A boiler repair price is made of three things: the time to find the fault, the price of the part, and the time to fit it. Quotes differ because those three vary enormously between a five year old mainstream combi and a fifteen year old appliance nobody stocks parts for.
We do not publish a fixed repair price, because a firm number quoted over the phone before anyone has seen the fault is either padded to cover the worst case or about to be revised upwards.
The four things that move the number most
- Diagnosis: an appliance showing a clear fault code is quicker to pin down than an intermittent fault that only appears on cold mornings.
- The part: sensors and thermistors are inexpensive, while heat exchangers, gas valves and main PCBs are a different order of cost.
- Availability: parts for well supported mainstream brands are usually next day. Discontinued and obscure appliances are the ones that leave a property cold for a week.
- Access: an appliance in an accessible cupboard is straightforward, one boxed into a loft or behind fitted units is not.
Symptoms versus causes
The costly mistake is repairing the symptom. A pressure relief valve replaced three times in two years is usually telling you the expansion vessel has failed. A pump changed on a sludged system will go the same way as the last one. A repeatedly blocked condensate is often a routing problem, not a blockage problem.
We would rather explain the underlying cause and price the real fix, even when the immediate part swap would have been the smaller invoice.
When to stop repairing
- The appliance is past its normal service life and the parts are no longer well supported.
- The repair cost is approaching a meaningful share of a replacement.
- This is the second or third significant repair inside a couple of years.
- Efficiency is poor enough that fuel savings offset part of the replacement.
- It heats a let property, where an unreliable appliance is also a compliance and tenant relations problem.
How we price a repair
We charge for the diagnosis visit, then quote the repair before doing it, with the part named. If the appliance turns out to be beyond economic repair we say so and put the diagnosis charge toward a replacement quote rather than pretending a repair is sensible.
For landlords we send the written position the same day, because you usually need to make a repair or replace decision with a tenant waiting.
Frequently asked questions
- Why will you not quote a repair over the phone?
- Because the same symptom has several possible causes with very different part costs. A confident phone price is a guess, and the guess is always in the quoter's favour.
- Is it worth repairing a boiler over ten years old?
- It depends on the part and the appliance. A cheap sensor on a well supported ten year old boiler is worth doing. A major component on an appliance with poor parts support usually is not.
- Does the diagnosis charge come off the repair?
- The visit that diagnoses the fault is part of the job when we go on to carry out the repair. If you decide on a replacement instead, we credit it toward the installation quote.
- My boiler failed during a landlord check. Is that repair different?
- The work is the same, but the urgency is not, because the certificate cannot be issued while the appliance is unsafe. We prioritise those and give a written position the same day.
Get a diagnosis and a written price
We find the actual cause, quote before we start and tell you plainly when replacement is the better buy.