Are We Sleepwalking Into Another Race to the Bottom?

Mars · 2025-10-04T10:35:00Z

When I first came across Heat Geek, I was always under the impression (based on their branding, positioning and messaging) that it stood on a platform of quality. Take your time. Do the calculations properly. Understand the property, the heat loss, the emitters. Design a system that works, that lasts, that delivers comfort and efficiency for decades. That philosophy cut through a sector that was plagued by bodged installs, incorrectly sized units and undersized radiators, leaving homeowners with cold rooms, high running costs and a sense of disillusionment. In many ways, Heat Geek helped professionalise an industry that desperately needed it. They raised expectations. They told us that quality mattered more than speed. That was my perception. Which is why their latest initiative, ZeroDisrupt, has left me scratching my head. According to their own launch announcement, this is an AI-powered design system that can make heat pump installs up to 60% cheaper, 50% faster and with far less disruption. To homeowners weary of quotes in the £12,000-£15,000 range (even after the Boiler Upgrade Scheme), it must sound like manna from heaven. Faster, cheaper, less disruptive... who wouldn’t want that? But my question is simple: have we not already seen how this story ends time and time again in the very recent past? We know exactly what happens when you throw heat pumps into homes with minimal radiator upgrades, with flow temperatures cranked up to compensate, with pipework that can’t cope and emitters that can’t deliver. It works beautifully on paper. The numbers look fine. The sales pitch is compelling. But the reality? Cold rooms, spiralling electricity bills, SCOPs that collapse under real-world use and homeowners who regret ever making the switch. That, in turn, fuels the anti-heat pump narrative and sets back public confidence. My concern with ZeroDisrupt is that “less disruption” often translates to no radiator upgrades, no system improvements and designs that lean on higher flow temperatures to make things “work”. That’s a guaranteed route to higher electricity bills. With tariffs unlikely to fall significantly any time soon, what looks like a cheaper install upfront can quickly become a financial haemorrhage... hundreds, even thousands of pounds a year lost to inefficiency. I don't see that as innovation. In my opinion, that’s shifting the cost burden from the installer to the homeowner. It's a creative way to move the bill from capex to opex. The real danger here is that the market is being seduced by volume (and perhaps by the expectations of shareholders). Octopus, British Gas and Aira are already throwing thousands of heat pumps into homes, often at a loss. Their installation arms are haemorrhaging tens of millions of pounds, but because Octopus and British Gas sell energy, they can claw it back later. So what happens next? To survive, the model must shift toward scale with more installs, done faster, for thinner margins. It becomes a numbers game. And we all know who loses in that scenario: the homeowner. They’re left with a “cheap” system that’s supposed to last twenty years but ends up inefficient, underperforming and ultimately a liability. I don’t claim to fully understand the workings of the AI modelling behind ZeroDisrupt. According to Heat Geek’s own video, it has been “trained” on thousands of installs. But no matter how clever the algorithm, AI cannot model the chaos of British housing stock. It cannot know what’s hidden behind the walls of a Victorian terrace, how poorly insulated an Edwardian semi might be or what decades-old cowboy pipework lies beneath floorboards. British homes are messy, idiosyncratic and unpredictable. There are too many variables. AI can assist a designer. It cannot replace one. Even among Heat Geek’s own elite installer network, unease is growing. Several have told me privately they’re uncomfortable with the direction of travel. They joined Heat Geek because of its founding ethos: slow down, design carefully, educate the homeowner, deliver systems that actually work as efficiently as they can. Now they feel the message has flipped on its head. SME installers are already operating on wafer-thin margins. And let’s not gloss over the language now being thrown around. “ZeroDisrupt might work on smaller homes,” I’ve been told by an installer. Might. That is not a word any homeowner wants to hear when committing thousands of pounds to the system that will heat their family home for decades. Might is not acceptable. It must be must. Heat pumps are not disposable tech, and they are fundamentally not cheap. They are the beating heart of a home’s heating system... something expected to perform reliably for 15 to 20 years. When the industry starts using words like might, maybe and probably, what it’s really saying is we’re not sure. And that’s truly terrifying. Experimenting on people's homes that are paying a lot of money for the privilege is not OK! This is where I fear the industry...

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Temperature_Gradient

(@temperature_gradient)

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30/10/2025 6:01 pm

For minimal disruption and systems which are more affordable, and so likely to be more sellable, I wonder if there needs to be more pragmatism and allow options like hybrid heat pumps, using the kind of add-on heat-pump systems that are used in the Netherlands.

If you look at the installation details for these, they're pitched as essentially leaving the existing heating and hot water system untouched, installing a small indoor unit next to the boiler and tying it into the central heating flow and return and boiler controls, installing the outdoor unit and some small-bore refrigerant plumbing between the two. Typically these cut gas usage in the 50-80% range, depending on the property, lifestyle etc for what seems minimum disruption and with a much quicker install.

They're not perfect, there's still some gas usage, but they seem a more viable approach to fit out millions of homes than the current heat-pump approach.

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Majordennisbloodnok

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30/10/2025 6:14 pm

There may be times when that’s necessary, @temperature_gradient, but it won’t get the BUS grant and so won’t be cheaper to the customer. I also think, purely subjectively, that the need for hybrid systems is far lower than most boiler installers would think or lead us to believe.

A point worth considering, though.

This post was modified 4 hours ago by Majordennisbloodnok

105 m2 bungalow in South East England
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JamesPa

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30/10/2025 6:27 pm

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

↑

I also think, purely subjectively, that the need for hybrid systems is far lower than most boiler installers would think or lead us to believe.

A point worth considering, though.

Also it embeds a complex system, almost taking the homeowner down a blind alley.

I must admit to toying with a hybrid, but then coming to my senses. its just mad to maintain two systems for the same job imho.

I have almost the same view of some hybrid cars. The ones where the traction is electric and there is a petrol generator I can understand, this has existed in the rail industry for decades. At least it simplifies the drive train. However some hybrids appear to have the full fossil drive train with an electric motor bolted onto the gearbox. Really?

This post was modified 4 hours ago by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

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