going to help us get it any cheaper? I noticed that British gas are offering a third off all boilers until 31 Sep which sounds good, so could we use this to our advantage when ordering a full new CH system?

- How is it even possible for houses to not have central heating nowadays? The fact that there is none installed almost makes me tempted to find out whether it is simply a 'warm house' (it has a flat downstairs which may produce heat!) as it seems bizarre that previous owners would have lived for years without doing this.

Thanks all, really grateful of any help at all on this. We are obviously freaking out about today's news re. interest rates and starting to wonder about maybe putting this off in order to make over-payments, but I feel the cold terribly badly and that prospect really depresses me.

macman

Yes, very high. But is there an existing gas supply to the property? If not you will have that extra expense and of course need the freeholder's permission to do so (and probably the other leaseholder's too).
And don't even think about BG, they are typically 50% more than an independent RGI anyway.

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW wrote: »

Hi all

We're about to move into a 2-bed flat with no central heating and want to sort this out before the winter. Our estate agent actually told us that a quote had come in for this at 5k, which seems absolutely astranomical to me- the flat is fairly spacious (technically a maisonette as over two floors) but not huge, and I've not heard of people paying more than about 3k for this at most.

Few things I'd like to know just to stop the pre-move jitters on this:

- does 5k seem a lot (in London) for a 2-bed maisonette and would it be worth shopping around a lot more than the previous owner did? NB we checked at the survey if installing a condensing boiler would be complicated in any way and the answer came back as 'absolutely no problem'.

- Would getting it installed asap (i.e. during the summer months) going to help us get it any cheaper? I noticed that British gas are offering a third off all boilers until 31 Sep which sounds good, so could we use this to our advantage when ordering a full new CH system?

- How is it even possible for houses to not have central heating nowadays? The fact that there is none installed almost makes me tempted to find out whether it is simply a 'warm house' (it has a flat downstairs which may produce heat!) as it seems bizarre that previous owners would have lived for years without doing this.

Thanks all, really grateful of any help at all on this. We are obviously freaking out about today's news re. interest rates and starting to wonder about maybe putting this off in order to make over-payments, but I feel the cold terribly badly and that prospect really depresses me.

Good evening: the installation quotations my OH gives do not vary in cost from one season to the next as his labour rates remain the same. In regard to cost....it is not unusual for an install of a complete central heating system for a property of your ilk in London to exceed £5000.00. Get quotes from independent RGIs recommended to you by a source you trust, compare each quote like for like and go from there. More advice available here

And no...I couldn't imagine not having central heating but some folks pride themselves on their ability to wear 3 jumpers at once.;)

HTH

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW

Yes, very high. But is there an existing gas supply to the property?

I did ask the surveyor to indicate any problems with installing gas central heating so while I didn't put it in exactly those terms (wish I had now) I would have expected them to say so if not.

Actually, since we have a HIPS pack, I have just had a look and it says "Main heating: room heaters, mains gas". Sounds like there is a gas supply to me?

We bought this flat with a 50/50 share of freehold.

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW wrote: »

I did ask the surveyor to indicate any problems with installing gas central heating so while I didn't put it in exactly those terms (wish I had now) I would have expected them to say so if not.

Actually, since we have a HIPS pack, I have just had a look and it says "Main heating: room heaters, mains gas". Sounds like there is a gas supply to me?

We bought this flat with a 50/50 share of freehold.

Hi...disconnection and removal of the gas room heaters (and the gas supply to them) would need to be factored into the cost.

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi...disconnection and removal of the gas room heaters (and the gas supply to them) would need to be factored into the cost.

Canucklehead

Good point. They have removed the actual heaters, that's for sure.

Wondering now about simply replacing them with new ones, at least for now. I assume that will be a lot cheaper?

macman

So how is the hot water heated? And how did the previous owners heat the property?

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW wrote: »

Good point. They have removed the actual heaters, that's for sure.

Wondering now about simply replacing them with new ones, at least for now. I assume that will be a lot cheaper?

Hi...false economy. I suspect gas wall heaters would put many people off the property if you had to sell up. Bite the bullet now. Installation costs will only go up as material costs and overheads for the RGI continue to rise.

HTH

Canucklehead

Canucklehead

macman wrote: »

So how is the hot water heated? And how did the previous owners heat the property?

Hi....this info should be recorded on the OP's EPC/HIP.
Back to you FTB-FTW;)

Canucklehead

FTB-FTW

macman wrote: »

So how is the hot water heated? And how did the previous owners heat the property?

Electric immersion heater and gas heaters in the rooms

gas4you

I would expect the cost to be around £3.5-£4k for this type of property.