Am I better off buying the boiler myself?

[worto03]

Hia,

I've been quoted £2250 to have a new baxi platinum-28 combi boiler installed, it looks like (from some internet searches) I can buy the boiler on it's own for just under £1000 so he's charging me around £1250 for a days labour (or maybe even half a day!).

I know he's corgi registered (or whatever the new version of that is) but this seems very high to me - am I better off buying the boiler myself then asking around for someone to fit it for me? I thought it would be cheaper letting the engineer buy the boiler as they would get it at trade?

Thanks for any advice,
worto.

 

[seco services]

I thought it would be cheaper letting the engineer buy the boiler as they would get it at trade?

we buy all our appliances and materials trade.
but that don't mean we pass the trade price onto you.

 

[heytesto]

I often get asked to install boilers supplied by customers.

Always a no-no for me. The job takes the same amount of time so I need to make the same amount of profit, so labour goes up. I would also offer no guarantee.

However, if I supplied and installed, any problems, your first port of call would be me.

 

[worto03]

lol - OK both fair points, do you think that £2250 is a normal quote then for a basic boiler swapout and half a days work?

(you'll probably have a better idea on the length of time it would take than me but I'm guessing half a day from chatting to the engineer that came round).

As for any problems wouldn't I have to go through to the warrenty people anyway?

Thanks for any help - I hope this post isn't coming accross as arsey. We're just in a new area from where we grew up so find it hard to get people we know we can trust. It makes me question every quote I get maybe a little more than most!

Cheers,
worto.

 

[heytesto]

I did a straight combi swap with a Platinum 28 in March for £1600, but everything on the system was already up to standard, ie: TRVs, roomstat etc.

But even if I had no work on and the customer wanted to supply the boiler, I'd say no.

I'd rather take the day off and take the Roller for a spin.

 

[fatplumber]

I charge from £1,800 to £2,500 depending on what I do. Straight swap or full conversion from cylinder. £2,250 isn't overpriced. We do make a profit on materials. What's the retail price?

 

[worto03]

now £1600 I'd be more than happy with - don't suppose you cover Swadlincote do you

I'm not entirely sure what TRV's are but I asked him if anything else needed changing or if it was all upto scratch and he said that everything else was fine and it should be a straight forward install.

I think I'll make some calls this afternoon and see if I can get some more quotes, I see your points on buying the boiler though so I wont' rush out and buy one eh.

Thanks for the advie,
worto.

 

[JohnD]

changing TRVs is a labour intensive job, but not very complicated.

maybe you could save more £ by doing that yourself than you could earn doing the same number of hours overtime or hop-picking or something.

I am a householder not a pro

 

[Agile]

We would charge £1840 if its to replace a combi and that includes a new room stat but excludes fitting TRVs.

But we give a full guarantee against any problems arising from dirt in the system.

Tony

 

[Whitespirit66]

changing TRVs is a labour intensive job, but not very complicated.

maybe you could save more £ by doing that yourself than you could earn doing the same number of hours overtime or hop-picking or something.

I am a householder not a pro

The OP said that he didn't know what a TRV (thermostatic radiator valve - ie, the ones with numbers on) was. I assume that in this case he has very little plumbing knowledge, and attempting to fit his own TRVs may not be advisable.

 

[stem]

It's always a risk to have a "split responsibility" Supposing after a while water starts dripping from the back of the boiler, or you find that strange noises have developed, or the radiators aren't getting as hot as they used to. Who do you call? the plumber, or the boiler manufacturer?

Call out the plumber and its a fault with the boiler, he'll charge you and quite rightly. Call the boiler manufacturer under a warranty claim and there's a fault with the installation they'll charge you.

You may even find that they blame each other and nothing gets resolved.

If the plumber installs the package, then you just get him back if there's a problem.

 

[gas4you]

OP, you haven't said what boiler/system you have at present

Also what makes you think it would all be done in 1 day, or even half a day?

I always allow 2 days for a straight forward boiler swap on my own. First day replacing boiler, second commissioning and flushing the system out fully, brickwork etc etc.

 

[worto03]

Hi,

Thanks for the replys.

OP, you haven't said what boiler/system you have at present

Also what makes you think it would all be done in 1 day, or even half a day?

I always allow 2 days for a straight forward boiler swap on my own. First day replacing boiler, second commissioning and flushing the system out fully, brickwork etc etc.

I have a baxi bahama 100 at the mo and to be fair I have no idea how long it would take, I just got the impression it wouldn't take long from talking to the engineer - I didn't actually ask him how long it would take him so you may well be right.

From the above posts though it does seem like I've been quoted on the high side although it's not totally unreasonable.

I'm trying to get a couple more quotes in the next few days.

worto.

 

[heytesto]

I'm with you gas4you, 1/2 day or 1 day boiler swaps are not my style.
Just finishing a combi conversion job and flushing took over 4 hours for 8 rads.

IMO the Baxi Platinum 28HE is an excellent choice with 5 yr warranty peace of mind. I have one of the first ones in my house and it's been great.

Retail price: £1141 + vat and flue £65 + vat.

 

[bengasman]

The chances you can buy the boiler cheaper than I can are about similar to the chances that you can install it better than I can..

Very, very few good installers are willing to install boilers they don't supply.