ASHP Quotes

powerless_chief

Read the thread with interest. I'm in a somewhat similar position to the OP.

We recently had pretty extensive renovations done to the house in which I have gone to extra steps to ensure the house is fit for an ASHP to run at low temps as and when our boiler is ready for replacement. If the price was right sooner though (c.£2-3k after grant) then I'd be willing to do it sooner.

We wouldn't need a new cylinder, already have 28mm copper pipe runs, would be locating the 7kw ASHP very close to where the current boiler is... I feel like my job should be as simple as they come yet I can't get any quotes below £5.5k. This includes from x1 independent who (claims to have) accounted for the lack of extras, but also from x2 corporates which were basically of the view they'd charge the same price irrespective of how many rads/piping/cylinder changes were needed. That's the bit that really confused me, the ones I spoke to seemed to be running a risk-based approach of taking a lower margin on some projects and then making extra on ones like mine.

I'm confident from my research parts alone can be kept beneath £6500 and appreciate trades have their own overheads and need a profit, but another £6500 in labour? I'm not in a rush to do it so not chasing after more quotes but it is disheartening.

MoneyGeoff

powerless_chief said:

Read the thread with interest. I'm in a somewhat similar position to the OP.

We recently had pretty extensive renovations done to the house in which I have gone to extra steps to ensure the house is fit for an ASHP to run at low temps as and when our boiler is ready for replacement. If the price was right sooner though (c.£2-3k after grant) then I'd be willing to do it sooner.

We wouldn't need a new cylinder, already have 28mm copper pipe runs, would be locating the 7kw ASHP very close to where the current boiler is... I feel like my job should be as simple as they come yet I can't get any quotes below £5.5k. This includes from x1 independent who (claims to have) accounted for the lack of extras, but also from x2 corporates which were basically of the view they'd charge the same price irrespective of how many rads/piping/cylinder changes were needed. That's the bit that really confused me, the ones I spoke to seemed to be running a risk-based approach of taking a lower margin on some projects and then making extra on ones like mine.

I'm confident from my research parts alone can be kept beneath £6500 and appreciate trades have their own overheads and need a profit, but another £6500 in labour? I'm not in a rush to do it so not chasing after more quotes but it is disheartening.

Yes that’s the crux of it. The bigger the company, the higher the quote. They quote based on the size of the ASHP rather than the work that needs doing. In my case there is no electrical work, no radiator changes or pipework changes. Just supply and fit of a ASHP and cylinder. The ASHP can be installed on the wall directly behind the cylinder.

I’ve got a quote now from a local mcs company which is £11.5k, so £4k after the BUS grant. Will probably do that if the council route falls through. The council themselves admitted they are aware of the inflated quotes problem. Given that others don’t have this issue at all I guess it’s area specific.

benson1980

Twerly said:

Hi,
I also have had  tried local MCS-listed installers   - exactly the same experience (heat pump size for our house us 8.5Kw or 9KW - though it is only £500 extra for larger)  - they have been less the 7.5K grant 
Octopus 4-5K depending if eco or turbo
Company 1 6K to pay
Company  2 7K to pay

I too strongly suspect the companies are making a massive margin pocketing the majority of the 7.5K grant

reason being....

I have carried out my own analysis and checks

Upto 4 months ago Octoous would supply and fit for 1.5K  - my neighbour in a larger house paid this.  
If you go online - https://www.theheatpumpwarehouse.co.uk  - they sell all makes and models including the full kits including tanks and all kit needed for anytihng from about £5k to say £7K for the most expensive. The Mitubishi Ecodan 8.5kw is £6k including the 175L warter tank

All the companies quoted 2-4 days installation, checked with chatgpt which estimnated heat pump install cost around 2-3K so with the 6K kit cost adds up to  it 9K so less the grant would be 1.5K 

All the quotes I received do not break down the costs, I did mentioned the purchase price to one company and the salesman became quite defensive. 

I also raised a formal complaint to "Greg" at Octopus asking how my neighbour paid 1.5K in June 2025 , received a rubbish explanation that they have just put their prices up

I have one more local company coming out to quote, but so I am concerned that I think there is a bit of a closed shop of profiteering going on and the £7500 is not benefitting the consumer. 

I can see why you've come to the figures you have, but matt drummer is right. Your estimated 2-3k for an install is too low. Just the 'sundry' plumbing and electrical parts might come to £500. The company have then also got to fund the heat loss surveys, plus administration. Most companies we had quotes from had at least one or two members of staff who did this, and were not on the tools themselves.

With Octopus the general consensus was that they were installing at a loss with their previous price structure.

I'm not saying that a lot aren't taking the pee, but I'd say that's mostly the ones who are quoting the sort of prices you have had and then doing a crummy job- and there are plenty of those. I've also seen photos of someones 2 day install, and aspects of the job, such as the outer pipe insulation etc, are a total mess. 

The_Green_Hornet

Regardless of whether companies are price gouging or not, the cost of an ASHP is too expensive for most home owners.

The wealthy will buy them, and the poor will get them installed for free, but the remainder, when faced with a choice, will simply replace their gas boilers like for like.

The government will need to increase the grant if they want to reach their target number of installations.

