Just had a new boiler quote from British Gas, too much?

[chris watton]

Our current boiler is on its way out, it's only a simple little wall mounted condensing boiler.

They are quoting £1845 to install it, but say they're giving us a £400 discount on the boiler, which should cost £899, giving a net total of £2,305,55p

This seems very high to me, only a decade ago, we had brand new CH and a boiler installed in our old house for less than £2k. Have prices gone up so much in that time, or is the quote too high?

[Granfondo]

Didn't need to read any more than British Gas to say YES to expensive!

[anonymous-user]

I would not let any BG contractor or worker anywhere near a boiler of mine.

[Dave_ST220]

Divide the typical BG quote by 2 usually gives a good ballpark of what most plumbers would charge to do the same job.

[Wildfire]

BG are expensive, but things have gone up. I paidn £3600 inc VAT for a new boiler a couple of years ago, but that did include:

• Scaffolding to get the 2nd flor
• Full power flush of the system
• Some sort of anti-scale thing attatched to the system
• New flue and brickign up of the old one.
• Removal of the old boiler and all the tanks (as I went from a very old system boiler to a new condending one).
• Re-piping of the shower and bath and removal of the water pumps
• Shut off valves for each water outlet
• New thermostat

Plus I went with an independent plumber who is now one of my best mates (we race bikes together).

[Alucidnation]

So, that probably isn't just a boiler swap is it.

How about the rest of the work?

I'd say that around 2K is quite good, especially for BG.

[Bluesgirl]

I paid £1250 in August for a new Gloworm Ultracom 24 hxi boiler. It was a straightforward replacement, so no new pipes, scaffolding (!) but a new flue. I used my local, friendly Corgi registered plumber.

[croyde]

10 years ago British Gas wanted £3500 for a simple boiler swap. A local firm did it for £1400.

Still thought it a bit much as the boiler must of been £400 and the guy was in the house 3 hours tops.

British Gas are s in every way. Never have had good dealings with them. Avoid!!

[Simpo Two]

I wouldn't use BG even if they matched an independent. I like to work on a one-to-one basis, not a one-to-giant-corporation basis.

[chris watton]

No scaffolding needed, no new flu pipe hole, it is a straight-forward swap of a like-size boiler.

I cannot understand why they would think it's OK to charge almost £2k for 2-4 hours work, or half a day max.

[Alucidnation]

Yeah, shame on them for having overheads eh.

[chris watton]

Alucidnation said:

Yeah, shame on them for having overheads eh.

Yeah, what was I thinking. I should just pay them and be grateful and not question the price. Silly me..

[bernhund]

Mother in law has BG contract. They've been telling her for the last couple of years she needs a new boiler because her Potterton Suprema is obsolete. There's nothing wrong with it, so why would she want to give them the £4k they've quoted for a Worcester! A mate of mine is gas registered & said he can still get parts for the Potterton, but if she decided on a boiler, he could supply & fit the same Worcester for £2300!

[Mr Pointy]

Alucidnation said:

Yeah, shame on them for having overheads eh.

Most competent businesses have overheads that scale inversely with size. Why should BG have higher overheads than an independent plumber?

[chris watton]

bernhund said:

Mother in law has BG contract. They've been telling her for the last couple of years she needs a new boiler because her Potterton Suprema is obsolete. There's nothing wrong with it, so why would she want to give them the £4k they've quoted for a Worcester! A mate of mine is gas registered & said he can still get parts for the Potterton, but if she decided on a boiler, he could supply & fit the same Worcester for £2300!

Funny you should say that. I initially wanted our boiler repaired, but BG told us that, because it is 10 years old (!), they could no longer get the parts as it is now obsolete.

[Sheepshanks]

croyde said:

10 years ago British Gas wanted £3500 for a simple boiler swap. A local firm did it for £1400.

Still thought it a bit much as the boiler must of been £400 and the guy was in the house 3 hours tops.

British Gas are s in every way. Never have had good dealings with them. Avoid!!

With most (all?) boiler installs it's mandatory for the warranty to flush the system. They fitter can't have done that in the 3 hours.

[Alucidnation]

Mr Pointy said:

Alucidnation said:

Yeah, shame on them for having overheads eh.

Most competent businesses have overheads that scale inversely with size. Why should BG have higher overheads than an independent plumber?

Seriously??

[Fore Left]

chris watton said:

bernhund said:

Mother in law has BG contract. They've been telling her for the last couple of years she needs a new boiler because her Potterton Suprema is obsolete. There's nothing wrong with it, so why would she want to give them the £4k they've quoted for a Worcester! A mate of mine is gas registered & said he can still get parts for the Potterton, but if she decided on a boiler, he could supply & fit the same Worcester for £2300!

Funny you should say that. I initially wanted our boiler repaired, but BG told us that, because it is 10 years old (!), they could no longer get the parts as it is now obsolete.

I've recently signed up for a BG maintenance contract as my previously unreliable but turns up eventually heating engineer has gone completely awol. It'll be interesting to see what they say when they come round to service my 16 year old Suprima next week then

[chris watton]

Alucidnation said:

Mr Pointy said:

Alucidnation said:

Yeah, shame on them for having overheads eh.

Most competent businesses have overheads that scale inversely with size. Why should BG have higher overheads than an independent plumber?

Seriously??

So, what you're say is the bigger the company, the more they should charge?

[chris watton]

Fore Left said:

I've recently signed up for a BG maintenance contract as my previously unreliable but turns up eventually heating engineer has gone completely awol. It'll be interesting to see what they say when they come round to service my 16 year old Suprima next week then

I was surprised. I didn't think 10 years was that old for a boiler.