Who knows about boilers?

ara3791

Long story short! We have a knackered combi boiler and I've just been quoted £1600 for the installation of a new Baxi Duo Tec 28 with remote thermostat and 7 year parts and labour warranty. There's pipe work, drilling a new flu and bricking the old hole and re boxing the pipe work included in the cost.

Is this a decent quote?

Cheers.

arran77

That is a little on the excessive side, the boiler itself would be costing your plumber less than a quarter of the figure you quote, there should be minimal pipework to alter and the flue is no biggie either, I'd say that you're paying rather a lot for the 7 year parts and labour warranty so maybe look to get a quote from someone without he warranty included, after all the boiler itself would come with a manufactures warranty which would cover defective parts.

seanoconn

I thought a new boiler on its own would be about £700? Probably wouldn't get a quote much cheaper but the more quotes the better.

seanoconn

I'm getting my boiler fixed tomorrow. £70 the first hour and £60 an hour after. I'm hoping its a quick fix

arran77

seanoconn wrote:

I thought a new boiler on its own would be about £700? Probably wouldn't get a quote much cheaper but the more quotes the better.

That's how much you'd pay for the boiler Sean, anyone in the trade will pay a lot less

Pross

Thought you'd recently got rid of the old boiler and had installed a new model in its place. Don't tell me this one's already costing you?

arran77

Pross wrote:

Thought you'd recently got rid of the old boiler and had installed a new model in its place. Don't tell me this one's already costing you?

I suspect the old boiler will continue to cost him a fortune for a good few years yet

VTech

Buy a worcester bosch, buy once.

Sawilson

arran77 wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I thought a new boiler on its own would be about £700? Probably wouldn't get a quote much cheaper but the more quotes the better.

That's how much you'd pay for the boiler Sean, anyone in the trade will pay a lot less

The advent of the internet has killed virtually any mark up than can be made by the smaller company / individual on supplying things like boilers / electrical appliances etc.
If you buy from the internet, they treat it like shifting a box rather than a boiler, making there money by buying in bulk and shifting volume at a cut throat price.
Your local plumber has to buy it from a distributor as he only wants 3 or 4 a month max and is now second down the food chain and his price will not be far off what the internet price is !
I do kitchens and bathrooms and now do not bother with supplying appliances as there is little or no mark up and if it comes damaged or breaks within the first six months you have all the hassle of sorting it out for no return.
The quote sounds very reasonable to me, the boiler does not magically appear on the plumbers van nor do the materials required for boxing in.
In the last year I have seen more and more self-employed people getting paid employment because they are struggling to make a living, with all the overheads, running around after hours, and the customer is straight on the internet trying to screw the price down it's just not worth it any more.

arran77

Sawilson wrote:

arran77 wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I thought a new boiler on its own would be about £700? Probably wouldn't get a quote much cheaper but the more quotes the better.

That's how much you'd pay for the boiler Sean, anyone in the trade will pay a lot less

The advent of the internet has killed virtually any mark up than can be made by the smaller company / individual on supplying things like boilers / electrical appliances etc.
If you buy from the internet, they treat it like shifting a box rather than a boiler, making there money by buying in bulk and shifting volume at a cut throat price.
Your local plumber has to buy it from a distributor as he only wants 3 or 4 a month max and is now second down the food chain and his price will not be far off what the internet price is !
I do kitchens and bathrooms and now do not bother with supplying appliances as there is little or no mark up and if it comes damaged or breaks within the first six months you have all the hassle of sorting it out for no return.
The quote sounds very reasonable to me, the boiler does not magically appear on the plumbers van nor do the materials required for boxing in.
In the last year I have seen more and more self-employed people getting paid employment because they are struggling to make a living, with all the overheads, running around after hours, and the customer is straight on the internet trying to screw the price down it's just not worth it any more.

You are correct from the point of view of a small independent plumber but the OP talks about the quote including a 7 year parts and labour warranty that would suggest to me that the quote might be from a substantially lather company where they will still be making a very decent mark up on the cost of the boiler.

VTech

Don't they supply an insurance policy for the 7 years rather than from themselves ?

Sawilson

arran77 wrote:

Sawilson wrote:

arran77 wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I thought a new boiler on its own would be about £700? Probably wouldn't get a quote much cheaper but the more quotes the better.

