Heat pumps often cost more to install than a gas boiler, from £1,000 to £20,000 after the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, but can provide lower running costs.

How much you could save on your energy bills depends on factors such as:

• What system you’re replacing

• Your electricity tariff

• How well your radiators match your system

• How the heat pump is controlled

• Overall system design.

At present, heat pump running costs are about the same as a gas boiler, but careful design and larger radiators can make them cheaper to run. Using Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs, smart controllers, and pairing with solar PV or batteries can cut costs further. See the Energy Saving Trust for detailed comparisons.

At BWCE, we focus on quality, efficient designs tailored to your home. During your survey, we’ll explore all these factors and recommend the most efficient setup for you.

A key benefit of a BWCE survey is our independence. While installers often only work with one or two manufacturers, we're not tied to any installer or product and can help you assess what’s best for your home from a wide range of heat pump options. Equally, while an installer’s home survey will provide you with one quote, our report can used to secure estimates from multiple installers. 

Another benefit is our bespoke approach. While many installers jump straight to presenting you with a proposed design, we take the time to explain key trade-offs such as the balance between system efficiency and the number of radiator upgrades, and will then tailor our design report to reflect your needs and preferences. We can also help future-proof your designs by factoring in plans for extensions or other energy efficiency upgrades.

Finally, if you decide to go ahead with a heat pump after your survey, we can support you contacting installers and securing quotes to make that happen. We do this through relationships with local installers — although importantly our partnerships are non-financial (we don’t accept referral fees). Our calculations, which are based on a home survey, can then enable more accurate initial estimates than the high-level desk-based software that installers typically use for providing initial estimates.

Yes – we can produce an efficient design for homes at any stage of construction, including from paper plans. Our service is half price if no site visit is required.

Yes – we offer several hours of free post-survey support on the path to installation. This can include:

• Sending your survey to local installers to request quotes

• Helping you evaluate and compare estimates

• ‘Translating’ your report into language that installers understand

• Following up with installers on your behalf, if needed.

If you want further support after our free support has ended, we can discuss continuing on an hourly paid basis.

Usually, installers have two stages to their quoting process:

1. An initial estimate, often produced using desktop tools and assumptions, with no home visit

2. A detailed quote, after a full home survey, which can cost several hundreds of pounds (typically absorbed if you go ahead with the work).

All the installers we’ve dealt with so far have been happy to provide initial estimates based on our reports free of charge. As our reports are informed by detailed measurements taken during a home visit, and take into account your needs and preferences, you can expect more accurate initial estimates from installers than you would otherwise receive from the high-level desk-based software that installers typically use for these estimates.

If you decide to proceed following an initial estimate, the installer will need to visit your house to confirm the details of your heat pump design and provide you with a full final quote. The visit will cost the installer several hundred pounds in staff time. Most installers bundle this cost into the final quote price and would not charge for the visit if you pull out. However, a few installers do charge upfront for the home visit. As our surveys provide much of the information installers will gather during a home visit, they can save installers a significant amount of time and some therefore reduce the cost they charge for the home visit if you have had a survey from us. However, not all installers will do so – and as we have no financial or contractual links with any installer, the decision is ultimately up to them.

To help us prepare and keep survey costs low, we ask that you:

• Watch or attend our free Heat Pump Webinar, which covers principles of heat pumps with time for questions

• Complete a questionnaire about your home and energy use

• Provide us with a plan of your home, if you have one

• Share your energy bill data, or (if you’re with Octopus) half-hourly smart meter data – this is optional, but helpful for our modelling.

During the 2-3 hour home visit, we will: 

• Ask about your home, preferences, timeframe any other planned work

• Measure the building and assess the fabric to model heat loss

• Explore potential locations for the heat pump and hot water cylinder, including any trade-offs

• Discuss whether new radiators or underfloor heating may be needed, and where

• Take internal photos (used only for the report and stored securely).

After the visit, we’ll write your bespoke report. Once you’ve had time to read it, we’ll book in a debrief call, where you can ask questions and request small changes.

After this, you may want help in using your report to get quotes from installers. We can provide further follow on support after your survey to help you, all the way through the installation process if you wish. We can discuss this on our debrief call, or please contact us for further details.

And if you’re interested, we can let you know about BWCE community projects you might like to get involved in – such as Home Energy Neighbourhoods or our Community Energy Network.

Recent changes to permitted development rules make it easier to install a heat pump without planning permission (known as ‘permitted development’).

The Planning Portal has a full description, but here’s a summary of what’s new:

• Noise control: Heat pumps can now be placed closer to the edge of a property than what was allowed before

• Updated sound calculation: A new method reduced the likelihood of needing planning permission due to the noise of a heat pump

• Volume restrictions clarified: There’s now clearer guidance on the size of units allowed under permitted development.

Below are exemptions to permitted development for historic areas:  

• Permitted development rights do not apply for installations within the curtilage of a Listed Building or within a site designated as a Scheduled Monument

• On land within a Conservation Area or World Heritage Site a planning application is needed if the air source heat pump needs is installed on a wall or roof which fronts a highway or is nearer to any highway which bounds the property than any part of the building.

Our assessment service will advise whether you need to apply for planning or listed building consent.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) gives homeowners in England and Wales up to £7,500 towards the cost of a heat pump. It’s a simple process that’s led by your installer. The grant has recently been extended, giving more households time to take advantage.

We offer Heat Pump Assessments to residents in BANES and in some areas of Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire. Please get in touch for more information.

If you live elsewhere, we can signpost you to partners providing similar services in your area.