I earmarked 4 corgi (heating engineers) plumbers local to me to quote for the following work.
Fit 18month old Worcester 28si in front porch (bathroom and kitchen at rear)
3 new replacement rads upstairs
1 new rad down + 1 moved
New towel rail in bathroom
TRV's everwhere except lounge
Remove some microbore and replace with 15mm
Fit strainer and a descaler by boiler.
Flush system
I would do any electrical work.
I would remove any old system like cast iron floor mounted boiler in kitchen and loft tanks/immersion tank.
First guy called today and spent just 10mins walking round, took no notes or measurements for rad sizing, suggested the right place for the boiler was the gable wall in the loft, I explained that the loft wasnt boarded or a fixed ladder available nor are the eaves insulated just the rafters. He said the draw off time for water from the porch would be too long, in fact its just 10ft of pipe further away than the hot tank is now and as it would be mains instead of the now indirect surely the difference would be hardly noticable in time to get hot at the taps furthest away?
With that he left saying he would get a price for me over the weekend! Not going to be a firm quote now is it!!
Not having had a plumber anywhere near my home for 20yrs is this the way I can expect them all to deal with requests for quotes or is one the exception?
Or perhaps I looked too poor and he already deceided I couldnt afford him!