Are heat pump installers greedy?

Posted by rebirthtobi@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 29 comments

I have been thinking of cost of heat pumps lately, And I have come to conclusion that there are a lot of greedy companies out there ripping everyone off, I will probably say 90% of them.

Story: I received quotes on heat pumps, these quotes includes the government grant of £7,500 but my biggest surprise is that all these quotes are exactly double the amount of the grant except Octopus Energy which only have an additional £1000, meaning I will only be paying £1000.

I tried to do some individual equipment calculation and I discovered that the quotes of those other companies are actually very high. So my question is Why or is this pure greediness?

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chabybaloo@reddit

Because of the grants, they will inflate the prices.

It's like when vat is reduced on an item, the overall price doesnt go down, they just put the price up.

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PoutineRoutine46@reddit

They are like double glazing salesmen in the 1980s. Milking it.

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chabybaloo@reddit

Or solar panel salesman, when we had Fit payments.

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

OP or a mod marked this as the best answer, given by /u/knightsbridge-.

Hi, I work in energy research and do a lot of heat pump installing. I recently ran a large project to install a dozen or so heat pumps in a certain city in the UK in one fell swoop.

A certain amount could be considered greediness, I suppose, but that's not the real issue: The real issue is that we are chronically short on qualified heat pump installers in the UK, and installers know it.

We're trying to get more people upskilled in heat pump installs, but there's another problem with that: The first is that going into trades is sort of unpopular among young people these days, and the second is that there's a lot of heat pump hate/suspicion out there, and this feeds into whether the average person decides to start a business installing heat pumps.

Anyway, average total price for an air-to-water install in the UK is roughly £12,000 (before the grant), but the exact price will depend on how much heat loss mitigation you need.

^(What is this?)

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knightsbridge-@reddit

Hi, I work in energy research and do a lot of heat pump installing. I recently ran a large project to install a dozen or so heat pumps in a certain city in the UK in one fell swoop.

A certain amount could be considered greediness, I suppose, but that's not the real issue: The real issue is that we are chronically short on qualified heat pump installers in the UK, and installers know it.

We're trying to get more people upskilled in heat pump installs, but there's another problem with that: The first is that going into trades is sort of unpopular among young people these days, and the second is that there's a lot of heat pump hate/suspicion out there, and this feeds into whether the average person decides to start a business installing heat pumps.

Anyway, average total price for an air-to-water install in the UK is roughly £12,000 (before the grant), but the exact price will depend on how much heat loss mitigation you need.

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rebirthtobi@reddit (OP)

!answer

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Ravdoggydog@reddit

I have a 7y ground sourced pump, with pipes from our boiler to a manifold (manhole) and then horizontal coils stretching out across a field. Last year the manifold dropped a mm into clay and cracked the connector leaking all the fluid. The best quote I could get to repair was £16k (3 days work, 2 men, £5000 pipe). Yeah I was totally ripped off, but was running on an immersion heater for 3 months and was keen to fix with a specialist.

I did get a quote for 2x air pumps… £30k!! Which I couldn’t justify as the ground pump was only 7y old.

I didn’t have a warranty because the installer went bust after a year in 2018.

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BppnfvbanyOnxre@reddit

Flipping heck. I got a replacement boiler (Vaillant) two years ago when this place was rented out for two grand. We are moving soon and the new gaff has an old non condensing boiler I was thinking heat pump swap but maybe I'll wait.

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mumwifealcoholic@reddit

And this is why we’ll wait.

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rebirthtobi@reddit (OP)

Sorry about that, it is painful

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nathderbyshire@reddit

The technology is old but the industry is new, it'll take a while for the scum to rise and be visible. It seems the best route is to go through a supplier, use heat geek if they're available to you or wait a bit longer. There's new Heat Pump models being released regularly, if you don't need to change your boiler yet it's probably best to wait. With electric being fairly high as well especially if your install is on the expensive side it'll be more difficult to achieve a decent payback. A lot of people expand it by cutting gas out completely but it can meet removing fires and hobs which is an added expense on top.

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saladinzero@reddit

Two possibilities spring to mind: 1) they're selling a product in high demand (their expertise, not the pumps) and so prices are driven upwards, or 2) those are fuck off quotes to get you to go away (maybe because they're so busy, maybe because you were rude to them).

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rebirthtobi@reddit (OP)

Your number 2 is very wrong and shouldn’t even spring to your mind, for your number 1, I don’t think it is because it is in high demand, even if it is double the price is too much

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AnTeallach1062@reddit

Your response makes No.2 more likely to me.

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rebirthtobi@reddit (OP)

Wow, never knew that, but it can’t be from everyone can it?

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seriousrikk@reddit

Number 2 is absolutely a thing.

If tradespeople are very busy and would rather not book in any new work they will rarely just say no - it's well known they just put a big number out there.

If they don't want to do the job (for whatever reason) they will put a big number out there.

Most people will think 'fuck off' but someone might take it up - meaning they need to book in but can make loads more doing it.

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zeoxzy@reddit

No. 2 is relavent and happens in literally every service.

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Anxious-Molasses9456@reddit

2 is very much a thing.

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Evening-Tomatillo-47@reddit

There's a possibility three, that octopus are selling a crap product or will land you with "ah we didn't know about this which will cost an extra £££"

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No_Technology3293@reddit

It could also be that octopus are using cheap crap labour or are deliberately undercharging labour for marketing purposes.

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KublaiWay@reddit

Will always be a premium for the flavour of the month + they know about the grants.

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Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit

Its definitely greed but it's also the most basic demand/supply capitalism.

The government has created an incentive to drive up demand, so that is going up.

But qualified installers are in short supply so they are able to hike their prices to capitalise.

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johnlooksscared@reddit

Early adopters are usually the keenest. They look at what they are intetested in buying through rose tinted glasses. The company's Octopus apart are fleecing these sheep.

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WerewolfNo890@reddit

I had one installed and tbh the price seemed pretty fair to me given all the work involved, pretty much entirely replaced the central heating system. All pipes and radiators replaced. Its fair for them to want there to be some profit after all the work is done too.

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cgknight1@reddit

It can be an economies of scale thing and also that different companies have different approaches to the fit in terms of spec and what is tricky.

I know Octopus is starting to raise it's quotes as it gets a better sense of the true cost of jobs (mine was £910).

Oh and if you have not asked for it - make sure you are quoted for trunking as its much much neater.

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rebirthtobi@reddit (OP)

Yes, it is included

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