When something goes wrong with the plumbing in our homes, you and every member of your family feel it. Whether it’s a faulty boiler, a blocked drain, and a toilet which, no matter how patient you are, doesn’t flush properly after umpteen attempts, we know that these are the types of household emergencies that need the attention of a skilled and experienced plumber immediately.
In this article, HouseholdQuotes has contacted many of our plumbing contracting partners around the UK so that we can provide you with guide budget ranges on the following:
- plumbers price list
- new central heating system
- getting a new boiler
- boiler repair cost
- unblocking a drain
- ACO drains costs
- CCTV drain survey cost
- drain cleaning cost
- drain lining costs
- unblocking a drain costs
- finding the right plumbing professional
- save up to 40% on your plumbing costs and jobs
We all have our favourite tradespeople and plumbers are no different – once we’ve found one who we like and we trust, we stick with them. It’s great for us because we know and trust the person dealing with and it’s great for the plumber too because the lifetime value of a customer can be really important to sustain and grow their business.
By getting quotes from 3-4 plumbers, especially on higher value jobs, it is possible to get a 40% reduction in what you’d pay if you only went for one quote. We can connect you with 3-4 local and national plumbing firms so you can get the most competitive quote on the work you need doing.
Just fill in the form below to get started. Our service is completely free and you’re under no obligation to accept any quote our partner plumbers provide you with.
Plumbers price list
Plumber rates vary depending on the part of the country you live in and the type of work you’re doing. According to our research, the average plumber hourly rate in 2019 in the UK was between £40 and £60 per hour. Day rates for plumbers vary between £18000 and £350 although you should expect to pay 20-30% more per day when your plumber is installing an appliance into your home.
Call-out charges are generally fixed at twice the standard hourly rate however they include the first hour’s worth of labour in the price. For emergency plumber call out charges, you should expect to 2.5 to 3 times the standard hourly rate. A list of typical quotes for smaller jobs around the home is as follows:
| Job Type | From | To |
| Pedestal basin installation | £75 | £145 |
| Emergency call-out fee | £100 | £120 |
| Installation services (charge per hour) | £40 | £65 |
| Blocked toilet repair | £70 | £160 |
| Kitchen sink repair | £120 | £280 |
| Toilet replacement | £145 | £315 |
| Replace an existing shower with a new shower | £75 | £125 |
| New shower installation | £240 | £370 |
| Filling/overflowing toilet repair | £70 | £125 |
| Radiator installation | £145 | £190 |
| Bath replacement | £70 | £125 |
| Tap replacements | £65 | £135 |
| Dripping tap repair | £65 | £125 |
| Hot water tank repair | £340 | £475 |
| Leaking radiator repair | £70 | £170 |
| TRV installation | £120 | £190 |
New central heating system
Gas central heating systems are a lot less expensive than electric central heating systems. You can also save hundreds of pounds a year if you have a larger property by replacing your old gas central heating system with a new one installing brand new heating controls, radiators, and pipework at the same time.
Prices range from £2,300 for a 1 bedroom bungalow (with 5 radiators and a boiler with a 24kW output) to £4,500 for a 5-bedroom house (with 12 radiators and a 33kw output boiler).
Check out our article on how much it costs to install central heating.
Getting a new boiler
If you’re happy with the heating controls, radiators, and pipework of your current boiler but you think it’s time to get a new boiler, this will cost you less than getting a brand new central heating system.
Check out our article on how much a new boiler costs.
Boiler repair cost
Boilers are more advanced and reliable than they’ve ever been before but, as with all electrical equipment containing moving parts, they do need regular maintenance checks and, as they get older, replacement parts. What sort of prices should you expect to pay your plumber to service and repair your boiler?
Boiler servicing
The installer who fitted your boiler may offer you servicing plans. Servicing takes around 30-45 minutes – sometimes longer if they think a problem may be developing – and your service engineer checks for corrosion, leaks, correct functioning of your boiler’s parts and controls, and an inspection of your flue. At the end of the service, they’ll present you with a service report which will highlight issues of concern your plumber has found.
Annual cover is available from many different providers cost between £75 and £110. Monthly cover is also available from £9 to £14 a month – it’s more expensive but you do get the added benefits of a range of inclusive repair jobs if required, a telephone and email helpline, and unlimited call-outs while your plan is still active.
Ad-hoc boiler repair costs
Many homeowners choose not to take out annual or monthly cover for their boilers. The upside of this approach is that, if nothing goes wrong, there’s nothing to pay. However, if something does go wrong, you’ll have to pay for the cost of the repair including labour and plus VAT.
