DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hello guys

Last year we needed to replace our ageing boiler, I think the best quote I could find at the time for labour only was £1200 installation. It took 1.5 men less than 5 hours to complete the job, I say 1.5 men because they both were also working at different places as they kept coming and going. That is the equivalent of an hourly rate of £160 cash.

To me this sounds like crazy.

Recently we needed to "annual service" the boiler just to keep with the guarantee.

The best quote I could get was £100, all inclusive. The man stayed around 15 mins, did not even open the boiler to clean the heat exchanger because it was very new, and only cleaned a magnetic filter that had a lot of gunk on it.

You can get your car MOted with £40 and they do really spend time on it checking lots of things.

Again I think it is madness.

A top brain surgeon gets paid much less per hour, even privately.

Sorry about the rant. :-)

Always ask around for recommendations, some will do it for £45 some for £145. A lot of manufacturers require a Flue Gas Analysis to be carried out, if all is satisfactory then there's not a lot more to do.

However I always remove the covers as a minimum to check condition of components/leads and to check there's no leaks or signs of heat damage.

andy_g wrote:The best quote I could get was £100, all inclusive. The man stayed around 15 mins, did not even open the boiler to clean the heat exchanger because it was very new, and only cleaned a magnetic filter that had a lot of gunk on it.

You can get your car MOted with £40 and they do really spend time on it checking lots of things.

You're not comparing like for like.

The garage does not do home visits. Those who do charge a lot of money.
Home visits include travel time to/from the job, including traffic, fuel etc this is factored in the price.

In addition, there are legal requirements regarding gas, certification and what not. It's also easy to make the MOT more like a conveyor belt system, car in, hooked up, tested, next, it's much more difficult to do that with boilers. In addition, garages make their money on repair not on £40 MOT ;)