Pricing and quoting, 29 October 2026
How to quote an air conditioning installation (UK)
To quote an air conditioning installation, price five things: the equipment at your cost plus markup, labour in days for the pipe run, wall cores and mounting, the electrical supply, access equipment, and commissioning and paperwork. Then check three rules that change the job: planning, F gas certification and the VAT rate. A survey photo set saves most of the guesswork.
What goes into an air con quote?
Every line that costs you time or money between the van and a working, commissioned system. Most underpriced air con quotes forget the access, the condensate or the electrics.
I've got 22 aircon quotes to do this weekend… I'll be here all weekend.
That firm took four to five hours per air con quote: reading survey notes, looking up equipment prices, working out the pipe run and writing it up. Once the rates, equipment prices and standard wording were held in one place and the quote was drafted from the engineer's notes, each one took about 20 to 25 minutes to check and send.
How do you work out the labour?
Count it in engineer-days from the survey, not from the unit size. A back-to-back install with a short run through one wall is very different from a 12-metre run along a rendered wall to a first-floor bedroom.
- First fix.
Mounting the indoor unit, coring the wall, fixing the outdoor bracket or base, running pipework, cable and condensate. This is most of the time.
- Electrical supply.
A dedicated circuit from the consumer unit, if needed. If your engineers aren't registered for domestic electrical work, price a subcontract electrician.
- Second fix and commissioning.
Pressure test, vacuum, release or add refrigerant, check operation, show the client the controls.
- Paperwork.
Commissioning records, F gas records where they apply, and the electrical certificate.
- Access.
Ladder, tower or scaffold for high outdoor units. A tower hire and the time to erect it is a line in its own right.
A worked example: two rooms, one outdoor unit
Two-bedroom multi-split, semi-detached house, England
Two wall-mounted indoor units in first-floor bedrooms, one outdoor unit on a ground-level base at the back. Total pipe run within the pre-charged length. The firm's engineer day rate is £340 (labour, overheads and margin), materials marked up 20%. Equipment and materials figures are illustrative; use your distributor's price.
| Outdoor unit and two indoor units£2,100 at cost + 20% | £2,520 |
| Pipework, cable, trunking, condensate, base, brackets£260 at cost + 20% | £312 |
| Labour: install and first fix2 engineers × 1.5 days × £340 | £1,020 |
| Labour: commissioning and handover1 engineer × 0.5 day × £340 | £170 |
| New radial circuit and certificatesubcontract electrician £280 + 20% | £336 |
| Scaffold tower hire for the week£90 + 20% | £108 |
| Price before VAT | £4,466 |
| VAT at 20%£4,466 × 20% | £893.20 |
| Price to the client at 20% VAT | £5,359.20 |
| Price to the client if it qualifies for 0% VAT | £4,466 |
If the client wants three or four options (different brands, one room or two), price each one in full with its own total. Clients read a list of options as one big number unless each is clearly an alternative.
Does a domestic air con install need planning permission?
In England, often not, if the unit can heat as well as cool. Since 29 May 2025, permitted development for air source heat pumps on houses allows one unit on a non-detached house and two on a detached house, with an outdoor unit of up to 1.5 cubic metres, and the old one-metre-from-the-boundary limit has gone. The unit must not be used solely for cooling, and it must meet the MCS planning standard for noise.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules, and MCS says installations there continue to use the older MCS 020 standard. If the property is listed, in a conservation area or you're unsure, tell the client to check with the council before you book the job, and say in the quote who is responsible for any planning application. Our guide to air conditioning planning permission goes into the detail.
What F gas rules affect your quote?
Two, mainly. Your company must be certified to install equipment containing F gas for others, through Refcom, F-Gas Register (Quidos) or Bureau Veritas, renewed every three years. Your engineers need the right personal certificate: category 2 covers installing systems with less than 3 kg of F gas, and category 1 covers all activities.
Product rules matter too. Since 2025, new single split systems holding less than 3 kg of refrigerant are banned in Great Britain if the refrigerant's global warming potential is above 750. Check the refrigerant on the equipment your distributor quotes. Our F gas record keeping guide covers the leak checks and records that follow the install.
What VAT rate applies to an air con install?
It depends on what you're fitting and where. Installing qualifying energy-saving materials in homes, including permanently fixed air source heat pumps, is zero-rated until 31 March 2027, then reverts to 5%. HMRC's notice says most air conditioning units are air source heat pumps, but that treatment depends on the facts, and portable units never qualify.
So a fixed heat pump split system in a house may be zero-rated, while the same work in an office, shop or hotel is standard-rated at 20%. If you're unsure whether a specific unit qualifies, ask your accountant or HMRC before you send the quote, because getting it wrong means either overcharging the client or paying the VAT yourself.
Where Nexley fits
Nexley is the AI back office for UK trade firms: five AI assistants run your tenders, quotes, buying, scheduling and invoicing. It connects to the tools you already work in, you run it all from WhatsApp, and you approve everything. £799 a month.
For air con, your engineer sends Nexley the survey photos and a voice note ("two bedrooms, first floor, 8 metres to the back wall, tower needed"). Nexley prices it from your distributor price list, day rates and standard lines, drafts the quote with options and your exclusions, and you check and approve it on WhatsApp before it goes to the client.
Common questions
How long does a domestic air con install take?
A single back-to-back split is often a day for two engineers. Multi-room systems with long pipe runs take longer. Price from your own survey, in engineer-days, not from a rule of thumb.
Should I quote without a site survey?
Only with photos of both unit positions, the route between them and the consumer unit, plus measurements. Put your assumptions on the quote, such as the pipe run length, so any difference can be priced as a variation.
Can a plumber install air conditioning?
Only with the F gas qualifications and company certification needed to work on the refrigerant circuit, and someone competent to do the electrical work. Without those, partner with a certified firm.
Do I need to notify building control?
A new electrical circuit in a dwelling is notifiable work in England. A registered competent person can self-certify it; otherwise building control must be told before work starts.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 14, Class G
- legislation.gov.uk: GPDO (England) (Amendment) Order 2025, SI 2025/560
- MCS: New permitted development rules in England and MCS 020 a)
- GOV.UK: Company certification to work with F gas
- GOV.UK: Qualifications to work with F gas
- GOV.UK: Bans on F gas in new products and equipment
- GOV.UK: Energy-saving materials and heating equipment (VAT Notice 708/6)
- Ribble Valley Borough Council: Electrical safety and building regulations
Every rule, rate and date above was checked against these sources on the date shown at the top.
Topic: Pricing and quoting
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