The typical faults most often attended to for boiler repair by plumbers and service engineers include:
| Type of job | Average partner quote |
| Timer replacement | £95 |
| Flue replacement | £155 |
| Air pressure switch replacement | £190 |
| New heating pump replacement | £220 |
| Replacement fan replacement | £230 |
| Gas valve replacement | £265 |
| Magnetic filter replacement and installation | £315 |
| Diverter valve replacement | £365 |
| Heat exchanger replacement | £415 |
If your boiler is not working properly and you’re having to make lots of different call-out requests to plumbers, it’s a false economy as you could probably get a new boiler for the same amount of money every year on a finance agreement.
A word of warning too – carbon monoxide deaths in the UK total 50 because of faulty gas boilers (source: Telegraph). It’s not worth the risk. If you’re a landlord, you must obtain a Gas Safety Certificate for your tenants (source: Gas Safe Register).
Unblocking a drain
When your drain start to block, your home is at increasing risk of both damp and unexpected flooding as the pressure builds up in the pipes throughout and underneath your home. You can remove small blockages yourself with a plunger however, if you’ve tried that and you’ve had no success, you will need to call in an experienced plumber to solve the problem.
The price you pay will depend on the location of the blockage and the size of the obstacle causing the blockage. The work may take between two to three hours and you should expect to budget around £140-£210 for the work.
CCTV drain survey
Plumbers will recommend a CCTV drain survey to homeowners whose drains keep getting blocked. Your plumber will feed a very small, high definition, low light camera on the end of a fibre optic cable into your plumbing systems at home to determine exactly why your drains keep blocking. It might not be anything to do with you – there may be a block further down the main drainage system that we’re all connected to.
You should expect to pay between £90 and £150 for a CCTV drain survey depending on how long the job takes. The removal of any blockage discovered will cost extra.
ACO drains
ACO drains, mostly seen for years in commercial and public sector installations and landscaping, are becoming increasingly popular in British households. ACO drains are trench systems made from either fiberglass, corrosion resistant polymer concrete, or stainless steel topped off with a grate into which rainwater can run.
ACO drains collect water – think of them as being able to hold water created from outflows of water from your home and from the rain outside without your front or back garden being flooded. As the main drains begin to clear, the water held in your ACO drains then begins to drain away into the main system at a controlled speed. They keep water away from your property and they have ben shown to prevent flooding.
ACO drain installations normally run to a few hundred pounds – try to budget between £200 and £500 depending on the line of the drain and the difficulty of installations.
Drain cleaning
Another way to stop drain blockages is to clean your drains regularly. Regular cleaning keeps pipes in optimum working conditions and prevents build-up which may have eventually led to a blockage. It prolongs the life of your overall plumbing system, particularly in hard water areas, and it can remove odour problems caused by your drains if you’re experiencing them.
Expect to pay up to £175 for the initial inspection and up to £500 for a full system clean and scrub of your gas central heating system.
Drain lining
If your pipes are suffering from holes and cracks in the uPVC or concrete, your plumber may recommend the installation of drain lining. This solution lines your drain with an additional protective material, in essence creating a drain within your drain.
Drain lining can be expensive – 10 metres of drain lining might cost £800 to £1,000 to supply and install. However, this cost is significantly cheaper than digging your pipes up and replacing them with new ones.
Finding the right plumbing professional
Your plumber or plumbing contractor is on Rated People as well as on HouseholdQuotes – that’s your peace of mind that the right level of investigation and due diligence has been carried out to make sure that they deserve to have the chance to quote for your work. It’s also peace of mind to know that each plumber or plumbing contractor has an active and well-defined after-sales support or remedial service meaning that, if something goes wrong, they’ll work hard to make sure that you’re completely satisfied.
Offering additional assurance to homeowners would be membership of the following organisations:
- Institute of Plumbers and Heating Engineers (IPHE)
- Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) in England & Wales
- Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF)
For any work involving your boiler – maintenance, repair, or installation work – your plumber must also be on the Gas Safe Register.
Save up to 40% on your plumbing costs and jobs
You can save up to 40% on the cost of your plumbing bills now and in the future by getting quotes from three to four plumbers on work (large or small) that you need doing now.
We put British homeowners in touch with experienced, checked, and qualified plumbers and plumbing contractors across the UK. Let us connect you with three or four local to you so that you can compare prices and so that you can ask the questions you need to be answered.
To start, fill in the form at the top of the page. There’s no obligation on you to accept any quote offered to you by our plumbing partners and our service is completely free of charge.