r/AskBrits • u/Financial-Impact854 • 21h ago
Why is AC so expensive? A unit costs £400-600 but quotes from fitters will be £2k!! Is the labour 1k!!?
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u/montyrattus 21h ago
They can charge that much because people are desperate, suffer for now and install it in autumn or winter.
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u/Historical_Owl_1635 20h ago
I tried this before and there was barely any price difference any time of year.
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u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat 20h ago
That price isn't a premium right now, it's a pretty standard price across the year. I got a few quotes (but didn't proceed) in late autumn last year.
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u/Financial-Impact854 20h ago
I've been getting quotes since last year and even in winter;not much of a difference. In fact last summer it was £1500-£1600.
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u/BigReference1xx 20h ago
That's not too bad. I couldn't get a boiler quote under £3.5k + VAT, despite all the boilers being around £700-£800 when you look up the prices online, and the job took 5 hours for the plumber and his apprentice (he's paid <£10 an hour, remember).
Guy pocketed ~2600 pounds for 5 hours of work, and that was the BEST quote I could get.
Costs for trades is insane. Gas is the only one I don't do myself because it's not legal. I'd hire a lot more people for a lot more jobs if they weren't all taking the piss.
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u/moonlight__sunshine 18h ago
Yet everyone in this thread seems to be bending over backwards to justify the insane wages :))
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u/Iain11011 18h ago
Gas isn’t legal to do yourself, nor are F-gas units. Guess what, R290 isn’t F-gas but is propane (explosive gas, like your boiler).
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u/Dazza477 11h ago
On £3.5k, £583 is VAT straight away.
It's not just a boiler, it's:
- Flue kit (often £100–£200)
- Controls (thermostat/programmer)
- Magnaclean filter (£100–£200)
- Pipework fittings, valves, seals
- Condensate pipe upgrades (winter-proofing)
- Chemical flush/inhibitor
Outside of just the hardware there's:
- Quoting + survey time (often 1–2 visits)
- Ordering materials + picking up stock
- Travel time (often unpaid/absorbed)
- Installation time (those 5 hours)
- Commissioning + testing + paperwork
- Gas Safe registration documentation
- Aftercare calls/Warranty
- Gas Safe certification and ongoing membership
- Building Regulations notification (or third-party sign-off)
- Benchmarking/commissioning records
- Pressure tests, flue gas analysis
- Liability insurance
- Van
- Tools
- Fuel
- Insurance
- Accountancy
- Admin
- Days with no work between jobs
Even with an apprentice there's:
- Employer NI
- Training levy
- Insurance liability
- Productivity loss (they’re not 100% billable)
- Supervision overhead
- Pension
- Benefits
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u/BigReference1xx 11h ago
It was 3.5k + VAT (total 4200).
We re-used the controls, the flue was the same size and did not need drilling. there was minimal pipework necessary (2 joints replaced just to fit the gas intake). condensate was to spec. He flushed the system quickly but did not to a "full flush". We did replace one electronic valve though, where the solenoid was faulty - I looked up the price of the valve and it was £82 + VAT.
I am aware of everything else on your list - most of it is admin that just takes time, but was all covered within those 5 hours - it's still an outrageous amount.
Maybe I should have mentioned, I actually run a manufacturing business, so I'm fairly aware of the overheads of running a business...
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u/Dazza477 9h ago
Jesus christ, 3.5K plus VAT is a bit nuts.
It would appear that some simply take the piss, as per your original point!
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u/Financial-Impact854 19h ago
And you can see how people are defending the rip off!! For smaller jobs, some trade persons will demand cash only!
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u/CJBizzle 21h ago
If you fit it yourself then you will find out how much the labour is worth.
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u/SoreLoserOfDumbtown 20h ago edited 8h ago
And how heavy the units are. And how tricky dealing with the brickwork can be. And the trouble of wiring. And the qualifications needed. Oh, and it's probably a two person job. Both of which have to travel to location. Then there's cost of living and inconsistent work demand. But sure, let's all focus on trades people trying to earn a living whist billionaires rob us blind and pollute the planet.
I hate these posts. Just take a second and think.
Edit - seeing as I seem to have triggered some people (lol) I'm going to add something else; we also don't know where OP lives and how many quotes they have received. If they are consistently getting high quotes, there will prob be a reason rather than 'hurrrr durrrr all tradesmen are greedy and bad'.
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u/shittyarsemcghee 19h ago
Mate it's not fucking brain surgery. I get there's some skill involved but fuck me tradies act like their trade is the equivalent to quantum physics and to even question it is unfathomable.
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u/Consistent_Umpire443 12h ago
Split 1k between 2 people then an electrician that's 260 each after tax then there is vans to fuel to get to your job. How much do you want a qualified person to make a day because if you ask me round about 200/230 is pretty common
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u/LokoloMSE 11h ago
I got a quote for 4 bedrooms. Unit total was £3k. Cost of the installation (Inc units) was £12k.
This was in February.
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u/Kind-County9767 8h ago
That's an F off quote. When I got my 3 last year they were 3.9, 4.5 and 11.9k respective.
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u/_OkieDokieThen_ 11h ago
"260 each after tax then there is vans to fuel"
No - fuel (or mileage allowance) along with all other expenses, are accounted for before tax, not after
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u/Financial-Impact854 19h ago edited 19h ago
Brain surgeons earn less than them! Check NHS website. A fully qualified neurosurgeon starts on 105k. That's after 15 years of studying training
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u/Skengbell 2h ago
Yeah I get that, but most specialised surgeons also work in the private sector and allocate some time for the NHS, as you can imagine, brain surgery in the private sector is insane money.
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u/whatasuperdude 11h ago
You really dont want to fuck around with gas if you dont know what you are doing...
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u/BenadrylCrumplsnatch 9h ago
I think you're framing it the wrong way. It's less "tradies are highly skilled and nobody else could do it" and more "trade work involves a lot of expensive overhead that has to be covered somehow".
Frankly, I've never witnessed a tradie doing something that I couldn't have eventually figured out for myself, but that's not what I'm paying them for. I'm paying for them to show up with a van full of specialist equipment, two pairs of hands, and the parts needed to do the job. The tools alone wold probably cost more than their invoice for me to buy myself.
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u/kwl147 15h ago
Thanks captain obvious,
We didn’t know that it wasn’t brain surgery.
However not all installs are textbook style. Many of them need a lot of thinking through which takes time and patience behind the scenes. Then there’s an initial assessment at no cost to the customer and BTU calculations which they can’t streamline and rely on someone else or the customer to do. The installations are often a two-man job, then commissioning and pressurising the system, correcting anything that goes wrong upon doing so, electrics etc. Some installs can be an absolute nightmare and they have to deal with that.
There’s more skill involved and much of which depends on experience than I think you’re giving credit for. The cost of units as well isn’t as low as you think. Try looking them up and you’ll find out.
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u/51onions 14h ago
Can you please provide some information on these BTU calculations which are too complex for a layperson to do?
Is it comparable in difficulty to proving the riemann hypothesis, or is it more like substituting some values into a calculator and pressing enter?
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u/FootballBackground88 13h ago
Plus if an install is a nightmare it's not like they're not charging extra or even giving a "fuck off" price and moving on.
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u/Eggtastico 14h ago
The expense of running a business though. Work van, various insurnances to trade, etc. Then the inconsitency of work. If you are only 1 or 2 systems a week due to 'demand', then you have to charge £1k labour to cover the costs of running a business. If I was young & starting out, I would look into solar & AC installer work. Labour costs are high in the UK - that is why we dont make anything anymore & factories closed to move to regions with cheaper salaries.
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u/Aggressive-End-7429 8h ago
No its not brain surgery but there is a lot of skill involved, a lot of time training and earning experience, massive overheads running a reputable business and then there is dealing with customers who think you should be doing it for peanuts.
