Woodburner installation cost – "Erm, say that again?"

Just received a quote for the installation of an ILD wood stove (£990) into our living room. There’s no hearth, chimney etc so it’s a double skinned flue going throught the ceiling, into (through) our bedroom, then out the roof, so the quote includes a direct feed air vent, all storm collars, cowl, brackets, radiation shield (eh?), floor spacers, CO alarm. All this comes to £3810 inc vat.

Does that sound about right? Labour is being listed at £760 ex vat.

We have a max budget of £3500, so l’ve got back in touch with the fitters to see what they can suggest. I knew it would be an expensive do but l nearly fell off my chair when l saw it!

Sounds a good price to me.
Ask them how long it will take.

radiation shield (eh?)

To protect your joists from going up in flames (at a guess)

Oh and the liability associated with punching a hole in your roof is quite large.

sounds OK to me.

Without actually seeing the job and quoting its a bit hard to know whether its cheap, dear or right – also where you are impacts the cost. Get a couple more quotes.

But, we paid more for our flue than our stove too.

This is ours, so probably the same-ish length of flue:

Will your twin wall flue be boxed in as it goes through your bedroom? If so, that may be stud and board with skim finish.

Is your roof pitched or flat?

What hearth plate is specified or wanted by you?

Where are you?

i.e. more info before comment.

We generally allow for one day labour for two people to fit a stove and twin wall.

Sounds like a good deal to me. Mine was £900 all in – just for a liner fitting to the chimney and stove, @ about prob about £750 labour, for a straight standard chimney-thingy. Took the guy from about 9am – 6pm to do it.

It is bloody expensive, but then again, I wouldn’t have the nerve to do it myself. (Or be able to do it legally!)

Tee and plug at stove £150
6m x £120 for flue pipe £720
bands £60
fire stop, ceiling support £100
Same at bedroom ceiling £100
Rafter brackets £50
Flashing £30
Storm collar £20
Cowl £30
Sundries £100

c. £1,500 materials.

+ 2x man days labour.

IMO

Sounds like quite a big install.

Trouble with this kind of thing is – IT MUST BE DONE PROPERLY. If not, people can die.

I’d get a couple of other quotes.

As you say – the stove is only a small part of the overall cost.

Sound fair enough, we didn’t get much change out of £4k for a similar sounding job, except out flue goes up the outside wall.

Flue is very expensive. This is the type of job though where you don’t want to go with just the cheapest quote, you really should go on reference / recommendation as well.

Don’t be afraid to haggle though. If you have a price in mind, make it a fixed price and tell the supplier that. worked for us (even though our guy came back after the job and said it would be £500 more than the quote. We had a blunt conversation and I told him to jog on)

The flue will be behind a metal guard as we want it to act as a radiator for our bedroom. Hearth plate will be stone of some variety, and the roof is pitched. We need to go tall on the flue above the roof due to its proximity with the apex of the roof. North wales BTW

ask them how many hours that labour charge is for and a price for all the bite remembering they will be quoting retail and getting trade

I suspect they are making a minimum of 1 k for their work

I’ve emailed the firm back and informed them our max budget is £3500, so we’ll see. I’ve mentioned we can pay in cash if it has any bearing…

I suspect they are making a minimum of 1 k for their work

Lots of assumptions being made to come up with that figure, no? Either way, it is fair that they make money, it is fair that the customer negotiates price. That is the fun bit!

I’m doing something very similar at the mo. £2850 without the stove so that sounds about right.

People tend to have a look at online chimney, around £100 a metre, then look at their height, say 8M so assume the chimney costs around £800.
It’s all the other bits n bobs you’ve listed that really add up though.

Best way to save money is to leave some bits out, or better still do it yourself. Really, how hard can it be??

One local to me, self fitted twinwall 😯

I’ve emailed the firm back and informed them our max budget is £3500, so we’ll see. I’ve mentioned we can pay in cash if it has any bearing…

have you asked if he is a STWer?

have you asked if he is a STWer?

Hmmmm, worth a try methinks

Lots of assumptions being made to come up with that figure, no

and I would assume assumptions for you to disagree, no

If you wish to disagree why not just say so and give your reason as we are both making assumptions
On this thread some one pointed out the stuff costs £800 so at trade it is pretty hard to get the cost at £1500 so over £2 k “profit”..I was being conservative if anything , no ?

Whether it is worth this or not is another point.

That sort of work needs building regs approval (or whatever its called). Presumably that cost includes the firm providing all the necessary certificates?

You dont need building regs if it is installed by a HETAS qualified installer.

yes you do stoner except that the hetas installer should provide you with an acceptable cert. and thats the only bonus of using a hetas member..3 day course 600 fee..

You dont need building regs if it is installed by a HETAS qualified installer.

Thats what I mean. The Hetas guy supplies a certificate. If not I think you have to get somebody from the council to check it out?

I mean you dont need to get local building control in to do the inspection and certification which is the expensive bit. The HETAS installer can simply issue a cert for you.

Twinwall is pricey stuff. Sounds about right.

bedmaker – Member
…Best way to save money is to leave some bits out, or better still do it yourself. Really, how hard can it be??

One local to me, self fitted twinwall

Had to look twice before the penny dropped. 🙂

Businesses exist to employ people and make a profit. Nothing wrong with haggling and they can of course say “no”, so you’ve nothing to lose by asking.

Pricing appears to be in the ball park and you are assured of it being undertaken by a suitably qualified and experienced installer.

And that’s your only quote ??

Errrrm …. Get another quote or wait awhile until you can afford it 😉

Blimey, didn’t realise these things were so pricey.

How much cheaper would the cost be if you already had a Victorian chimney in your house?

Cost about £1000 + the stove. This is assuming that there’s little work required before you can install the stove (i.e. hearth is right,, chimney swept, etc.)

Quote sounds about right OP. Lots of structural holes to be cut and twin wall flue is eyewateringly expensive. Get a second quote. But make sure the job is done right.