How much does a new boiler cost in Preston?
Nobody can price your boiler properly without seeing the house. Here is what actually moves the number, so you can judge a quote when you get one.
By Dan, Gas Safe registered engineer6 min read
I am not going to put a number at the top of this page, because anyone who prices your boiler without seeing your house is guessing, and the guess is usually low so it can be revised upwards once they are stood in your kitchen. What I can do is explain what actually moves the price, so when the quotes come in you can tell which one is honest.
What actually drives the cost
1. Is it a like-for-like swap?
A combi replaced with a combi, in the same spot, on the same pipework, is the cheapest job there is. As soon as the boiler moves to a different wall, or the system type changes, you are paying for pipework, and pipework is labour.
2. Are you changing system type?
Going from a cylinder system to a combi means removing the tank, the cylinder and often pipework in the loft, then making good afterwards. It is a bigger job than people expect, and it is not automatically the right answer.
3. How many bathrooms, and how many people?
A combi heats water on demand, so it serves one outlet properly at a time. In a three-bed house with one bathroom that is fine. With two bathrooms and a family all wanting showers between seven and eight, a combi will disappoint you and keeping a cylinder is the better answer. Anyone recommending a combi without asking how you use hot water is not specifying, they are selling.
4. The condition of the rest of the system
A new boiler on a sludged-up system will not perform, and most manufacturers require the system to be cleaned and an inhibitor added for the warranty to stand. If your radiators are cold at the bottom, that belongs in the quote rather than arriving as a surprise.
5. The boiler itself
Different manufacturers, different warranty lengths, real differences in price. A longer warranty usually costs more up front and is often worth it, but only if you service it every year, because a missed service can void it.
The bit that catches people out
A cheap quote often leaves out the things that make the boiler work properly: the system clean, a magnetic filter, new controls, making good the plasterwork. Ask what is included rather than comparing headline numbers.
Why online quotes vary so much
The fixed-price sites ask a handful of questions and give you a number in ninety seconds. That works when the job is genuinely simple. When it is not, either the price changes on the day, or the installer works to the quoted figure and leaves out things that should have been done. Neither is what you wanted when you clicked the button.
Questions worth asking anyone who quotes you
- 1Have you seen the property, or is this priced from a form?
- 2What exactly is included: system clean, filter, controls, making good?
- 3Why this boiler and this size, for this house?
- 4Who actually fits it, and are they the person quoting?
- 5What is the warranty, and what do I have to do to keep it valid?
That fourth one matters more than people realise. The person who quotes and the person who fits are often not the same, and that is where jobs go wrong.
How I do it
I come and look at what you have got, ask how the household actually uses hot water, then quote it in writing. I fit it myself, so the person who priced the job is the person on the tools. If a cheaper option does the job properly I will tell you about that too, because I would rather do the honest job and get the phone call in three years when a neighbour needs one.
New boilers across Preston, Penwortham, Chorley, Leyland, Garstang and Kirkham. Ring or text 07949 353536 and we will get a time booked for me to look at it.
Need this doing?
I am Dan, and I cover Preston and the towns around it.