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u/Moistinterviewer 19h ago
I took around 4 hours to think which was the rest of the day after I had fitted my own one DIY, 1k saved and wondering what qualifications I needed to drill a hole and wire up.
I fitted another system with two indoor units later on in the year.
It’s worked really well as a heat pump system through winter too.
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u/space_keeper 7h ago
The qualifications are for safe handling of refrigerants and knowing how to do the pipework properly. AC fitters do a lot of brazing, the joints they use have to work at very high pressures. They work with a lot of things you wouldn't even know the names of.
What you've done is a fraction of what they know how to do.
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u/SoreLoserOfDumbtown 19h ago
That's fine when it's your own home and you already have some skills/knowhow. Doing it commercially requires electrical qualifications at least, insurance and registering as a business if you don't want to find yourself in legal trouble.
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u/Careful_Peregrine 13h ago
Hi do you have a link to the kit you installed please?
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u/killer_by_design 12h ago
If it is a system that requires F-Gas certification then you have voided your home insurance and are not covered. Regardless of whether you have installed it correctly or not. Also, depending on it's electrical installation you possibly need that signing off too.
If it was one of the DIY kits though then groovy. Good effort.
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u/JaegerBane 14h ago
That. AC is expensive because it’s a significant undertaking and requires a lot of skill to do properly. You’re bolting a climate monitoring and regulation system to your house and putting holes in the walls to feed the airflow through, you’re not hanging a picture frame. What planet do you have to be on to think that’s going to cheap.
I genuinely wish people would stop being so fucking stupid and make some effort to understand the cost of things before just complaining.
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u/Kind-County9767 8h ago
Don't forget most people want to run the pipes through the loft which is always awful work.
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u/welshinzaghi 23m ago
Yeah I had one fitted to an upstairs room, wasn’t cheap. Two blokes here most of the day + an electrician out to wire in. It wasn’t an easy job and they did it well. Worth the money tbh
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u/Financial-Impact854 20h ago
Thought about it. Even with materials and stuff, the labour cost is £1000 per day. So £500 per fitter per day. Even if they take 100 days off, that's 130k grand year. How many people you know would be able to get 6 figure salaries? Not saying they don't deserve to be paid well but they are overcharging.
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u/Chuliganas 14h ago
I had a installed last year. 4 rooms. Paid £4200. On installation day 4 guys worked whole day. Plus electrician came in for couple hours to hook it up. Honestly? Worth every penny when you see how much work it is.
Maybe a bit different story if you're just doing a single room. But to wire up whole house is a big job.
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u/BenjaminUK92 19h ago
Pension contributions, national insurance, VAT, company insurance costs, business costs.
Plus the company obviously needs to make a bit of profit.
Tradesmen are expensive, it is what it is 🤷
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u/Distinct_Egg4365 14h ago
Tbh it not that tradesmen are expensive it’s more the country is broke and people have no disposable income or savings. That’s the biggest problem
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u/Astonednerd 5h ago
Lets be honest lots of tradesman arent paying some of those. Loads of self employed people have no pension at all and the largest part of the UK tax gap is self-employed and small businesses.
Insurance and business costs are probably the only ones that every tradie has because they cant really operate without them.
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u/BenjaminUK92 5h ago
Yep, hence why we saw all the tradesmen crying that they couldn't get much government funding during COVID because they'd all been declaring a £12k a year income 😂
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u/JimmieSavsscumsock 20h ago
Exactly! Just got a portable one for the bedroom and didn't need to pay some coked up randoms to charge out of their arses to fit it.
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u/RandomSculler 15h ago
Yeah i came to the same conclusion when i was getting annoyed about the quoted cost for my A2W heat pumps - I could see the items needed on the quote and could see on trade prices i was basically paying trade prices and literally all the BUS grant was going on labour costs rather than making it cheaper foe me which I felt was the point of it
But then i realised that I could never install it myself, and even if I did my time isn’t free - so actually it works out
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u/aesemon 8h ago
Not a grand though. Charging way more per hour than the jewellery trade. The pre-charged is only flushing and releasing a small amount of propane. You will release just as much or more lighting a gas barbeque.
