Advice
What a new boiler really costs
Written by someone who fits them, not someone selling finance on them.
The short answer
Honestly? It depends, and anyone who prints a price before seeing your house is guessing. A straight like-for-like swap sits at the affordable end. The number climbs as the job gets more involved, and no two houses are quite alike. What we can do is show you exactly what moves the price, so a quote makes sense when you get one.
What makes it stop being straightforward:
- Moving the boiler to a different wall or room: new flue, new pipe runs, more labour
- Converting from an old cylinder-and-tank system to a combi: the biggest jump, because most of the system changes with it
- Gas pipe upgrades: older homes often have supply pipe too narrow for a modern boiler, and regulations mean it must be sorted
- The boiler tier itself: entry-level and premium brands differ noticeably in price for similar outputs
Where quotes hide the padding
Compare quotes line by line, not bottom line by bottom line. The cheap total often quietly excludes the system flush, the magnetic filter, decent controls, or warranty registration. The expensive one is sometimes just a bigger brand name on the same day of work. Ask each quoter the same three questions: which exact boiler model, what's included beyond the boiler, and how long is the parts-and-labour warranty. The answers separate quotes fast.
One thing we'd treat as non-negotiable in any quote: a proper flush of the existing system and a magnetic filter. Bolting a new boiler onto ten years of radiator sludge is how "new boiler" and "warranty dispute" end up in the same sentence.
Repair or replace: the honest maths
Under ten years old with a minor fault? Repair it. Over twelve with an expensive fault? Replace it, because parts get scarce, efficiency has moved on, and the next fault is already in the queue. In between, it's judgement, and you want that judgement from someone who does both repairs and installations, because they've no reason to steer you either way.
Getting a real number for your house
Your actual number needs someone to look at your actual house: where the boiler lives, what the pipework's like, what you need from your hot water. That look, and the quote that follows, is free. No finance pitch, no "today-only" pricing, just the number and the reasoning behind it.