New Combi Boiler

Cameron1590_2

Hi All,

I want to move my current boiler from the attached garage and place a new combi in the airing cupboard. This will allow me to convert the garage into another living room. 

I have been quoted £2,850 inc vat for a new Baxi 36kw Combi which will come with Nest Heating Controls and to have three radiators replaced. 

Does this sound like a good price?

thanks 

Blue_Cat

Hi Cameron,

Not sure if you've seen my post, but I've been quoted £3k just to have a like-for-like combi to combi replacement, in the same place!  So your quote deffo sounds better than mine, as yours appears to entail much more work.  That being said, I believe my quote is definitely overpriced.

Assuming your current boiler isn't in urgent need of replacement/repair (like mine), maybe it's worth obtaining 2 more separate quotes?  Then you have 3 quotes to compare and weigh up? 

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Cameron.

Baxis aren't as expensive as some other models (such as Worcester, Vaillant etc), but that is still a good price to my eyes. As BlueCat says, it's a complete new installation, flue, pipes, everything! AND 3 rads! AND a Nest!

Bite their hands off

maxsteam

It's worth using sites like boxt, warmzilla and heatable to see if quotes are reasonable. If you are wanting, for example, a combi boiler replaced with a combi boiler in the same place, it's a standard job and there is often no need for a survey and the sites will give a definite, fixed-price quote. You could arrange for the work to be done the day after tomorrow if it wasn't Easter weekend. I've not got as far as booking the work but I am expecting to do that shortly. I expect to get change from £2k to replace a combi boiler with a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30i.

If searching the internet for quotes, be careful about where you give out your phone number as there are a few boiler scams around.

It's easy to see how much a boiler will cost "supply only" and it's easy to estimate the hours taken to fit it after it has been fitted. There are plumbers around who don't flinch about charging £000s per day for their work.

plumberpaig

The quote sounds very reasonable. I agree with the idea about comparing with sites like Boxt and Heatable. Boxt now let you price up for radiators. I would still go with a local and established firm who will price match I'm sure. I would not buy the materials myself and then find a labour only installer. The good installers won't work like that, however unreasonable you may think that it.

maxsteam

plumberpaig said:

I would not buy the materials myself and then find a labour only installer. The good installers won't work like that, however unreasonable you may think that it.

Some will like it, some won't. Some workmen have a system whereby they get a discount on materials. Something that may cost £100 at Screwfix, Tooolstation or B&Q, they will buy and get an invoice for £200 from their supplier and a £100 discount at the month end. They then have the document to support charging the customer £200 for materials.

The point I'm making is that some plumbers will charge £5k to install a boiler. If you look up the cost of the boiler and it's £1k and if it takes two men a day to install, then £5k is a significant overcharge. I'm all for paying a fair day's pay for a fair day's work but some plumbers take the biscuit.

DavidF

maxsteam said:

plumberpaig said:

I would not buy the materials myself and then find a labour only installer. The good installers won't work like that, however unreasonable you may think that it.

Some will like it, some won't. Some workmen have a system whereby they get a discount on materials. Something that may cost £100 at Screwfix, Tooolstation or B&Q, they will buy and get an invoice for £200 from their supplier and a £100 discount at the month end. They then have the document to support charging the customer £200 for materials.

The point I'm making is that some plumbers will charge £5k to install a boiler. If you look up the cost of the boiler and it's £1k and if it takes two men a day to install, then £5k is a significant overcharge. I'm all for paying a fair day's pay for a fair day's work but some plumbers take the biscuit.

Im an electrician and at risk of appearing not seeing the customer side of things - The mark-up on goods supplied covers your warranty and the time taken to use your knowledge to pick up materials deliver them in good order to your door, install those carefully selected materials according to their spec. Some charge as much as 100% mark-up but then they may be 30% cheaper on hourly rate....Swings and roundabouts is the old saying.
I personally will not install anything apart from actual finishing that is supplied by customer and even then if their chosen brand has proven problematic in the past I will advise potential customer of this and decline to quote. 
On the occasion that tradesmen do install customer supplied materials then the warranty is thus - "It works right now and that's it" any complications failures even next day are chargeable. We run a business just like everyone else. 
I have yet to pick up a steak from my local butcher and tried taking it to the local Michelin restaurant and ask them to cook it at an hourly rate lol....I have an idea of what response I would get though. Probably a similar response if I asked "How much are you paying for X" in a supermarket or as said in a restaurant.