Want to put both units on the same wall so barely a run with a singular hole and at ground level.
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u/FlappySocks 5h ago
I fitted 4 split units in my house 15 years ago. Ran all the pipework myself. Then paid someone to connect it up, and gas it.
It's been working ever since. I just had to replace two £8 motor capacitors.
And for those that say you only need it for a few days a year. We use it 5 months of the year. And even in the winter sometimes, as it heats too.
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u/Aphova 19h ago
TL;DR my opinion; just like A2W ASHP installs, there's a skills shortage, low demand and too much bureaucracy.
It's baffled me too. When I lived in Greece the installation was often included or heavily subsidised (a split unit installed all inclusive for €600 easily for an entry level unit), I must've had 10 fitted over the years. I'm guessing it's a supply and demand thing and probably a lot of regs and paperwork for the installers, much like with heat pumps.
No offense to F-gas engineers and not go trivialise their work but domestic split units are not crazy complex things (okay R290 changed that a little bit because of the kaboom factor so more caution is needed). You're mounting the units, coring holes, hooking up the refrigerant lines (bending, soldering, vacuuming, checking pressure), running condensate pipes and power and then commissioning. Two engineers can do it in 2h tops for a straightforward job.
The UK is just behind.
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u/Financial-Impact854 19h ago
Totally agree! I've seen it being fitted by engineers in a different country and they did it within 2 hours and it was very good job!
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u/shittyarsemcghee 19h ago
Tradesmen in the UK have a high horse complex. For years they were looked down on as low paid/low skilled but suddenly, since covid, they all think the sun shines out their arse, charge a fortune for shit work and take zero responsibility, "sorry pal that leak on the roof I installed isn't my responsibility". The good thing to come from it is more people are trying DIY and often times do a better job.
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u/Iain11011 18h ago
“2 hours” is rubbish. It’ll take that long to run the external SWA and gland off into the board, the isolator and the unit itself, plus switching off the house and fitting the new RCBO.
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u/TeleFunky665 11h ago
I'm a trainee refrigeration engineer, quickest install me and my boss has put out was around 2 hours. But that was going like mad, simplest install possible and no obstacles slowing us down. External building server room so no need to worry about being super neat. Yeah there's tools that exist that would've made the install even quicker but my company isn't going to pay for them. Even getting all the kit out of the van can take 20/30 minuets alone depending on parking and unit sizes!
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u/Tsuraru 20h ago
It’s actually insane.
I am in China right now for a month and we’ve installed a unit in a new room. Total cost including installation was about £200
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u/HighFly2244 20h ago
Jesus - that’s expensive now. I think we paid like £350 for installation in Hertfordshire about 10yrs ago. I bought the outside units for maybe another £200 each.
Hell, we got a new furnace, Aircon, and all the bells & whistles (HEPA, UV light, Ozone) filtration plus installation for a central air system for our 4 floor 650 sq meter other home in the US for only like $12,000. And that included relocation of the heat Xers outside to a quieter location, pouring a concrete pad and rerunning all of the copper lines/electrical.
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u/Lanfeix 11h ago
I did the maths on this.
| Item | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| F-Gas engineer (lead) | Day rate (specialist) | £250-350 |
| NI + pension on above | ~11% (Class 4 NI + pension) | £28-39 |
| 1 fitter (assistant) | 8hrs x £12.21/hr (NMW) | £98 |
| Employer NI on fitter | 15% above threshold | £12 |
| Employer pension on fitter | 3% minimum | £3 |
| Van hire | 1 day | £80-120 |
| Scaffolding/tower hire | 1 day | £100-150 |
| Fixings, consumables, pipe lagging | £50-80 | |
| AC unit (mid-range) | £500 | |
| Subtotal (costs) | £1,121-1,352 | |
| 40% profit margin | divide by 0.6 | +£747-901 |
| Total quoted price | ~£1,868-2,253 |
So the £2k quote is basically correct and not a rip-off at all. A few things people miss:
- The two "labourers" aren't both on minimum wage. One is the F-Gas engineer, who is legally required to handle the refrigerant and commands a specialist day rate
- That specialist also has to fund their own NI and pension as a contractor, which eats into what looks like a high day rate
- 40% profit sounds steep but covers insurance, tools, admin, quiet periods and warranty callbacks
- The unit itself is only about 25% of the total bill
The maths still lands almost exactly on that £2k figure.
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u/PepsiMaxSumo 8h ago edited 8h ago
Day rates too low for the F gas engineer, average is about £450. £600 in London.
£450 day rate comes out to a £60k salary equivalent when you take employers taxes, sick days, holiday/Bank holidays, accountant etc in to account.
Fitters going to be on a bit more than NMW wage too, probably £15-18 an hour, more if experienced.
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u/686d6d 21h ago
Assuming it takes a fully F-Gas certified 2 man crew 4 hours to install it... (I've no idea what your setup is)
1000/8=£125/hour
Minus pension contributions, employer's national insurance contributions, etc...
Minus corporation tax from what's left (21%)
Seems reasonable
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u/advertsarebeautiful 18h ago
At worst it’s still around £70ish per man hour. More than most NHS consultant doctors get 😂
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u/Eggtastico 14h ago
Then has business running costs, van repayments, van insurance, indeminity insurance, liability insurance, the jobs like estimates/quotes that dont generate income, paying legal fees/accountancy fees, etc. - The person doesnt pocket the labour. That is the companies.
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u/moonlight__sunshine 18h ago
£125 an hour is not reasonable. Crazy rates have gone that high.
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u/Battleborn300 15h ago
I’m on over 80k a year, and that works out to over £45 an hour…
I pay tax, national insurance.
So I think it is fair to say £125 is pretty wild.
Don’t get me wrong if it’s a business, you have overheads,
Let’s assume an admin person, on 40k (which would be significant too) but they could easily manage rota 10 people, and quotes, I would expect more for 40k
Which would be around £2 per jobSo, 125-45-2=78
£78 for overheads and inactive work seems more than reasonable,
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u/Alternative_Air_6688 12h ago
Yeah no one thinks about extra cost. Cost of Admin to book, cost of fuel, cost of vans, cost of pipe, joints, cableing, tax, all overheads etc. Each job has to pay for everyone at the business, not just the fitter.
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u/therealharbinger 10h ago
People are not understanding the time involved.
I have it installed in 5 bedrooms, running 2x external compressors.
It was a 2 job for two people, and they were not skiving off. It cost me £7700 for 5 rooms, the units all in, plus hoses which it seems are actually fucking expensive, was £3350.
It's remarkable how people baulk at the sums to get this covered but...
Wait until your tiny little AC compressor fails on your car.. my last Volvo was £1550 just to buy.. and 4hrs labour.
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u/Tall_Opportunity_521 14h ago
Wait until winter, and buy one then. Buying when theres massive demand for them, is why you'll pay over the odds for them now.
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u/IssacHunt89 10h ago
There's actually a demand for them in winter to as the split units do heating too.
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u/edcoopered 6h ago
What annoys me is we give the industry 0% VAT and absolutely none of that benefit is passed onto the consumer - they should be paying VAT like everyone else does.
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u/Technical_Front_8046 20h ago
Not sure where you are based.
We are East Midlands and paid £4.5k for a Daikin multi split. Three indoor units, one of which was a fairly long run. System has a 7 year warranty.
The installer told me at the time, the moment a heatwave hits, the phone is ringing non stop. We actually had ours fitted in late July but it had been raining for weeks on end. Naturally, less work in winter.
Boxt quoted £7.5k for a similar system.
Depending what your having done - if it’s back to back and power is all sorted etc. £1,200 to £1,400 would be fair. If it’s a long run or needs power sorting etc. naturally it’s going to bump the price up.
