Two boiler quotations can look comparable because they both name an appliance and show a total. The difficult differences often sit elsewhere: what happens to the existing heating circuit, who arranges access, whether making good is included and what the household receives at handover. Before choosing a contractor for a Notting Hill home, give each bidder the same short brief and compare the same boundaries.
This worksheet is intended for planned domestic work. It does not select equipment or replace a survey. Its purpose is to help an owner recognise unanswered questions before agreeing a scope. The finished document should fit on a few pages, with drawings and photographs attached separately where useful.
Page one: describe the home and the problem
Record the property type, number of occupied floors, bathrooms normally used together and any work planned alongside the replacement. Describe the actual problem in plain language: unreliable hot water, a failed appliance, inadequate heating in particular rooms or a refurbishment deadline. These are observations for the contractor to investigate, rather than a diagnosis to put into the specification.
List any known alterations, such as an extension, changed bathroom layout or radiators that were replaced at different times. If a previous drawing or service record is unavailable, write “not available”. An honest gap is more useful than a confident assumption that every part of the system is suitable for retention.
Page two: use the same comparison rows
Create four columns headed Item, Contractor A, Contractor B and Question outstanding. For each quotation, use these rows:
- Proposed appliance and the survey information supporting its selection.
- Existing boiler position retained or relocation proposed.
- Flue and condensate arrangements, including access for the work.
- Existing radiators and pipework retained, assessed or replaced.
- Water treatment and any cleaning included, with its proposed scope.
- Heating and hot-water controls supplied and retained.
- Electrical work and responsibility for coordination.
- Protection, waste removal, making good and decoration.
- Testing, commissioning, documentation and user demonstration.
- Exclusions, provisional items, taxes and payment stages.
Mark each entry Included, Excluded or Clarify. Do not treat an empty row as included. Where a contractor proposes an allowance, ask what information would turn it into a firm item. An apparently cheaper total may cover a smaller package, while a larger total may include work the other bidder has excluded.
Page three: establish access and decision owners
If the home is a flat or shares access, note who can arrange entry, discuss the proposed route with the building manager and confirm any permissions that apply. Do not assume every Notting Hill property has the same restrictions. Record the specific building's requirements and ask the contractor which proposals depend on them.
Give each unresolved question an owner and a date. For example, the homeowner may need to obtain the building manager's access instructions, while the installer needs to confirm whether the proposed position can be serviced properly. This turns a vague qualification into a practical next step without guessing the technical answer.
Check competence before comparing promises
For gas work, check the business and the engineer's relevant registration details. The HSE guide to checking a Gas Safe registered engineer explains how to check an engineer and their qualifications. A brand logo on a quotation is not a substitute for that check.
Ask for warranty conditions in writing, including registration and servicing requirements. Avoid converting an advertised headline into an unconditional promise for your installation. Similarly, a provisional programme needs to state dependencies such as parts, access and any separately arranged work.
Use the worksheet to request a clear scope
Pure Energy Project Limited provides information about its planned installation service on its Notting Hill boiler installation page. When contacting any contractor, send the same factual brief and invite corrections after the survey. The strongest comparison is a clear written scope with explicit unknowns, rather than the greatest number of appliance specifications.
Keep the accepted quotation, agreed clarifications and handover records together. A useful worksheet does more than help select an installer: it preserves what everyone agreed and makes the final handover easier to check.
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