Replacement boiler quote - reasonable?

[RzB]

As part of a kitchen refurbishment we are renewing our old Thorn M56/76B boiler.

See...

have had visits from 4 plumbers. A fith was arranged but he called at 30 mins to arrival time with an excuse... "Cut his finger off at work today"

- ouch - at least he also thought it was an amusing change from the "the vans broken down" :-)

Anyway - from all this I have one quote. Three of the four have not bothered...

The quote recommends a Gloworm 24hxi and comes to £1557 in vat.

Is that reasonable? I think the guy is competent. Made lots of notes, answered my question clearly, is ex Gas Board. Will flush the system. Generally appeared to know his stuff. Gave me a warm feeling.

The installation is very simple. The new boiler will be sited close to the existing boiler so the pipework will be easy. Access will be easy as kitchen units and ceiling will be out. Condensation run to outside soil pipe is simple. New cable for pump over-run is very simple given the ceiling will be down. Flue is straight up through floorboards, into cupboard in bathroom above and then rt angle to the ourside world. The system is already fully pumped.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance, Roy

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

That appears to be a good price.

[r.p.mcmurphy]

well you could buy the boiler yourself from here..

pay a plumber a days work to fit it for you. i did and i saved over a grand.

steve

[RzB]

> and pay a plumber a days work to fit it for you. i did and i saved over a > grand.

Steve,

Hmm... That is actually the CXi the one specified is the HXi - I think it must be cheaper but I haven't found a price on line yet.

I would imagine the cost to the plumber would be in the £400 range ? So, before VAT that means about £800 for labour. Whats the going rate for a plumber these days? £60 / hour ? So that's 15 hours... Is that reasonable ?

Or have I got it all wrong...

Thanks, Roy

[PeTe33]

£200 / day (VAT Exempt) or £200 + VAT for the LTD companies round the South West though I did have one johnny knobsworth that thought he was worth £250 ...... he didn't get any work his way.

[RzB]

""Pet @

;¬)"" wrote > £200 / day (VAT Exempt) or £200 + VAT for the LTD companies round the

Many tahnks for your response...

Hmm - So how long will this job take? Can't be more than two 8 hour days can it ?

Roy

[Mr Fizzion]

>>> and pay a plumber a days work to fit it for you. i did and i saved over a >> grand.

I doubt if the plumber would get them at 400 quid, when they're just under 700 including VAT. Did the plumber say how long it would take?

Mr F.

[r.p.mcmurphy]

>>> and pay a plumber a days work to fit it for you. i did and i saved >> over a grand.

yes, i couldnt find a "HXi", so i have assumed a speling mistake by the plumber. i paid 220 for a days work from a plumber mate...but that is what he would normaly charge for the job.

[PeTe33]

Shouldn't have thought so, if it's a straightforward swop out. Might be worth suggesting you will be there for any 2 man jobs like mounting the boiler to wall.

I paid 2 chaps for 3 days each, on a labour only basis as I had a load of pipes & fittings etc to use up, and wanted a significant alteration to existing pipework etc which worked out fine as I could just nip to plumbers merchants for obscure bits needed and discuss alterations "on the fly"

Would have taken me the rest of the year to do it myself. Time I didn't have.

[RzB]

"Mr Fizzion"

Ahh - got it.. Yes - you are right - I can buy the HXi for £591 inc vat - plus the flue etc - Probably as you say about £700. So it will probably cost the plumber £600 ? Is that reasonable. Plus 2 days work at £250 ? (he is Vat registered) £1100... as againt a quote of £1557...

Perhaps it will take 3 days... £700 + £750 = £1450... Getting close..

How long did he think the job would take?...that was the one question I didn't get a straight answer on..

It really would be nice to have another quote to compare it with...

Ho humm..

Many thanks, Roy

[Alex (YMG)]

Here you can get the 24 HXi for £532.69 (including standard horizontal flue and fixing jig but excluding VAT). I've ordered from these people as a DIYer (i.e. non Corgi registered) with no problems at all.

HTH?

Alex

[Alex (YMG)]

Whoops.

we go.

Alex

[RzB]

Thanks to all who posted. I have decided to go for it. I checked with them, and there will be two plumbers on site for a day - however long it takes. There will also be an aprentice who evidently I don't pay for. I think the quote is a little higher than it should be but not much. At least I have some confidence that a good job will be done and that's worth a little extra..

Many thanks, Roy

[RzB]

Just to complete this thread... I had the work done this week. The guys were very competent. Spent a lot of time flushing the system... added a couple of bits not in the original quote for me... All in all a very good job. There were two experienced guys plus an apprentice... Total cost was just under £1600 inc vat as they also added a couple of rad thermostats. I think I could have purchased the bits for under £800 so manpower costs were about £800+ they were on site for 9 hours - so for two and a half men - hourly rate comes out to about £35 / hour.

I retired last year... I had 20+ high tech people reporting to me and a load of high pressure personnel/project responsibility! No where near £35 / hour !!!! But then I didn't have the expense of buying flushing equipment, insurance, a van, Part P education, spanners, accountants etc... Ho humm...

I had to dispose of the very heavy old boiler, but this was not at all difficult once I had dismantled it! I was amazed how easily it all came to bits. I was expecting a real struggle with the bolts holding it all together but they were hardly more than hand tight!

Thanks to all that posted originally... Roy