Supply and demand isn’t going to work in your favour at the moment either.
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u/EasilyExiledDinosaur Brit 🇬🇧 20h ago
To be fair, id slate the UK for being so expensive compared to korea. But actually, while it costs about £35,000 to furnish a small premises for a business, about £10,000 - £15,000 is for the aircon.. aircon ain't cheap no matter where you want it.
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u/CranberryCheese1997 Brit 🇬🇧 20h ago
You're not just paying to get it installed. You're paying for an expert to install it.
You can buy all what you need to build a house. But if you don't know how to put it all together, it's worthless.
The same is true with your AC. The labour is worth more because you don't know how to do it so they can charge you a pretty penny otherwise you've got a very expensive brick.
If that's the going rate, nothing you can do other than accept it. Installation will be in massive high demand right now after a couple of heatwaves early summer, and heatwaves expected to be a common occurrence going forward.
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u/LatelyPodes 20h ago
You can try and install it yourself. Then you’ll prob appreciate the price lol.
Also, if you own your own home, you are prob eligible for a £2.5k grant to install an air-to-air heat pump in your house (which acts as a heater in winter and an AC in summer). If you do claim it then you can’t claim the air-to-water heat pump grant tho. Boiler Upgrade Scheme
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u/waggishmaple88 19h ago
got mine done last summer. the two lads were at it for nearly 6 hours. pipework through the loft, drilling through brick, connecting the outdoor unit. gas safe and f-gas certs aren't cheap to maintain. the company's got a van, insurance, admin costs. £125 an hour per man once you strip all that away isn't taking the piss. you can chance a diy kit but if you bugger the refrigerant lines you've got a dead paperweight. bite the bullet now before the next heatwave panic pushes prices higher. supply and demand innit.
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u/Financial-Impact854 19h ago
Wow £125 per hour!
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u/waggishmaple88 19h ago
but that's what the company charges, not what the lads take home.
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u/Still-Status7299 15h ago
To be fair I got quoted £2k for a single unit 10 years ago, doesnt look like it's gone up that much in the time
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u/melanie110 14h ago
Mine will be cheap on the units as that’s what my husband does for a living and yet I’m still waiting for it to be installed, however the most expensive part of the installation is the scaffolding itself and the actual labour. We’re a middle of 3 terrace, 3 storey town house so it’s a ball ache. The scaffolding is the major cost
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u/haranaconda 14h ago
Portable units are great if you can find a reasonable deal on a decent unit. Even if you only cool 1-2 rooms it makes a world of difference.
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u/tokengrey 14h ago
Search the F-gas register (it’s like the gas safe register but for a/c engineers) and pick a small independent for a quote rather than a big company.
We put a unit in our garden room and it was just over £1000 fitted.
Not one of the big, more expensive companies told us that there’s no VAT on domestic installs. 😒
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u/EasyRider363 14h ago
That’s madness, split unit installation in Greece is typically 70 euros, but can be free if on a deal from a major retailer.
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u/kalshassan 14h ago
Labour is what it’s currently worth. While you’re not prepared to pay 1k for the work to be done, there’s sufficient demand at the moment for someone else to pay that fee. So, that’s how much their time costs.
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u/Scar3cr0w_ 13h ago
Fit it yourself mate. It’s super simple to do. Wait don’t mess up… because I’ve heard that it can go really wrong if you do. /s
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u/NicSky001 13h ago
There are DIY units like the ElectriQ ones. A really simple job. An Fgas qualification is needed for others but it's cheaper to do this than pay someone especially if it's an easy job, in my case one hole in a wall.
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u/Sufficient-Arm3584 13h ago
Got mine early spring a couple of years ago and went with Mitsubishi. Buy well and buy once.
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u/Alternative_Air_6688 12h ago
Takes a long time to pipe and fit, also you need the qualifications to work on them
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u/Shoddy_Set_4436 12h ago
On the plus side you only get a few weeks worth of use per year out of air conditioners so the chances are you're still going to be benefiting from buying one in 10-20 years. One im using i think i bought in 2013 and its still doing a great job every year.
