blonde poker forum

Hi all

Recently got my mums very old boiler serviced by a independent firm suggested by a few people who live near her. The guy was very efficient and for nearly two hours work only charged £60 odd quid. Have since been told by others they are a very competitive firm on price.

He told me that the boiler will probably last another one or two years at most (agree with this its old and looks knackered) but was safe to continue to use for now.

He included a quote for a new boiler :

Decommission existing boiler and remove debris from site
Supply and Install Vailant eco Pro28 High Efficiency combi boiler (lpg)
Run condense pipe through the wall into the kitchen into trap
Flue to be passed through tiled roof in same location
Connect to existing heating/hot water system
Supply and fit a magnaclean (stop debris entering the boiler)
Chemically cleanse and flush the heating system, to remove oxide sludge debris
Make good to structure


Parts Included by Firm :

Vaillant ecotec pro combi (lpg) with 5 year warranty
Vertical Flue
Day programmable Wireless Room Stat
Inhibitor
Filling Loop
Magnaclean
All pipework and fittings

Total Cost £2440.00



This was about what i was expecting tbh, googling has revealed the cost of parts is approx

Boiler = £700-£900
Flue = £100ish
Programmable Wireless Room Stat = £ 30-50?
Inhibitor = £ 10
Filling Loop = £ 50
Magnaclean = £ 50-£100

So lowest estimate from googling prices (obviously suspect as trade they are paying bit less) around £1000 for actual parts


Guess my question is, is it acceptable to haggle with the original quote with still leaving enough profit for him to do the job for me!

Cheers

It's always good to have a haggle so I would personally tell him that you have had a couple of alternative quotes that have come in a bit cheaper but you would like to use him as you know people who use him and have been happy with his work but would like to know what he could shave off his price to get closer to the other quotes.

The price doesn't seem excessive though in the first place although that is from a south east biased view

Its always acceptable to haggle, might be worth asking for a cash price as he may be able to do something.  

Cheers gents

I am south east Rich so slightly higher to be expected :(

Love how they say they will decommission old unit for you, which means take the boiler, parts, old pump if your shower needed one to a scrap yard and weigh it in!

Vaillant is a decent boiler, but check the warranty, they will say 5 years but it is usually only 2. You will also probably have to have a vailliant approved contractor to do the annual service to uphold the warranty ( was one of the reasons I didn't get a vailliant when getting a new boiler last year)

I also had a powerflush done, which isn't cheap but highly recommended, and have seen plenty of warranty stuff where boiler companies insist on a powerflush. I also had a lot of pipework replaced as new boiler was in a different location.

I think you can your quote down a bit. I am down the road from you and paid about the same but with powerflush and part of soil stack being replaced.

Thanks Vegas

As they are approved suppliers of Vailliant they tell me that means the 5 year warranty is included (again for service he has already told me he will do that in future) and they are Vailliant approved.

Chemically cleanse and flush the heating system, to remove oxide sludge debris

Is mentioned on quote and Chemical cleanse/power Flush is mentioned on front cover page, if that is the above then they are probably in the right ball park then

Cheers

Ah yes, now you mention it I think I was quoted for  powerflush from valliant too.
Are they taking the old tanks away for you too?

Will clarify that with them not sure tbh

It's worth investigating any entitlement to free replacement boilers.

My mother-in-law got one based on her receiving Pension Credits.

Not sure if this is a commercial site but it does have the qualifying points listed

http://www.freeheating.co.uk/who-qualifies-boiler-heating-grants.html

Thanks David

I did go down the route as my Mum does "qualify" due to getting severe disablement credit or whatever it is called now...

Unfortunately i spent a long time getting someone out from EDF who assured me on 4 occasions they dealt with LPG boilers only for when they actually came out to replace it/look at it the engineer told me they were not :(

I have contacted all of the other suppliers and they are the same in that they will not replace LPG boilers, not entirely sure why that is the case but it seems to be

Hi Horsey,

it's almost 10 years since I worked in a heating merchant pricing this stuff up but here's my tuppence on it. Members of public always underestimate how much the various bits n pieces add up to and overestimate how much discount a tradesman will receive.

My quick search through 2-3 companies and the prices inclusive of VAT were:

Vailant eco Pro28 High Efficiency combi boiler (gas not lpg) was £900-1000. LPG is typically £50-100 more. List price was £1700, obviously the tradesman is paying substantially less but the best prices you find online will be in a similar ball park.
Vertical flue £100ish. That'll be 1m in length + £40 per 1m extension.
A decent branded wireless programmable room stat is £100-130. You might find a £50 jobby online but any self respecting tradesman wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

One of the sites stated:
New Vaillant Ecotec PRO Boilers now with 2 year manufacturers warranty.
New Ecotec PRO Boilers now with 5 year manufacturers warranty when installed by Vaillant 'Advance' accredited installer. See full Terms and Conditions on Vaillant Website.

Double check he's an advanced installer, from what you've told us he almost certainly is. Infact he sounds like one of the good guys that gives you a reasonable quote at the first time of asking.

Thanks Mc sorry missed this post for some reason

No probs Horsey, hopefully it was of some help before you make a final decision.

Anyone used British Gas's current offer to replace their boiler.  £400 scrappage discount.  Choice of boilers, heating controls, 1 year free cover (likely not to need with a brand new boiler I know). 

I have someone coming to quote me this afternoon.

Was put off BG when they quoted me, partly by the cocky sales rep but their quote was way way above what I was expecting. I Googled their boiler that they quoted about £1800 for and found I could buy one direct for about £500.  I don't mind them making a bit but I assume if I could buy it for that price then BG were making far too much out of it.  Their cost for fitting was even more than the boiler.  Went with an independent and saved a fortune (although I wish I had a better boiler!)

Only advise is to compare quotes, I found BG to be very expensive.

Same here

Even with the "offer" BG very expensive for me

Also had a very cocky salesman might have been same one!

As above posts, BG very expensive when I was quoted by them.
A quick search of various forums/reviews show that BG also use very average boilers.