Gas fitter quoted £3,100 to fit a new boiler

[Marina]

Simple question to all you experts - is he taking the mick?

I thought a top-quality Vailliant 28 KW condensing boiler would be about £500, with labour another £500.

But he reckons Vailliants are much more, and the work will take hours.

[Sockpuppet]

My mates just paid £3.5k for 2 new radiators. New combi boiler, have the boiler moved from kitchen to bathroom (remove the old tank etc and relocate gas pipe), flush + drain of the system.

Took 2 people a week to do it.

[scooterscot]

First thing I wanted when I moved in was to remove the awful gas fireplace.

I since found out I've got a vintage back boiler, to replace it would really mean a new heating system costing towards £5K...

Time to visit the bean scene

[KevinS]

We just paid £3,900 for a new combi boiler (Worcester Bosch, 37KW), 4 new radiators, remove the old header tanks from the roof, remove the old hot water tank from the bathroom, relocate the boiler from the kitchen to the hallway closet.. Took 2 blokes a week..

[ASB]

Simple question to all you experts - is he taking the mick?

I thought a top-quality Vailliant 28 KW condensing boiler would be about £500, with labour another £500.

But he reckons Vailliants are much more, and the work will take hours.

Yes, but maybe by not as much as you think. Trade on that boiler is about 1k + vat. Depending upon your existing installation he might (or might not) have quite a lot of plumbing and flue work to do. However 2-3 man days should still do it so labour shouldn't really be more than about 600 quid at worst.

FWIW I recently had a 210k BTU oil boiler fitted in a basically completely new installation. The trade price of the boiler was about 1500 and it had to have a new balanced flue and quite a lot of replumbing. Also included a new larger hot water tank and fitting of 30 thermostatic values etc to all my rads. Total bill was a shade over 3k plus vat. But it was done by someone Mrs ASB puts quite a lot of buisness to so there was an element of mates rates.

[Marina]

Thanks for the prompt replies guys. I had a horrible feeling it was about right - After all, many of us must have had computer-naive friends, or whatever, wondering if we could run them up an intricate multi-page web site for fifty quid or something derisory for the work involved.

[rootsnall]

Simple question to all you experts - is he taking the mick?

I thought a top-quality Vailliant 28 KW condensing boiler would be about £500, with labour another £500.

But he reckons Vailliants are much more, and the work will take hours.

If they are simply replacing the boiler in the same location then £3100 is pricey. Look up the boiler on the internet, I would guess at £700-1000. A couple of days labour maybe for a straight replacement so your £500 guess should cover that easily.

Get some more quotes, at this time of year you should find someone to do it at non rip off prices.

[Bagpuss]

Simple question to all you experts - is he taking the mick?

I thought a top-quality Vailliant 28 KW condensing boiler would be about £500, with labour another £500.

But he reckons Vailliants are much more, and the work will take hours.

I though British Gas and Powergen did fixed rate deals these days?

E.g. British Gas were doing a deal not so long ago where they fixed central heating for £140. My parents took this deal and the parts alone were >£100

[SueEllen]

Thanks for the prompt replies guys. I had a horrible feeling it was about right - After all, many of us must have had computer-naive friends, or whatever, wondering if we could run them up an intricate multi-page web site for fifty quid or something derisory for the work involved.

While you are being ripped off just remember that most of the posters aren't living in Central London so they will pay less anyway.

[Jaded]

sounds a reasonable price, I paid nearly that 3 years ago.