National vs local heat pump installers: price, lead time and who fixes it in year six

Quick answer: The national installers publish entry prices from £3,999 to £4,459 after the £7,500 grant. Local firms almost never publish, so you’re comparing a fixed number against a survey. Nationals win on price certainty and paperwork. A good local designer wins on flow temperature, and flow temperature is what decides your bill for the next fifteen years.

We haven’t commissioned installs from any of the companies named here. This uses published prices from EDF, E.ON Next, Octopus and OVO, plus gov.uk and Ofgem scheme rules and RECC consumer guidance, checked 27 July 2026. We have no commercial relationship with any of them and take no fee from any installer.

What the nationals put in writing

Sources: edfenergy.com, eonnext.com, octopus.energy and solar-and-heating.ovo.com, all checked 27 July 2026.

Octopus also compares itself against a national average of £5,600, which it takes from the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics published in April 2026 (median cost of installation, Q4 2025). That figure is higher than every from-price on the table above. Read the gap as the difference between the easy jobs a company advertises and the average job it does.

What a local firm gives you instead of a price list

A survey and a design. No number until someone has been round, measured the rooms and worked out the heat loss.

That’s slower and it feels worse. But it’s also the only way anyone can honestly price a heat pump, because the cost is driven by your radiators and your pipework, not by the box outside. The grant route is identical either way: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is gated on MCS certification, not on company size, and the installer applies on your behalf through Ofgem whether they employ four people or four thousand.

Lead times: nobody can honestly quote you one

We can’t source a reliable national figure for waiting times. And any company that gives you one on the phone before surveying is guessing.

What you can do is make it contractual. Ask for two dates in writing, the survey date and the installation date, and ask what happens if the install slips. A firm that will put a date on paper is telling you something about its order book. A firm that won’t is also telling you something.

Aftercare is where the real difference sits

Manufacturer warranties survive the installer going under. Workmanship warranties usually don’t, unless they’re insurance-backed.

RECC, one of the consumer codes MCS certified installers sit under, spells this out to consumers: RECC is not an insurance company, and you will not be covered by insurance unless your installer has registered your installation with an insurance company or other provider. (recc.org.uk, checked 27 July 2026) So the question to put to a ten-person local firm is who’s standing behind those years. The number of years comes second.

For reference, the nationals publish: E.ON Next 7 years product, 2 years workmanship, 5-year performance guarantee, described as HIES backed; OVO a 10-year workmanship warranty; Octopus 8 years on the Cosy package; EDF 5 years manufacturer cover on Ideal units and up to 7 on Daikin. Ask any local firm to match the one that matters to you, in writing, with the backing named.

Deposits: the same rule applies to everyone

RECC tells consumers not to pay more than 25% of the final contract price as a deposit. That’s the line. It applies whether the invoice has a FTSE logo on it or not. A local firm asking for half up front fails it. So would a national one.

Note the wording: final contract price. If the grant is deducted before you sign, your contract price is the net figure, so the deposit cap is a quarter of the smaller number. Ask which basis they’re using.

What the price gap actually is

Our modelled mid-point for a heat pump installation is £11,014 before grant, with a modelled range of £7,159 to £17,072, which you can pick apart in our cost methodology. Take £7,500 off the mid and you get £3,514, which sits just below every national from-price on the table above.

That tells you the nationals aren’t gouging on the easy jobs. It also tells you the from-prices describe easy jobs. If your house isn’t one, the number you should be budgeting against is closer to the £5,600 figure Octopus quotes, or higher. Our real numbers guide and the cost calculator will get you a personal figure before anyone quotes.

Where we would go local

Solid walls. Listed building. Oil or LPG off the gas grid. Microbore pipework. Radiators you already know are undersized. Anything where the right answer isn’t obvious from the outside.

Those properties need a designer, and the designer is far more likely to be the person who owns a small firm than a pricing engine working from your postcode and bedroom count. You’ll pay more for the survey. Probably more for the install too. What you get back is a lower flow temperature, and that pays you every winter for as long as you own the house.

Where we would go national

Three-bed semi, cavity walls insulated, gas combi, standard 22mm pipework, somewhere obvious for a cylinder. Fixed price, grant handled, warranty sitting on a balance sheet that will still exist in year eight. Take it.

Whichever way you go, run the same checks. Choosing an MCS certified installer covers the register checks, and TrustMark, MCS and PAS 2030 explains what each accreditation actually protects.

FAQs

Do I get the same £7,500 either way?

Yes. The grant depends on MCS certification and property eligibility, not on company size. The installer applies on your behalf through Ofgem and the amount must show as a deduction on your quotation and invoice.

Are national installers more expensive?

Not on published entry prices, which run from £3,999, and OVO’s one and two-bed band starts lower still. The comparison only becomes real once both have surveyed and quoted the same specification at the same flow temperature.

What happens to my warranty if a small installer closes?

The manufacturer warranty on the unit continues. The workmanship warranty only continues if it’s insurance-backed by a third party. Ask for the policy details before you pay a deposit, not after.