@rob-of-york 

Another good question.  Until now most quotes were in practice obfuscated by new cylinder and replacement radiators, but it is now becoming more common to omit these, so I think thing may start to become a bit more transparent!

There are some legitimate factors:

• MCS overheads (dont know how much)
• Survey
• electrical circuit
• bits and bobs (filter, flexi pipes, control unit if not included in base price, etc
• concrete base for outdoor unit
• Routing of pipework from outside can be challenging
• Configuration/balancing (almost nobody bothers balancing meaningfully with a boiler)
• Risk
• Probably lower success rate with quotes

In fairness you also currently need to be a whole lot smarter to design and install an ashp system successfully than are some of the muppets that install boilers.  There is a premium to pay for that.  

Does that account for it, Perhaps someone from the industry would like to comment!

Posted by: @jamespa

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There are some legitimate factors:

• MCS overheads (dont know how much)
• Survey
• electrical circuit
• bits and bobs (filter, flexi pipes, control unit if not included in base price, etc
• concrete base for outdoor unit
• Routing of pipework from outside can be challenging
• Configuration/balancing (almost nobody bothers balancing meaningfully with a boiler)
• Risk
• Probably lower success rate with quotes

It seems a quite comprehensive breakdown. I will try to build on it 

• MCS overheads - maintain the certification, create all the paperwork.   
• Survey - could be seen as MCS. I believe they cannot do work without a survey. For gas there's no insistence on any survey
• electrical circuit - Not too different from gas, but some heatpump manufacturers have additional requirements. 
• bits and bobs (filter, flexi pipes, control unit if not included in base price, etc - clearly more than gas, some installs may require more pipework. Also the controls are usually more capable than gas and need wiring, sometimes manufacturers insist it needs to be done by a qualified electrician
• concrete base for outdoor unit - Clearly gas does not need it, but installation on wall bracket removes much of the cost  
• Routing of pipework from outside can be challenging - yes, giving the noise restrictions, heatpumps tend to have a longer pipework run to the back of the building. With gas, the only restriction seems to be to not point at a window. 
• Configuration/balancing (almost nobody bothers balancing meaningfully with a boiler) - agreed, a heatpump low operating temperature and the fact electricity is 3-4x more expensive than gas means this needs more attention than gas. But if the client agrees to b e left with all valves opened, it is not onerous. 
• Risk - I think this is only related to maintaining MCS, since the risk to an installer is probably similar to gas installs 
• Frequently the heatpump install is replacing a combi boiler and a HWC is needed. 
• Probably lower success rate with quotes - yes, the customer journey is much more complex than for gas, so the rate from estimate to actual completed work must be much higher than for gas.
• I would also add that it generally takes a lot longer to address customer queries and to explain how to operate it. Perhaps as heatpump customers are more informed. 
• I believe the fact staff needs training to be able to do the heatpump install also increases cost  
• The other factor is competition. With a gas boiler install, the competition is higher as there are more people qualified to do the installs.