ASHP install cost question.

[Steve_]

Hello.

First off, I’ve been reading a lot about ASHPs on this site so if you’ve ever posted on this subject I’ve probably read it so thank you very much!

 

My wife and I are in the process off planning our new heating source. We are not on mains gas so have a wood burning stove with a back boiler, an immersion tank (which we never use) and an electric shower.

 

We like the idea of having an ASHP with underfloor heating throughout but I have a question about the install and I was hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice.

 

We will be having it installed by an MCS accredited engineer, but I has wondering how difficult the install is to justify the roughly £4-£5k install cost.

From all the videos and articles that I’ve seen it doesn’t seem that difficult (if you know what you are doing!) 

We’ve had a few quotes (please see attached) and they range between £9-£12k. If a Mitsubishi ecodan costs about £6k I just can’t understand how the labour cost can be so high if it’s only a 1-2 day install.

 

We were going to go through the RFI scheme, so I was guessing it is a case of the installers know how much you get back therefore they raise there price accordingly.

Or it costs a lot to get the MCS certificate so they have to get their money back.

The only quote we’ve had so far from an installer listed on trust mark (so that we can take advantage of the green homes grant) is for £12k plus VAT but I’m very sceptical of him because according to companies house his company was only created this year and he is listed as a recruitment consultant, which makes me think that he is just farming the job out and adding his cut on top (plus the only search hits for his phone numbers come from his website).

 

My wife and I do lots of work ourselves as we’ve had some high quotes in the past and we will not pay for something if we can do it ourselves.

 

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Basically, I’m just wondering why it costs so much!

 

Kind regards

Steve

 

Bellow Is a list of what my wife and I have done in the last few years incase anyone is interested!:-

 

Removal of chimney breast (quoted £3k)

Twinwall and Flexi flue install (quoted £3k, including £300 to make a stud frame and plasterboard in the flue)

Demolishing of existing kitchen.

Dug footings (along with a man with a digger)

We did the concrete footings pour and 6x5m concrete slab.

Installed structural steels.

We build a 6x5m mono pitch roof (fibreglassed, waiting to be slated).

Built and slated front porch roof.

Concrete footings pour 5x5m

Currently building 5x5m hip to gable roof.

Currently building 3x W40 Crittal style french doors. (We can see why they charge £25k!)

 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

There's more than just the cost of the ASHP in such a quote. FWIW, I don't think that's overly expensive ( but others have DIY'd and may say differently ). You need the MCS to get RHI, so if getting a grant and RHI then what will you ACTUALLY have to part with?  

[ProDave]

I am very cynical about MCS installers who seem to charge more than many might say is a fair labour rate.

 

BUT you have to counter that with you are paying £4K for the install but will get a total of £13K in RHI payments.  This example does seem unusually high, some quotes we have seen, the RHI payment barely exceeds the install cost.

[Nickfromwales]

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I am very cynical about MCS installers who seem to charge more than many might say is a fair labour rate.

 

BUT you have to counter that with you are paying £4K for the install but will get a total of £13K in RHI payments.  This example does seem unusually high, some quotes we have seen, the RHI payment barely exceeds the install cost.

The worse the EPC the more dollars you get. Farkin bonkers. The MCS installer will have to make recommendations for upgrading anything utterly ? and that having been done will be part of the MCS / RHI criteria.

Does the OP know of any such requirements so as to be able to factor in the costs to do so? @Steve_ ?

[Steve_]

Thanks for the replies.

When asking for quotes I stated that we currently have zero insulation!
we are building 2 extensions which have cavity wall insulation and we will be installing underfloor heating throughout the whole house with insulated floors, we are going to use inslated plasterboard on all external facing walls and we will be adding loft insulation. We do currently have double glazing.

 

Because we don't have a EPC I have looked for similar sized property in my area and used their EPC details to get a rough idea of what my RHI repayments would be.

I based it on a "C" rating (worse case) and I think the RHI was about £8,500 minus the £5k green homes grant so we will still be paying about £3,500+vat.

 

I've just emailed a few more companies asking for a quote, so fingers crossed!

[Thorfun]

I'm no expert but if you don't have any insulation then surely your EPC will be a lot worse that a "C"?

 

hopefully someone who knows what they're talking about will be along soon.

[Steve_]

Sorry for the confusion, I don't currently have insulation, but by the time I have the ASHP installed I will be fully insulated, so I based my calculations on that.
I just did a generic calculation on the .gov website and the figure came in at £6,300 for the RHI! 

[Hobbiniho]

i wouldnt be using "guesses and estimates" when it comes to RHI payments my EPC went from  "44 E" to a "67 D" simply by changing from storage heaters/immersion DHW to an ASHP with radiators and fan rads.