Help Me Understand A Boiler Installation Quote

Soldato
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My existing boiler is on the blink. It usually works but loses pressure, often cuts out and has other potential faults. Over the last 12 months I've had about five people out to look at it, and the problem remains. Rather than keep sinking money into an old boiler, I've had a quote for a new one.

The quote was for £2500 installed. The new boiler is going in the same place as the old, and the fitter told me it was a one-day job, for one person.

The boiler I want is widely available for £1600, but it needs a filter which is widely available for £150. The central heating needs a flush with some inhibitor chemicals and no doubt there'll be some other minor bits of pipework to supply.

I know trades need to make a living. I'm sure he's probably priced in his time for the quote, picking up the boiler, and I know tradesmen are liable for tax (like everyone else), but I can't understand how it costs £600+ for a day's labour. Places online suggest £200-ish per day for a gas fitter.

Am I missing something that makes the quote a reasonable one? I know I can get other quotes and BOXT came up at about the same price, but I'd like to hear some opinions on other costs I might not know about.

EDIT - this us up norf, not the centre of London.
 
Soldato
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So get another quote? There are disposal costs as well.

I'm a busy man and I'd rather minimize footfall in my house :p I'm happy to pay slightly over the odds for convenience, but not vastly so. Disposal costs aren't enormous. I can't remember the exact cost for a trade disposal license where I live (I've asked someone before) and it's a few tens of pounds for a van load.
 
Soldato
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few tens of pounds for a van load.

Please do show me where I can dispose of van loads of waste for £30? It is much more expensive that that.

After you factor in boiler + filter + inhibitor + pipework + disposal + time to pick it all up you are probably at £2k so I would suggest he is a little pricey, maybe negotiate him down to £2.3k.
 
Soldato
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maybe negotiate him down to £2.3k.

I have always wondered if trades go on a fixed rate they set for themselves, or pull figures out of thin air depending on how they feel when they quote for the work. I'm not afraid to negotiate, but am always a little wary of doing so, in case the person becomes less invested in the job because they're doing it for a lower amount than they'd mentally banked.
 
Associate
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As mentioned you need to get more than one quote , and make sure it’s like for like.

for example I just had quotes for a new felt garage roof , they ranged from £750 to £1,400 they were all offering the same service.

It pays off trust me.
 
Soldato
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Was you quote broken down if not ask for a breakdown .

Does the £1600 boiler include a flue when you was costing ?

There's no mention of a flue on the quote and I vaguely recall him mentioning he was going to re-use the existing one. I could be wrong.

I'll have to get some other quotes - the trouble is that I want a specific Worcester Bosch boiler and in order to get the full 12-year guarantee it needs to be installed by one of their approved fitters, which limits the pool from which I can select.
 
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What kind of flush was he planning on doing? As that might be where the additional labour charge is going towards. A chemical flush will be an easier job compared to a power flush where the later will take much longer to complete and would require specialist equipment.

A power flush can range from £300 to over £1000 depending on how many rads you have.
 
Soldato
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Sounds reasonable to me. I actually did have a WB boiler installed by Boxt about 3 years ago. 2 guys, 1 day (7AM-7PM) - fixed price, new flue, flush, smart thermostat and removal of old kit for just under £3k.
 
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There's no mention of a flue on the quote and I vaguely recall him mentioning he was going to re-use the existing one. I could be wrong.

I'll have to get some other quotes - the trouble is that I want a specific Worcester Bosch boiler and in order to get the full 12-year guarantee it needs to be installed by one of their approved fitters, which limits the pool from which I can select.
Not in the quote ,Did you cost the flue in the £ 1600 as that would add.
 
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Soldato
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A chemical flush will be an easier job compared to a power flush where the later will take much longer to complete and would require specialist equipment.

A power flush can range from £300 to over £1000 depending on how many rads you have.

The quote says "flush central heating using power flush unit and add inhibitor." I assume that means the thing you've mentioned above. I'm sure I read somewhere that power flushes can do more harm than good, but can't track down the source.
 
Soldato
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The old one is an Ideal and the new one a Worcester Bosch. In my ignorance I assumed they were just pipes leading to a wall and that any boiler would fit any flue.

So boiler at 1600, flue at 100, filter thing at 150, plus a power flush instead of just pouring in some chemicals, and the quote is starting to make a bit more sense.
 
Soldato
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It seems about right for the work. Had a new one last year and part of cost was in up rating the gas pipe to the boiler which meant routing a wider pipe from the meter to the boiler itself. If its a system boiler that requires a condensate pipe then be careful on how they install that. My installer took a shortcut and in a downpour I ended up with a flooded boiler and kitchen. Fortunately the boiler got fixed under warranty
 
Caporegime
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It seems about right for the work. Had a new one last year and part of cost was in up rating the gas pipe to the boiler which meant routing a wider pipe from the meter to the boiler itself. If its a system boiler that requires a condensate pipe then be careful on how they install that. My installer took a shortcut and in a downpour I ended up with a flooded boiler and kitchen. Fortunately the boiler got fixed under warranty
When my boiler was installed the fitters put my condensate pipe along the outside of the house and it froze the first time it got cold.
 
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Soldato
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The quote says "install condensate waste into external waste" and I'm not sure what that means. I guess it's the pipe going outside and would have assumed it would be done as part of the install, so not sure why it's itemised.
 
Soldato
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The quote says "install condensate waste into external waste" and I'm not sure what that means. I guess it's the pipe going outside and would have assumed it would be done as part of the install, so not sure why it's itemised.

Might be similar to ours - as our boiler is in the middle of the house (airing cupboard) with no easy access to external walls, he ran it up into the attic (with a pump) and into the soil pipe.

Depending which particular boiler it is and what it comes with, that quote seems pretty reasonable. We had ours installed by Boxt just over a year ago, and it came to £2.4k*, including a free** Nest & Google Home Mini which I sold on for ~£180 (already had a Tado installed).

Looking at the price breakdown, the flue kit + extension (needed due to the roof height at the boiler position) was ~£425, so add that to your £1,600 boiler and you're at £2k already, so ~£500 doesn't seem too bad for time + materials (e.g. pipework, electrical wiring, flush, magnetic filter (if included), thermostat (iirc all new installs are required to have a smart thermostat), disposal, etc.)



* They were also running a £150 discount at the time, and I got another £60 through Quidco, after taking everything off, it ended up costing ~£2k
** obviously not actually free, but built into the price
 
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