That's how much you'd pay for the boiler Sean, anyone in the trade will pay a lot less

The advent of the internet has killed virtually any mark up than can be made by the smaller company / individual on supplying things like boilers / electrical appliances etc.
If you buy from the internet, they treat it like shifting a box rather than a boiler, making there money by buying in bulk and shifting volume at a cut throat price.
Your local plumber has to buy it from a distributor as he only wants 3 or 4 a month max and is now second down the food chain and his price will not be far off what the internet price is !
I do kitchens and bathrooms and now do not bother with supplying appliances as there is little or no mark up and if it comes damaged or breaks within the first six months you have all the hassle of sorting it out for no return.
The quote sounds very reasonable to me, the boiler does not magically appear on the plumbers van nor do the materials required for boxing in.
In the last year I have seen more and more self-employed people getting paid employment because they are struggling to make a living, with all the overheads, running around after hours, and the customer is straight on the internet trying to screw the price down it's just not worth it any more.

You are correct from the point of view of a small independent plumber but the OP talks about the quote including a 7 year parts and labour warranty that would suggest to me that the quote might be from a substantially lather company where they will still be making a very decent mark up on the cost of the boiler.

It can work out about the same because the larger company will probably pay less for the boiler but you now have all their overheads on top as well, offices, staff, business rates etc etc.
A lot of manufacturers are now offering the warranty through the smaller installers as well as the larger ones.
Ask the OP to get a quote from British Gas and then ask him what he thinks of his current quote !

Sawilson

I think the warranty is direct with Baxi, talked to a rep in plum center and they are trying to complete with Bosch/Worchester and Vailant.
All the Gas safe fitters I talk to swear by Vailant, Bosch/Worchester have gone down the pan, now fitting a lot of plastic parts.

arran77

British Gas = shower of shite.

Avoid them like the plague

upperoilcan

VTech wrote:

Buy a worcester bosch, buy once.

This...

I don't know any plumbers in this neck of the woods that fit anything else.

diplodicus

Right going to stick my neck out here

I am a plumber/heating engineer, but I don't use Baxi. The boiler I use is a Viessmann and has 10 year warranty.

As far as cost goes, my standard charges for a combi swap would be in the region of £1600 plus vat, and trust me at those rates I am not living the lifestyle of the rich and vulgar :shock:

markhewitt1978

Baxi is pretty much bottom of the range?

The quote sounds about right. Neither high nor low.

diplodicus

^ this

RDW

I would go to http://www.checkatrade.com and get a quote from 3 or 4 of the highly rated fitters in your area. I recently paid just over £2k inc VAT (boiler swap, Powerflush, Magnaclean, wireless thermostat, some fiddly condensate piping) but it was a Worcester-Bosch in London/Surrey where none of the quotes from reputable local companies were much cheaper. Still a lot less than British Gas!

pinno

The MIL is a an old boiler and I'm f*cked if I know how to fix her.

arran77

pinarello001 wrote:

The MIL is a an old boiler and I'm f*cked if I know how to fix her.

There is no point throwing good money at an old boiler, sometimes you can get a trade in for a newer model.

markhewitt1978

According to the phone calls and people who stop me in shopping centres you can get boilers for free anyway - well not me, I can't, because I work for a living, but everyone else apparently.

seanoconn

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

homers_double

Can you not get one through one of these grants being banded about, or are you on 40k+?

Pross

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

arran77

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

Maybe this is for the ex-marital home where there's not much heat generating action going on anymore?

seanoconn

arran77 wrote:

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

Maybe this is for the ex-marital home where there's not much heat generating action going on anymore?

In one arran

arran77

seanoconn wrote:

arran77 wrote:

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

Maybe this is for the ex-marital home where there's not much heat generating action going on anymore?

In one arran

So the problem is the old boiler in more ways than one

markhewitt1978

homers double wrote:

Can you not get one through one of these grants being banded about, or are you on 40k+?

As a household, yes. Which sounds like a lot but it isn't for two people earning.

Pross

seanoconn wrote:

arran77 wrote:

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

Maybe this is for the ex-marital home where there's not much heat generating action going on anymore?

In one arran

Surely a gentleman would share his heat generation around both homes? In two so to speak!

seanoconn

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

arran77 wrote:

Pross wrote:

seanoconn wrote:

I need a new boiler Has anyone got a free one??

I thought you were generating enough heat these days to not need one?

Maybe this is for the ex-marital home where there's not much heat generating action going on anymore?

In one arran

Surely a gentleman would share his heat generation around both homes? In two so to speak!

Are we still taking about boilers? :shock: