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?

[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.

[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..

[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 They've been telling her for the last couple of years she needs a new boiler because her Potterton Suprema is obsolete.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.

[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.

[chris watton]

Alucidnation said:

Do you cover your over heads and make profit?

No, please answer my question, and not give another. Should larger companies/businesses charge more to their potential customers simply because they are bigger?

Overheads are relative.

[chris watton]

Harry Flashman said:

I paid for a Worcester Bosch 35 system boiler recently, straight swap for the knackered old GloWorm that was in the house when we bought it.

Boiler I bought online for just over £1k (flue kit etc cost a bit more on top), qualified WB engineer fitted it for £600 inc VAT.

We had a load of other stuff done (part of a total renovation), but that was the standalone cost for the boiler installation.

I was anticipating around £1500/1600 all in, as the boiler is a simple little thing (not a combi) at around £850. I admit that I did not anticipate the installation cost to be over double the cost of the actual unit.

[chris watton]

Alucidnation said:

So, being the expert that you are, do you think 2K for a replacement boiler is a premium?

I would say that is average, depending on the system and type etc.

And for BG, its very reasonble.

Are you in any way employed by BG?

[chris watton]

OK, had another quote from a local plumber/boiler fitter, and we got a price of £1800, inclusive of a more expensive Worcester boiler and new thermostats on all radiators.