Key Takeaways
- When choosing an installer, be guided by common sense - look for installers that are reputable, clearly know their heat pumps and are reasonably priced
- Let Heat Pump Compare do the hard work for you! Fill in your details by clicking "Get quotes" at the top of your screen and we will connect you with reputable installers in your area
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Heat Pump Compare has two clear goals
- help you choose the right heat pump hot water unit
- help connect you with a reputable heat pump hot water installer
Our “Learn” and “Units” sections contain a great wealth of information designed to achieve the first goal.
Below we focus on the second goal - helping you identify and connect with great installers.
How to assess installers?
We recommend the following general framework to assess installers. We also include some suggested questions to ask.
- Reviews - if an installer has had predominantly happy customers, it’s likely you’ll end up a happy customer as well
- After sales support - try to assess this in reviews. Are there negative reviews because the installer was paid and never to be seen again? Are there positive reviews because something went wrong, but the installer was committed to fixing it?
- Units - What is the basis for the units they recommend? Can they clearly explain the benefits of those units and why they prefer them to others on the market?
- Units - Do they simply offer products because they maximise rebates? Or because they’ve been able to negotiate the best terms with the manufacturer for bulk discounts? Or do they offer those products because they think they are the best unit for you?
- Cost - does the installer provided an itemised quote? Is it easy to understand? Is there any fine print? Do they clearly show the rebates and how the price is reduced? Don’t get too carried away with the value of the rebates - it’s the final price that matters.
- Installation - how long does the installation take? How many installations do they do per day? Be concerned if the answer is less than 2 hours or the answer is 3 or more installations per day. If they're not allowing adequate time, it suggests they're not taking adequate care.
- Installation - are they heat pump specialists? General plumbers are often reluctant to install heat pumps for a variety of reasons. Many are stuck in the past and only deal with gas units. Many don’t like the added hassle of organising an electrician. I prefer installers that are dedicated heat pump hot water specialists - they know the products, they understand how they work and they have experience with different units (and are therefore more likely to recommend good quality units). I prefer a specialist plumber that installs heat pumps regularly. I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend avoiding a generalist plumber, but at least make sure they have installed the products before.
Volume installers
There are a number of volume installers that specialise in a particular unit. These installers often negotiate special terms with manufacturers in exchange for installing a great number of units.
We can view volume installers both negatively and positively.
On one hand, volume installers can be seen driving around town with 3 or 4 units on the back of their truck, clearly installing a large number of units. We could argue there is likely to be less care with these installations as installers look to install them quickly and move on to the next job. A typical installation should take around 2 hours, plus travel time and collecting photos and rebate documentation. You can see that installing 3 or more units doesn’t leave many hours left in the day. It puts pressure on the installers to complete the jobs quickly.
On the other hand, volume installers can offer very competitive pricing. Those on a budget might be able to afford units due to the economies of scale.
Rebate chasers
There are a number of installers that offer heat pumps as part of a suite of products and services clearly aimed at emphasising savings from rebates. I encourage you to proceed with caution. If you look at their website and their offering LED lighting, heat pumps, and weather sealing all at no or low cost, my experience is that the quality of this work is low. Often these companies do the bare minimum to claim rebates and move on. In my own house, we had DraftStoppas installed in our bathroom fans for free under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. DraftStoppas are a great product but it was only a number of months later when I was cleaning the fans that I realised they only installed them in one of the fans. Get in, get out, claim the rebate and move on.
Should I receive a fixed quote?
Installers may offer a low price but with conditions. For example, an installation might cost a great deal more where the electrical run (wiring the unit to the switchboard) is long. Some installers will factor this in, some will charge extra per 5 or 10 metres of electrical cable.
Other installers take the time to ask for photos and information so they can offer a fixed price.
I don’t have a strong view on this - common sense prevails. Please ensure you read the fine print on all installations.
Let us connect you
Heat Pump Compare offers a free service where we will connect you to local, reputable installers. Our installers are pre-vetted and checked to ensure they meet our strict criteria. To start, please hit "Get quotes" above and fill in your details.
If you are an installer and keen to join the Heat Pump Compare network, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
