I suppose as a follow up question, as a homeowner are you in any way bothered that you don't get an itemised cost breakdown and are you just happy to get a quote for say £15,000 that says we'll install a heat pump. 

Thinking back on all the times we've been trying to choose tradespeople, we've never just asked for a price for a specific piece of work. We've always had something we want to achieve, invited companies around to suggest ways of achieving those goals and then asked those companies to give estimates based on at least two or three variations of their suggestions (e.g. using a Mitsubishi ASHP vs a Vaillant, with or without upgrading water cylinder etc.) so we can see what effect our decisions will have on the costs. Once we pick a company, we then ask for a quote on one specific variation of their estimates.

As a result, we always end up with a reasonably detailed breakdown in the estimates and since it exists already the company might as well include it in the quote. And that pretty much sums up what we want anyway; we're only bothered about the price in the quote since that's what we'll pay, but we want the breakdown in the estimates because we're trying to make decisions.

Any company that doesn't want to follow those basic and well understood guidelines of how to do business is ringing alarm bells already and we'll walk away.

@editor Absolutely no way would I entertain something like that. I’d want a detailed breakdown of the proposed system, heat loss calcs and proposed radiator sizes etc. so I could verify (to the best of my understanding) that it will work in the first place. Then a broadly itemised quote showing major items, labour and design costs plus on-going maintenance cost to maintain warranties.

If a supplier can’t provide that then I would assume they were either clueless or a scammer.

@cycleneil If you do not trust your tradesman, do not employ them.

I will supply as much technidal details as my customer wants but if he wants a breakdown of costs the answer is no.

If he insists, I say goodbuy, as it is clear there is no trust. It works both ways.

@editor - I think we had price and a pretty full list of parts and works, but not line prices.

@heacol - why not break it down? You could still walk away if they reveal themselves to be the sort of customer who wants to haggle line by line, rather than one who asks "how much extra if we have X instead of Y?"

@mjr Do you ask how much the tyres cost when you buy a car? I doubt it. I sell a product, not components.

@heacol, buying a new car is like buying a heat pump – all the components comprise the unit/product. But we do know what the price of the tyres is when it's time to change them and what the mechanic/technician charges you to change them. 

Posted by: @heacol

...

I will supply as much technidal details as my customer wants but if he wants a breakdown of costs the answer is no.

If he insists, I say goodbuy, as it is clear there is no trust. It works both ways.

Here, I have to absolutely disagree.

A direct quote from Citizen's Advice Bureau page on "before you get building work done" gives their view on "what a quote should include".

"Be very clear about the work you want done - this will help you get the most accurate price and prevent misunderstandings later.

A quote should include:

• a fixed total price - not a daily rate
• a breakdown of all the work to be done and the materials needed
• separate costs for each material and part of the work
• how long the price is valid for
• if the price includes VAT
• when the price can go up, eg only if you agree to extra work

If you get a daily rate instead of a fixed total price there’s a risk the contractor could string out the work to get more money. Avoid this by getting them to put in writing:

• how many days the work will take
• how many hours of work counts as a day
• when they need your go-ahead to work more days"

If you're looking for customers' trust, you need to demonstrate good faith to start with, and that means being open and honest about what you want them to agree to (and eventually pay for). If you don't want to put in a breakdown of costs, what have you got to hide? Do you need secrets in order to win business? Trust isn't something to expect, it's something to be earned.

I hasten to add when I'm saying "you" here, it's shorthand for "the tradesman putting the quote together"; I'm not having a pop at you @heacol personally.

@mjr Do you ask how much the tyres cost when you buy a car? I doubt it. I sell a product, not components.

No, I don't ask how much the tyres cost, but I do ask how much the cost of the base model and what each of the optional extras adds to that cost. I'm not going to ask the cost of the feet the air source heat pump stands on, but I am going to want to see the cost of the air source heat pump as a separate item from the labour.

Posted by: @heacol

@mjr Do you ask how much the tyres cost when you buy a car? I doubt it. I sell a product, not components.

I bought a more basic spec car model with 15in tyres rather than the next spec up with 16in tyres because the 15in tyres were almost half the price when it comes to replace them.

The components are important in a total cost of ownership package. I don’t care that the manufacturer probably paid 10% of the tyre cost that I will, that is irrelevant.

@majordennisbloodnok Exactly - You put this much better than I could.

The question of trust is a good one - how does a customer know that a supplier is reliable and can deliver what they claim? It looks to me like there is a long way to go before the renewable heating industry can routinely deliver workable and cost-effective solutions to the non-technical consumer.

Posted by: @editor

Against my better judgement I stumbled into a social media discussion about tradesmen quotations and how UK tradesmen are “offended” if consumers and homeowners ask for breakdowns: materials, equipment and labour. The general stance from the discussion was “this is the price, if you don’t don’t like get someone else to do the work”.

Our quotation that we approved for our ASHP had a breakdown: heat pump, HW cylinder,  metres, heat loss pipe and labour. It wasn’t a detailed breakdown, but good enough to see what was covered and what wasn’t.

This got me thinking - how detailed were the quotes you received for your heat pumps - were there any breakdowns?

Likewise; quite a detailed split of components and labour.  It stopped short of any manpower analysis.  I was very happy with that.