Plumbing costs of installing new central heating

[Maslins]

My wife and I are in the early stages of trying to split our tall narrow town house into a 2 bed maisonette, and a separate basement flat.

Got a quote for the whole job, most of which seemed fairly reasonable, but I was horrified at the plumbing costs.

2 new combi boilers (which I think cost together ~£1-1.5k for parts), fitted, with the system split in two, and removal of a hot water tank. Total cost in quote £5,560+VAT. So after removing the cost of the actual boilers it's at least £4k to fit them, connect them up etc etc. Does this sound normal? What would be a typical daily rate for a plumber?

[Calibre Designs]

Leon is a very decent guy to work with but I am not sure about location/distance.
Hiw website : www.lps-plumbing.co.uk

[Maslins]

Cheers for that. He is a bit far away, but had a look at his typical prices page and it does look like work involving boilers is very expensive.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I don't get it. I figure a plumber charges (say) £200-300/day...does that mean fitting 2 boilers and connecting them takes ~15 days solid labour?!

[mke]

You don't just screw a boiler against a wall. The work involved depends upon how well matched any existing venting is to the new one, if it's in the same place. But for new venting there is lot of work to be done and great care has to be taken.

Just had a property I own refurbished and was on hand to see much of it. I was surprised but the result was well worth it. This isn't a comment on how good or bad the estimate you received is, just to tell yo my experience. I'd get at least one more quote anyway.

[lockie]

Your paying for his knowledge of gas regulations which carrys a certain price of its own.
Not anyone can just go and fit a boiler as its against the law.That knowledge therefore comes at a price.Hes probably priced it for two seperate jobs which is basically what hes doing.Boiler installs are where most plumbers make their real money.

[CKG]

Day rate for plumber and mate is £250 - £300 a day

They're definately not doing you any favours for £4K labour. It's not miles off though if they have to work around other trades

It's gotta be 10 days work for one bloke to split a system and fit 2 boilers and get it all up and running again.

Get a quote of british gas, that will put it into perspective!

[Maslins]

Cheers for that CKG, so going on your figures you think it should be in the region of £2.5-3k to fit them both & connect up?

I might just see if I can haggle the price down from the current quote, don't see much benefit in getting a high British Gas quote just for kicks!

[BoilerBoy]

Does seem pretty expensive, though it sounds like it might not be a straightforward job...did the guy quoting you mention any special circumstances he'd have to work around?

I'd get another quote or two at any rate.

[estwig]

Parts will cost more like £2.5k-£3k, there is a lot more required than a couple of cheap cr*p boilers for a grand.

[CKG]

Parts will cost more like £2.5k-£3k, there is a lot more required than a couple of cheap cr*p boilers for a grand.

True. It will be a grand just for one 28KW Worcester and all the flue and other bits - then add copper and other materials. £1300 per unit minimum really.

So as you see it's not too far off. Your not getting your hat nailed on by any means.

[G. Lasagne]

I think 5.5k is a bit expensive but not miles off. I wold expect to pay between 2 and 2.5 to convert one system . ie a system boiler for a combi.
I think 10 days is a bit excessive probably 6 days maximum (2-3 lads) depending on whats involved, for what your after i would estimate between 3.5k and 4.5k depending on what boilers you want. my daily rate is betwen £500 and £600 depending on how many lads are on the job.
At the end of the day i wouldnt waste time disecting his quote, thats his price so either go elsewhere or shop around, just make sure everything is done within the current regs.

[maxine]

Think it is a bit difficult to guess how it is broken down by materials and labour as there are probably 3 categories. The cost of the boilers themselves, then other materials, then labour. As CKG says there will be an allowance for other materials so you could ask them to break down their quote in a bit more detail so that you can haggle with a bit more information.

In terms of day rate it varies a bit geographically and also by whether they have quoted in the cost of an assistant but a guy on his own is usually between £220-£260 in our neck of the woods but more like £250-£300 if with an assistant

There will also be an amount built into the cost for guarantee of workmanship plus preparation, testing, travelling etc.

Maybe get the breakdown and go from there. You might be able to source of the materials cheaper yourself if thats an option or you can ask Estwig if you can borrow his fabulous trade account discount :)

[G. Lasagne]

Think it is a bit difficult to guess how it is broken down by materials and labour as there are probably 3 categories. The cost of the boilers themselves, then other materials, then labour. As CKG says there will be an allowance for other materials so you could ask them to break down their quote in a bit more detail so that you can haggle with a bit more information.

In terms of day rate it varies a bit geographically and also by whether they have quoted in the cost of an assistant but a guy on his own is usually between £220-£260 in our neck of the woods but more like £250-£300 if with an assistant

There will also be an amount built into the cost for guarantee of workmanship plus preparation, testing, travelling etc.

Maybe get the breakdown and go from there. You might be able to source of the materials cheaper yourself if thats an option or you can ask Estwig if you can borrow his fabulous trade account discount :)


In reality a quote is manipulated so that the labour cost(profit) is shown to be less than it actualy is, the final price is whats important.
and this £300 labour nonsense is just that nonsense. I can get a baxi duo tec 28 (boiler of the year) for just over £700 plus fittings £150 so add the labour on of £300 thats only £1150 for a boiler swap, which gas guys on here charge £1150 for a boiler swap with a decent boiler?
The parts will ALWAYS be given as retail prices which may reflect a £300 labour charge but in actual fact its more like £600. Installs is where i make my money so if i charged £300 and even done 20 a month thats only £6000. My overheads are more than that.
And if your paying an assistant out of that £300, your making at the most £250 a day - tax - petrol - insurances etc your talking £200 tops, i dont think so.

[CKG]

which gas guys on here charge £1150 for a boiler swap with a decent boiler?


Some do though

I did about 100 boilers last year - which is quite alot of hard won work for a small one man and his dog company. My prices are kind of middle ground not cheap but not expensive.

By the time I cut out my running costs which are as low as is possible for this volume of work i'm left with next to sod all except punters begrudging me a living

You soon realise why British Gas charge what they do. £300 a day (man + sprog + various expenses) really isn't enoughto turn a profit worth talking about.