What a good heat pump quote looks like: every line, and what it should say

Quick answer: A quote you can act on contains six things a price alone doesn’t. A room-by-room heat loss figure, a design flow temperature in °C, named model numbers, a radiator schedule listed room by room, the £7,500 grant shown as a deduction, and the warranty split into product and workmanship. Missing the flow temperature? You have a price, not a design.

We haven’t installed heat pumps. This is assembled from gov.uk and Ofgem Boiler Upgrade Scheme rules, RECC consumer guidance, and published manufacturer and installer specifications from Octopus, OVO, E.ON Next and EDF, all checked 27 July 2026. We have no commercial relationship with any of the companies named.

The twelve lines, in the order they should appear

1. The heat loss calculation

Room by room, with a whole-house total in kW, and the design external temperature stated. Everything downstream depends on this. A single house-wide figure with no room breakdown means nobody has checked whether your existing radiators can deliver enough heat at the flow temperature the system is designed for. That check is the job.

2. Design flow temperature

A number, in °C, printed on the paper. Here is why it earns its place at line two.

Octopus publishes a SCOP of 3.4 at 50°C flow and 2.8 at 65°C for the Cosy 6 (octopus.energy, checked 27 July 2026). At the Ofgem capped electricity rate of 26.32p per kWh for October–December 2026, that’s about 7.7p per kWh of heat at 50°C and about 9.4p at 65°C. Gas at 7.97p through a 90% efficient boiler is about 8.9p. Same house, same unit. One design beats the gas boiler. The other loses to it.

3. The outdoor unit

Make, model, output in kW quoted at a stated flow and outdoor temperature, and the noise figure. Octopus publishes 58 to 59 dB(A) for the Cosy 6 and 61 dB(A) for the Cosy 12 (octopus.energy, checked 27 July 2026), which is the sort of detail you want in hand before the unit goes up. Ask what noise figure the installer has used and where the unit sits relative to your neighbour’s windows.

4. The cylinder

Capacity in litres. Make and model, coil surface area if they’ll give it, and where exactly it’s going. OVO publishes cylinders of 180 to 300 litres depending on system size, which brackets most UK homes. Coil area matters more than most quotes admit: a cylinder sized for a 70°C boiler often reheats badly from a 50°C heat pump, and that shows up as an unhappy shower rather than a spreadsheet.

5. The radiator schedule

Every room, listed. Keep, or replace with a specific size and type. A line reading radiator upgrades as required is an open bill, and you’ll be the one who pays it.

6. Pipework

Primary pipe sizes, and a clear statement on whether existing microbore is being reused or replaced. Microbore is the most common hidden cost on an older property.

7. Electrical work

Consumer unit work, cabling route, isolation. Ask whether your distribution network operator needs notifying and who is doing it, and get the answer written into the quote rather than promised on the doorstep.

8. Controls and commissioning

What thermostat, how many zones, and a stated commissioning visit. Commissioning is where the flow temperature actually gets set, so a quote that prices the hardware but not the commissioning has priced half the job.

9. The performance estimate

RECC tells consumers a written estimate must make clear whether it is based on data specific to your property, or on a similar or typical property (recc.org.uk, checked 27 July 2026). Find that sentence and read it first. An estimate based on typical properties tells you about typical properties.

10. The grant line

gov.uk: the value of the grant will be taken off the amount you pay for installation, and this will be shown on your quotation and invoice. A deduction, on its own line. £7,500 for air source as standard, £9,000 only for oil or LPG heated homes with no mains gas connection between 21 July 2026 and 31 March 2027 per Ofgem.

11. VAT

Zero. The 0% VAT rate on the supply and installation of heat pumps runs until 31 March 2027. So if a quote shows 5% or 20% on the heat pump element, query it before you query anything else.

12. Warranty, deposit and payment schedule

The warranty should appear as two separate figures, product and workmanship, with the workmanship backing named. For reference, the published national positions are E.ON Next at 7 years product, 2 years workmanship and a 5-year performance guarantee, described as HIES backed; OVO at 10 years workmanship; Octopus at 8 years on the Cosy package; EDF at 5 years on Ideal units and up to 7 on Daikin. Deposit at or under 25% of the final contract price, per RECC guidance. And tie the balance to commissioning and handover rather than to delivery of the box. A heat pump sitting in your garage isn’t a heating system.

A worked example, using our modelled figures

These are our modelled estimates rather than a quote from anybody, and you can see exactly how we build them in our cost methodology.

If the quote is written pre-grant, the contract price is arguably the larger figure and the deposit ceiling moves with it. Ask which basis your installer is using and have them write it down. It’s a difference of well over a thousand pounds on the same job.

The line that tells you most

Design flow temperature. Everything else on a quote is procurement. That one number is the design, and it’s the difference between a system that undercuts your gas bill and one that doesn’t.

But if two quotes carry different flow temperatures, they aren’t the same product and you can’t compare them on price. Ask the cheaper one to requote at the lower temperature and watch what happens to the radiator schedule. Run the property through our cost calculator first so you know roughly where you should be landing, read our 2026 cost breakdown for what drives the variance, and use the checks in choosing an MCS certified installer on whoever you shortlist.

FAQs

How long should a heat pump quote be?

Long enough to hold the twelve items above. A single page with a total on it is a price. You can’t compare prices that describe different designs.

Should I pay for a design survey?

Some installers charge for a full survey and credit it against the installation. That’s fair. A proper room-by-room heat loss takes hours, and what isn’t fair is a fixed price offered with no survey at all.

Can I compare two quotes on the bottom line?

Only when the flow temperature, radiator schedule and cylinder specification match. Line those three up first, then compare totals. Most of the time the cheaper quote gets more expensive during that exercise.