NedS

Has anyone used BOXT for a quote?

QrizB

Here's a new candidate for the title of "cheapest brand-new ASHP in the UK":

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/superheat-mhp7/oem-superheatmhp7-heat-pump

£899.

User / installation manual here. Shows it installed using a buffer tank but I suspect you'd be fine using a volumiser instead.

Twerly

powerless_chief said:

Read the thread with interest. I'm in a somewhat similar position to the OP.

We recently had pretty extensive renovations done to the house in which I have gone to extra steps to ensure the house is fit for an ASHP to run at low temps as and when our boiler is ready for replacement. If the price was right sooner though (c.£2-3k after grant) then I'd be willing to do it sooner.

We wouldn't need a new cylinder, already have 28mm copper pipe runs, would be locating the 7kw ASHP very close to where the current boiler is... I feel like my job should be as simple as they come yet I can't get any quotes below £5.5k. This includes from x1 independent who (claims to have) accounted for the lack of extras, but also from x2 corporates which were basically of the view they'd charge the same price irrespective of how many rads/piping/cylinder changes were needed. That's the bit that really confused me, the ones I spoke to seemed to be running a risk-based approach of taking a lower margin on some projects and then making extra on ones like mine.

I'm confident from my research parts alone can be kept beneath £6500 and appreciate trades have their own overheads and need a profit, but another £6500 in labour? I'm not in a rush to do it so not chasing after more quotes but it is disheartening.

I was in your position - 100% same.  In the end I negotiated with one of the reputable suppliers and got the price down to £4K (11.5 with grant) this included 8 new radiators, a good 175L tank, and 10K Midea mono block ASHP.  The instal was a simple on for the ASHP. It took 2 days in total (plumbing on day 1 - 3 engineers) and Electricians (x2) on second day.  This included all copper pipework, lagging etc and I have three years free servicing.  To me this proves that there is a significant chunk of suppliers taking a huge margin (mainly from the grant). One common factor for every single quote was they did not beak down the costs of parts and labour, just a line for how much I need to pay.  This to me is a telling sign of hiding the true costs. Note I received 5 quotes in total. I fully understand there are other costs for the back office team etd. 

benson1980

Twerly said:

powerless_chief said:

Read the thread with interest. I'm in a somewhat similar position to the OP.

We recently had pretty extensive renovations done to the house in which I have gone to extra steps to ensure the house is fit for an ASHP to run at low temps as and when our boiler is ready for replacement. If the price was right sooner though (c.£2-3k after grant) then I'd be willing to do it sooner.

We wouldn't need a new cylinder, already have 28mm copper pipe runs, would be locating the 7kw ASHP very close to where the current boiler is... I feel like my job should be as simple as they come yet I can't get any quotes below £5.5k. This includes from x1 independent who (claims to have) accounted for the lack of extras, but also from x2 corporates which were basically of the view they'd charge the same price irrespective of how many rads/piping/cylinder changes were needed. That's the bit that really confused me, the ones I spoke to seemed to be running a risk-based approach of taking a lower margin on some projects and then making extra on ones like mine.

I'm confident from my research parts alone can be kept beneath £6500 and appreciate trades have their own overheads and need a profit, but another £6500 in labour? I'm not in a rush to do it so not chasing after more quotes but it is disheartening.

I was in your position - 100% same.  In the end I negotiated with one of the reputable suppliers and got the price down to £4K (11.5 with grant) this included 8 new radiators, a good 175L tank, and 10K Midea mono block ASHP.  The instal was a simple on for the ASHP. It took 2 days in total (plumbing on day 1 - 3 engineers) and Electricians (x2) on second day.  This included all copper pipework, lagging etc and I have three years free servicing.  To me this proves that there is a significant chunk of suppliers taking a huge margin (mainly from the grant). One common factor for every single quote was they did not beak down the costs of parts and labour, just a line for how much I need to pay.  This to me is a telling sign of hiding the true costs. Note I received 5 quotes in total. I fully understand there are other costs for the back office team etd. 

That is a good price. I wonder if there is significant regional variation. We are down South and with an average of 4 or 5 radiator changes no-one would quote us less than 7.5k (after grant) for the 10kW vaillant.

General day rates for trades are around £350 to 400 a day here. I do everything that I can possibly do these days myself, partly because of this. Partly because of the quality of work is usually poor as well. One installer we almost went with changed their ts and cs last minute to alter their 'contingency' day rate (i.e. any unforeseen works) from 400 to 600 quid. Utterly ridiculous.

In the end we went with a Clivet (Midea clone) for 5.5k. This is without the cylinder change as well as we already had a HP ready one. The actual Midea units look cheaper still. The control options for Mideas are limited so I'd be interested to know what you've gone for. Do you just have the manufacturers control panel set up for pure weather comp?

Furthermore what is the quality of work like, and in particular lagging of any external pipework? I've seen photos of another 2 day install and it was not pretty....

wrf12345

If the government were to increase the grant to say 10k then they should make it an all-in grant, ie the customer would pay no extra (they have kind of done this with the new Local Grant as  opposed to the Eco4 Flex where companies were demanding extra dosh), forcing some efficiency into the system as I am sure the industry is making installs as complex as possible to up the pricing.