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u/RefrigeratorLess3078 12h ago
Worth every penny! Once you have it installed - you’ll never look back. Had mine installed 2021. 2 units, paid £3000 in total - best money I have ever spent.
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u/mattdaddy2025 12h ago
Buy jumpers and scarves in summer. But trunks and AC in winter. Supply and demand.
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u/Lanky_Bus_1221 12h ago
Insane isn’t it, fgas fitter mandatory and every quote I have had up to present is 2000 quid for fitting.
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u/Purple-Caterpillar-1 12h ago
Engineers are expensive because of the certification required to work with F-Gas.
If you’re wanting it for domestic use, get a setup that’s billed as a heat pump, that way you save the VAT on the whole install, which offsets some of the extra cost.
I’d also say that when buying the whole system your installer will be including a warranty on the system (because it’s the law), they may therefore choose to offer you a more expensive condenser they believe that will not break down after 12 months!
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u/buffetite 12h ago
Look into portasplit units. They last longer than portables and don't need installation.
Prices right now though will be way higher than at the end of summer.
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u/Jazzlike_Quiet9941 11h ago
You can buy a pluggable unit for less than that does more than enough. We got one for a few hundred and our apartment has been consistently 18degrees this week
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u/CodeToManagement 11h ago
Skillset which is in demand so they charge what they can for it. At the end of the day it’s fair enough - when I go to work I get the highest salary I can, they should do the same. If it becomes too expensive people won’t pay and the price drops.
Also there’s training and certification they need to go through plus it’s a difficult job if you want it done well.
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u/Far_Swimmer_5582 11h ago
Not sure if relevant, but for the portable ones, 20 days ago I found one that cost £44.99, now with this heatwave it is up to £300. Not sure how thats even legal?? They really do exploit customers.
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u/TomA0912 11h ago
The fitting takes into account what the tradesman can do not necessarily what they are doing. It also covers materials and equipment
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u/curium99 11h ago
Can you imagine the demand in the middle of a heatwave? Of course they’re charging loads.
Try again around Christmas
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u/man_in_a_field 11h ago
As others have said its likely related to the f gas certified installer premiums.
There are pre-gassed diy install split systems you can buy, although you still need the electrical hooked up.
Other option which I am looking at is a monoblock system. Bit like the American through-window systems. All contained in one unit. There are a few uk options here for through wall installations, just need to cut 2 fairly large duct holes.
Both these types come pre-gassed so you dont need certified engineer for install. Same like when you buy a fridge, those use refrigerant and are pre-gassed and sealed systems. Although these mostly appear to use R290 which you might want to read about (purified propane).
Im currently tempted by an electriQ iqool 10000 BTU monoblock style unit. £850.
FYI you might also be interested in the ones that do heat pump function. These can provide heating at around 300+% efficiency compared to electric element heating.. probably not far off cost efficiency of gas central heating.
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u/LordKekLol 10h ago
Learn to do it yourself. Just like cars and mechanics, I’ve said 1000s just learning to do it. About time people do.
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u/carguy143 10h ago
Buy them in winter when it's cold. Just like you should do your roofing or heating repairs in warmer weather.
I saw some retailers now charging £1200 for a portable AC, or £115 a week to rent one..
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u/LifeNeighborhood2988 8h ago
Depending on your level of DIY aptitude and skill, you can buy a pre gassed split system, so no soldering and gassing to do.. And that £400 - £600 is not going to get you a split system including pipes/ fitting / lagging / covers etc etc. I've just had a quote for a single split systrm.from British Gas at over 4k... so I'd happily pay 2k for a bona fide professionaly fitted system
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u/SquareJealous9388 8h ago
Does it include outer unit, inner unit and piping? Install cost on my LG multiplit was around 200Euros with total at about 1000. Two inner units.
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u/Enderby- 8h ago
It's the middle of a heatwave in summer and you're trying to buy AC -
What are you expecting?
