What a new boiler costs

Why nobody can give you one number

A boiler is a product with a price on it. A boiler installation is a job, and the job is different in every house.

Two identical semis on the same street can be a thousand pounds apart. One has the boiler in the kitchen on an outside wall. The other has it in a bedroom cupboard with a flue running through the loft. Same street, same house type, very different day's work.

So if someone quotes you a firm price without asking about your property, they're either padding it to cover themselves or planning to revise it on the day. Being asked six questions up front is the better deal.

The four things that move the price most

Roughly in order of how much they matter.

1. 01What kind of change it is. A like-for-like combi swap in the same spot is the cheapest job in this trade. Converting a conventional system to a combi means tanks and cylinder out, pipework capped, and making good where they were. Taking a back boiler out from behind a fire is more involved again. Moving the boiler to another wall adds pipework and usually a new flue route.
2. 02The boiler and its warranty. Output in kilowatts and warranty length are the two levers. A longer manufacturer warranty costs more up front and is usually worth having, because the expensive part of a boiler failing in year eight is the labour and the disruption, not the part itself.
3. 03The flue run. Short and horizontal through an outside wall is simple. Vertical through a roof, a long run across a loft, or anything needing scaffolding is not.
4. 04The state of the existing system. An old system full of sludge needs a proper flush, not a token one, or the new boiler is back on the bench inside two years. Sometimes a power flush is necessary and sometimes it's an upsell. A straight installer will tell you which yours is.

The extras that should already be in the price

None of these are optional and none of them are upgrades. If a quote doesn't mention them, ask why before you compare it with anything else.

• A magnetic system filter, which protects the new boiler from whatever is already circulating in your pipework. Most manufacturers now want one fitted for the warranty to stand
• A flush or chemical clean suited to the state of the system
• The flue and standard pipework
• Controls, fitted and properly explained
• Taking the old boiler away
• Building control notification
• The manufacturer warranty registered in your name, not the installer's

A cheap quote with the filter and the flush left out isn't a cheap quote. It's the same job missing two things you'll pay for later.

What we do about it

We ask about your property, then put a written price in front of you with the inclusions and the exclusions spelled out. If your job needs looking at before anyone can price it properly, we say so at that point, not after you've committed.

And if you already hold a written quote from someone else for the same work, show us. We will beat a genuine like-for-like quote, subject to terms that fit on half a page.