Quote for boiler fitting - does this sound reasonable?

[patmcgibbon]

I'm being quoted 1150 squid, inc VAT for supply and fit of a Vaillant 828E LPG combi.

Does this sound reasonable?

The missus is handling this while I'm at work and I'm just a bit concerned that someone might try and pull the wool, as it were.

Looking at the actual boiler price on the web - around 575 + VAT - I'm wondreing if the labour charges are a bit high, even allowing for whatever other bits are required and a reasonable mark up. I've advised her to go back and ask for an exact breakdown of labour vs. parts.

Any opinions?

And apologies if this is not the right forum - if so, directions to a more appropriate board appreciated.

 

[peter anderson]

Why don't you get three quotes? Even if people here say they would charge cheaper if no-one in your area will do it cheaper what can you do?

 

[DP]

Boiler kicks in at £675 inclusive of VAT. Does that include Flue? At £1150 the guy will be charging you £575 (inclusive of material) to fit the boiler. Remember he will have paid plenty for his training and assesment (I take it you have CHECKED he is CORGI registered and registered to fit boilers and holds LPG ticket).

Personaly I would not even get out of bed for £1150 not knowing what the plumbing is like, muck in the system, Building regs, Benchmark etc. For that price you will almost certainly be getting a lemon.

 

[peter anderson]

Dp do you charge 1100 pounds for a day's work?

 

[billy bob]

Peter

What you have to understand is when you work for yourself, you have overheads, you may have business premises, you may have leased vehicles or bought vehicles that have to be serviced taxed and insured, you have corgi to pay, public liability insurance, your wages to cover and maybe a trainee, but you are in business so you need to make a profit, after all these expenses, do not look at someones price and think that will only take a day, thats a lot for a days wages, only a small part of that will actually end up in the plumbers pocket

 

[masona]

My sister just has a Potterton boiler fitted last week for £1075, but to be fair the plumbing company have only just started operating with the shop as well and got a boiler at a cost price as they buy so many in. Basically this is a promotion price plus advertising with word of mouth.

The £1150 quote from patmcgibbon seem very reasonable unless it is a lemon as mention. The next nearest 2nd quote my sister has was £1800 + VAT.

 

[oilman]

Dp do you charge 1100 pounds for a day's work?

It won't be a days work if it's done properly, it'll take a day to power flush the system to start with.

 

[DP]

I don't do many boiler changes. Last year did three- two in the same house. All plumbing was copper, bender formed.

This year did one for £1750 supply and fit Baxi 105E to an existing system with two additional rads (customer supplied the rads)

System complies with Banchmark, Building regs, has been chemically flushed and then treated, All pipe runs are clipped. Benchmark logbook has been completed and signed. All manuals have been handed over to the customer. All maintanance clearances are in place. Pipes have been cross bonded.

If this boiler breaks down due to workmanship, the client has been adviced to call me.

Took me four days and I was handling emergency calls as well which the client was advised before I accepted the job. He saw no reason to go elsewhere. Why? Because he is still suffering from someone who did inferior work for him at his own house and he is sticking with word of mouth (several).

Peter look at my post again- I would NOT be getting £1100 for a days work. £1100 includes boiler, plumbing supplies and labour if it is a cowboy installation. For a by the book installation, include chemical flush, uprated gas line for the combi boiler, and controls and electrical supplies. For three to four days works at £1100 max? You must be kidding

I sit and wait for the phone to ring to a boiler repair. What with people changing parts to locate a fault. Customers soon find out who not to call. Plenty DIY disasters to repair as well.

 

[AdamW]

Overheads will always be a killer cost. Not just in trade either. Anyone who works in a corporate environment should go and ask their financial department just how much the overheads are charged at. Typical values would be that if they pay you £25 for an hour's work then they are paying £50 on top of that to pay for the office, the heating, the air conditioning, the admin staff, all of the support, the stationery, toner for the printer, the insurance, the person who comes and waters the plants, the bloke who grits the paths etc. etc. At these rates, if you got £1100 for 3 days work, that works out to about £120 a day at the end of it.

I would expect the overheads for plumbing to be considerably less than this, but it still costs £1 a mile to run a van, the tools are expensive and have a finite useful life. Not to mention that you could do yourself an injury and spend the next month on your back. So if you average it out over a year then what might at first seem like a licence to print money becomes just another way to earn a living.

