Opinions on boiler installation price

DismissTheCynic

Hi
I recently purchased a flat which has an old back boiler with an ancient pilot light gas fire.
I have been shopping around for a decent price to upgrade this system.
Looking for some opinions on the quote I got
Complete price to fit a Alpha inTEC 28 X condensing combi boiler comes in at £1,948.20
As the current system is so old I am entitled to the £400 scrappage scheme voucher along with some other discounts the price comes in at £1,378.00
I feel like I am a bit out of my depth with it all. Can any one offer any advise or opinions on the above?

Feel free to ask any questions
Cheers

ilikecookies

As someone who has had a fair bit of work done by different plumbers just lately (first a new boiler, then some new rads, then a new shower pump) my best tip is to get at least 3 quotes and more like 6 if you have the time. This serves a couple of purposes:

1) Price comparison - whether the quote you have got is high, mid-range or low can't really be ascertained until you have a couple of prices to compare it to. In addition I always ask anyone quoting to split their quote into materials and labour and ask them to confirm how long they see the job taking. This allows you to subjectively compare the quotes you receive.

2) Establish a consensus - different plumbers have different ways of doing things but sometimes this can just be a ploy to get extra cash out of you. For example, when I had my boiler done I had one chap insisting I needed a MUCH bigger boiler than the others quoted and so his quote was much higher. All the other plumbers suggested a much smaller boiler and they were right as the new one is doing it's job just fine. Use getting quotes as an opportunity to get advise on the best solution and test (subtly!) what others have said.

3) See who you click with - for me striking a genuine rapport is important and I'll go with a higher quote if I like the particular tradesmen as I'm more likely to think he'll do a good job.

Looking at your particular quote:

1) I am always wary of any companies offering a "boiler scrappage" discount/voucher. I believe this scheme has now closed and I think it was a gimmick anyway (ie. they jack up the price to begin with and then say but from this bad price we'll knock £x off). The fact that some companies continue to offer it is a bit misleading.

2) The particularly model of boiler you reference is about £600 retail which means the plumber will be getting it a fair bit cheaper than that. But just assuming he was paying retail and not jacking up the price this means the labour for the job is £778. Do you know roughly how long the job will take? For example, if he reckons it will take him 2 days this seems like a lot per day (£389) as most plumbers are in the region of £120-£220 per day. But of course it depends where you are in the UK.

3) I'm hesitant to comment on whether the boiler you quote is adequately sized, a good brand, etc. I think you need a fair more quotes and then google the boilers recommended to decide this.

Hope this is some help! I recognise the above sounds like a lot of work but it will save pain down the line!

unclebulgaria

Can you put some more details about the quote you have received. Its quite low really but that boiler isn't one I would fit anyway, they're not known to be robust or reliable.
Just to clarify, Ive only fitted 3 Alpha boilers and I wasn't that impressed with their build qulaity. They also started to show signs of poor reliability within 6 months.

Lgas

Ugh, Alpha, stay away! There's a reason it's so cheap, false economy.