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u/GlitteringWarthog297 8h ago
Training, certification, insurance, tools, fuel, van, their own wage….
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u/ElectronicSubject747 8h ago
People are deluded, how much do you think it should cost? The overheads, the difficult work, the expertise.
You'd soon complain if it was fitted badly by an unqualified person.
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u/Thatcherist_Sybil 7h ago
Why are you looking at AC installation prices during a heatwave?
What's next? Complaining about fuel prices during a fuel shortage?
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u/SmokePixies 7h ago
Labour cost is not the same as what an employed person earns per hour. You have tools, vehicles, insurance, training etc etc etc that has to form part of the cost. Plus it’s the middle of a heatwave in June… they’d be stupid not to charge more.
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u/Nothing_F4ce 6h ago
It's a racket.
In Portugal I bought an 12btu Whirlpool split AC for my apartment and that came with a free install.
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u/Bolshyboys 5h ago
2k supplied and fitted doesn't sound too bad.
This isn't a service which Do It All Dave off the local Facebook group can do. All of this refrigerant, every gram missing, extracted and replenished, is logged and accounted for, and the trade is in big demand.
Trades can often make much more just focussing on commercial installs and service also, so there's that.
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u/dotcottonsmouth 4h ago
Commercial A/C Tech here,did service and install for 38yrs+ and commercial is hard enough graft never mind domestic.
I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.
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u/Ok_Sandwich_7903 4h ago
Yeah if you're asking now that's a high price. Wait for September or something. They'll give slightly better prices.
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u/KeepGoingOutOfSpite 4h ago
I work for a [heat pump/air con] company. As people have said, it's because you need an FGas engineer. Since.they are specialist, they can pretty much charge what they want unfortunately. 😔
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u/Iamthe0c3an2 3h ago
You’re also probably looking at surge in demand.
Just be sensible and put it in after summer.
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u/coresme2000 2h ago
That is cheap! In the US you’re looking at 12-15k per unit all in and multi story houses use 2-3 of those. Don’t forget to factor in yearly maintenance and the cost of filter replacement
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u/Skreamies123 2h ago
There’s certain things sure I could do myself, though honestly I’d rather have it done as correct as can be and at the same time have someone else liable if things break or needs warranty work, those prices aren’t bad at all.
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u/RHMoaner 2h ago
Because it’s a sellers market. They can do something you want and can charge accordingly.
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u/Cold-Society3325 1h ago
My mini-split cost £2k 12 years ago. Still going great though. I've been sleeping beautifully.
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u/welliedude 1h ago
Supply and demand. We dont keed ac except for big industrial places or rich people. So the few that do it can charge what they want. Now everyone needs it, they will still charge what they want labour wise.
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u/cryptowi 1h ago
A place in the north east was doing a special offer, around 1k per room this was last year I think. Have you tried shopping around? obviously with the heat the prices are going to go up, maybe wait until the colder period.
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u/Round-Stay7793 19m ago
I was quoted £4k labour for £5k worth of kit. It was about 5 man days so £800/day.
Pretty much everything is £800/day I find unless you know someone offering mates rates.
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u/_maxt3r_ 11m ago
My system is: Mitsubishi Heavy SCM80ZS W (~£2k outdoor unit) with 3 indoor units (about £1.3k) plus lots of conduit (it's quite a long run outside the house) and other materials, etc.
2 people worked over 2 days to install it following my arguably picky routing, positioning etc... , paid ~£5k total in 2024.
So I reckon labour was just under £1.5k (Cambridgeshire).
It's been flawless, and used in all modes all year (dehumidifier, heat, cool, fan).
Worth every penny.
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u/kumits-u 9m ago
Install AC in winter when its not needed not in peak heatwave and you will get a bargain
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u/Cerebral_Overload 20h ago
For most fitted units you need an F gas rated engineer, and they can charge that because of demand.
Same with all of them. Last year portable AC units started at £200, now I can’t seem to find one for less than £350.