 

[ollski]

your retail price for the boiler is £916.25, the flue £41.00, the powerflush inhibitors and desludge chemicals £60.00 which takes you to about 1200 inc. vat. I would put in for 3 days labour (1 for powerflush and 2 men for day 2) 150 x 3 = 450. Total about £1750. The difference between the retail and trade price is what I would use for parts fittings and unforeseens and general costs of running a business ie insurance, training, quote time, van rental, time spent on the job but away from the premises etc.

 

[peter anderson]

I mentioned in another post about a plumber who gave a quote for £1000 to install a new boiler with all the gas pipework already there. Then he dropped the figure to £600 when my friend said she had found another plumber who would do it for £600. I didn't actually know how long it takes to install a boiler. I was assuming it would just take a day but I understand now from reading previous posts that it can take three or four days. So £1000 for three or four days work seems a reasonable fee to charge I guess.

I just don't understand why if that particular plumber has such high overheads why he would agree to drop his charge to £600 so readily once he heard that another plumber would do it for £600. My friend felt uncomfortable about this and decided that she didnt want him to work for her.

Can i ask how much liability insurance corgi registered plumbers pay? I pay £375 insurance as a non-corgi plumber. Also is it usual for self employed corgi plumbers to have business premises? And do CORGI registered plumbers usually have trainees working for them? Without wanting to ask how much people earn how much would you say a self employed CORGI registered plumber would expect to earn?

Although I agree that corgi registered plumbers have a lot of overheads are they that much more than unregistered plumbers? I was surprised to hear that after overheads are taken into consideration the plumber would only get a small part of the daily rate he or she charges. If someone earns £1000 a week it seems amazing to me that more than half of that will be going on overheads.

I'm not trying to criticize anyone, I'm just trying to get an idea about things from experienced people

 

[taydo]

How much cover do you have for £375 sounds expensive to me

£1,000,000 for about 250.00 through Zurich that includes tax.

 

[peter anderson]

one million pounds as well taydo. I got that through an insurance broker. Its with AXa. maybe its cheaper if someone is qualified and experienced.

 

[alias-123]

hi,
im doing a work experience course,having just done acs assessments.
for a "standardised" industry,with supposedly tight regulations,i have never seen such variance in a trade-especially one involving safety and expensive costs to consumers,as well as complete confusion....

im with a company doing warm front installations-and have been with quite a few "installers" -all with acs,some also with their own corgi,employed by this company,who shall be nameless...

one of the guys i was out with did only boiler changes-no full installs.
we did 5 a week- he gets approx 230 per boiler-and it takes 3-4HOURS-not days!
no flushing,no inhibitor-do any pipe work needed,bang the boiler up,quick tests,and away you go...amazing what the government uses our taxes for...

went to a 1 day course with a nearby manufacturer-the instructor,when asked by us newbies, said 6-8 hours,charge 500 quid plus parts- he has 18 years experience-so do we listen to him?

some of the installers i have been with are very safety conscious-others have been, imho,but with my acs course still fresh in my head,downright dangerous.
many are doing backhanders-despite the warnings that the more professional of you have explained in other postings-i am glad i found this site-tons of good advice from pros,but it shows me also that there is the same confusion with regs,eg,who can and cant do certain work on boiler installation,repairs,etc,that i am finding when i ask the guys i am training with-i,perhaps naively thought that i was entering a trade where everything would be standard,from one installer or company to the next,but the other trainees are telling me they are getting the same-even mundane things like fitting a compression joint or sweating a joint,one guy will say your doing it all wrong,the next your with will swear by that way...
so,all i can say to the chap who wanted the quote-at £600 you will probably get the same install as the boiler fitter i was with-but dont blame him too much-when he started,he might of got the same advice from a manufacturers official trainer that we got...

 

[uncleben]

tell him he can come and work for me , what you forget is the proper retaill price of the boiler which is around £ 1100.00 and which any installer is entitled to charge plus reasonable fitting and commisioning costs. It would probably take 8 hours to do @ £ 30.00 per hour plus vat.
not forgetting the boiler cost. sounds like youve got a bargain