Boiler quote - What price should I be looking at?

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OpenToSuggestions

OpenToSuggestions

Soldato
Joined
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11,374
Location
Derbyshire
Hey all.
I bought my first house a few months ago and it has an inefficient 20 year old boiler. It is a 3 bed detached, but not massive.

Today British Gas came for a 'no obligation quote' as I have been toying with the idea of a new one. He said that I would be best off with a conventional boiler as my hot water tank is fine, but I require a system flush and a filter putting on with the new boiler. Also I would need a new flue and a new dial set to give me greater control over my heating, as currently I just have a 24-hour setting with no variation for different days of the week.

The quote is as follows:
Baxi Solo 15HE high efficiency boiler £754
Horizontal flue termianal £154
Internal condensate connection £57
Connect boiler and electrics and test £190
Boiler installation £1106
Brick work £133
Waste collection and disposal £49
Additional electrical work £57
System water treatment and powerflush £208
22mm Magentic system filter £205
Electronic heating and hot water control £26
Total £2540

The offer at the moment is free Homecare 200 cover for 12 months.

I personally feel this quote is a little steep, but then again I know very little about boilers which is why I'm asking.

Looking for general comments and pointers really.
Thanks :).
 
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I bought that Baxi Solo 15HE boiler a few weeks ago, with a Flue, for £660. So all I can add to this is that's expensive for the equipment.

I'm still yet to courier it back as I've purchased a combi boiler as the water tanks take up a lot of space.
 
Bear in mind, if you're getting a condensing boiler, the temperatures in the system will make it less efficient. Condensation occurs at around 50C but, for some reason, in this country everyone insists of system temperatures being around 80C. It's absolutely ridiculous and I've got no idea how people's heating/hot water still work.
 
I'm surprised how little it is for a British Gas quote, they quoted me £4100, however my system needed updating to fully pumped as it was only semi-gravity, and it included a new cylinder. Regardless, you don't need to ask whether a British Gas quote is expensive, the answer is always yes.

In the end I went with a local independent friend of my manager who did the same job for £2600 (not a special rate but still the cheapest of 5 quotes). If you can get a recommendation you will get much better value like that.. (also I'm further south so of course have to pay more... ;))

dirtychinchilla said:
Bear in mind, if you're getting a condensing boiler,
Click to expand...

he doesn't have a choice as it's a regulatory requirement for new gas boilers to be condensing...
 
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That sounds about right to me. We had a new condensing boiler put in during winter and BG quoted us 2600 inc free cover for a year. We managed to haggle with an independent who we'd also been looking at who offered to do it for 2000 inc the same level of cover that BG would supply and first year's service.

You could probably get it a bit cheaper if you're up for getting a smaller company to do it.
 
The price does seem expensive. I'd definitely ring around for other local plumbers/ gas safe technicians and see which boiler they advise and their quotes.
 
I had that lot done for £1600 including a new cylinder, three port valve and pump excluding the power flush and filter in a 3 bed house.
 
I'm not sure about conventional boilers but last year I got a free quote for a Worcester Bosch combi boiler from British Gas and it came to around £3800.

Got 2 more independent quotes from local companies and both quoted around £1800-2000 region and this was for the next model up!
 
A boiler fitting can take between 4 and 12 hours in my experience (depending on what is involved) so at the least, they are charging you £46 per hour assuming there is two of them. That is madness. They are gas fitters not brain surgeons.
 
Firstly I had an entire heating system put in 9 rads, pipe work, gas, electrics with a Worcester Bosch boiler put in for around £4000 so your price looks rather steep.

dirtychinchilla said:
Bear in mind, if you're getting a condensing boiler, the temperatures in the system will make it less efficient. Condensation occurs at around 50C but, for some reason, in this country everyone insists of system temperatures being around 80C. It's absolutely ridiculous and I've got no idea how people's heating/hot water still work.
Click to expand...

You are correct but it is the return that needs to be 50 or below (lower the better) for a boiler to condense the flow can be what ever as long as the return is sub 50ish, above this you won't get the quoted efficiency on the boiler :)
 
Also some of those itemised items are laughable.

I had a Worcester Bosch 24 in my flat put in for 1500 from an authorised Indy with brickwork etc.
 
I know, crazy money it would take 3 hours to change and charging extra for the flue which would need to be changed too anyway is silly, just trying to justify the cost.
 
Pabl0 said:
I know, crazy money it would take 3 hours to change and charging extra for the flue which would need to be changed too anyway is silly, just trying to justify the cost.
Click to expand...


The flue is sold as a seperate item so why wouldnt they charge for it:confused:
 
a friend had a boiler fitted by british gas recently, the mark up on some of the parts vs getting them from tool station or similar yourself was crazy:

"I estimate at the very least an overcharge of about £750 parts over retail based on the actual part codes used and then £350 labour based on how long each guy spent on the job (builder, electrician, installer) - and that's being VERY generous with the amount of labour they charged (£1700!) - our total was 3.8k"
 
I'd be looking towards Worcester Bosch fitted by an approved installer tbh, 7 year warranty.

that system filter seems really expensive too tbh, It hink I paid about 80 for a TF1.

Why are tehy charging you to installt he boiler AND connect the boiler? :confused:

Get a few more quotes mate, and the area of the country you're in will have a big effect on the price.
 
BG did my new boiler last year, new boiler, full flush, filter, 2 years homecare and servcing.

£2400 once claimed back the scrappage on my old one.

I had quotes from independent tradesmen which were around 800 cheaper but having had all the quotes and inspections I felt most confident in the BG installers. They did a fantastic job, arrived on time and finishd early leaving the place immaculate.

I was impressed as I expected it to be the opposite.

Could I have had it done cheaper. Definitely. To as high a standard throughout the whole process? Probably not.

/Salsa
 
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