What actually happens
Four stages, each with a date attached. No callbacks, no “we'll be in touch”, and no number that moves after someone has been round.
Two ways to start, same install
Most people in this category make you ring up. You don't have to. Pick whichever of these matches how much you already know — they converge at the survey, and the install is identical.
You know roughly what you want
- Choose a system at a published, fixed price
- Pay online in full, by card — no callback, no quote
- Pick your install date the moment you've paid
- The survey happens after, as part of fulfilment and included in the price
- 14 days to cancel, and nothing is ordered or drilled until you've approved the Room Study
You'd rather be told what you need
- Answer a few questions about the room — about a minute
- Get an indicative price band immediately, no email or phone number
- Book a £95 survey if you want a firm number before committing
- The £95 comes off the order in full if you go ahead
You tell us about the room
Step 01 — before we visit
What kind of property, which rooms, roughly how big, which floor they're on and where the outdoor unit could go. That's enough to size the system and tell you what it costs. It is also enough for us to say if air conditioning isn't the right answer, which happens.
Answer the questions
A survey worth paying for
Step 02 — usually remote, sometimes on site
Not a fifteen-minute look on the way to another job. We calculate the heat load properly, work out where the indoor head and the outdoor unit can go, and run the sound calculation that decides whether the job needs planning permission. Usually that happens remotely, from photographs and your address; where the property needs a visit, we come. You get all of it in writing either way.
You sign off where it goes
Step 03 — before anything is drilled
A drawing of the room showing the indoor unit, the pipe route, how it's concealed, and the outdoor unit's position with the noise figure that position produces. If you don't like it, we draw it again. Nothing is drilled until you've agreed it — that's the whole reason this stage exists as a stage.
Fitted, commissioned, certificated
Step 04 — the date you booked
One day for a single room, two for a multi-split. The engineer who arrives is named in advance and works to the drawing you signed. At the end you get the F-Gas commissioning paperwork, the noise calculation, the warranty registration and photographs of the finished work — issued on the day, not posted on eventually.
Four documents, and why each one matters
Three things we won't do
We won't sell you the wrong product
If you want to replace a gas boiler and heat the whole house, you want air-to-water, and we don't fit it. We'll say so before you pay anything, not after a survey fee.
We won't put it wherever's quickest
The fastest position is usually the front elevation at head height. Routing through a loft or round a side return costs us more and is often the right answer.
We won't revise the number afterwards
The price is fixed when you're quoted. The survey exists to find surprises before you commit, not to justify a higher figure once you already have.
The thing that stops most people fitting air conditioning isn’t the price. It’s the suspicion that they’ll end up with a box on the front of the house and a length of white trunking down the wall. So we decided where it goes before we decided anything else.
The questions this raises
Will I need planning permission?
Usually not. Since 29 May 2025 the rules in England are more generous than most sources still claim: the old one-metre-from-the-boundary rule has gone, the size limit rose to 1.5 cubic metres, and a detached house can have two units. Separately, since 28 May 2026 an MCS 020(a) sound calculation showing 37 dB or less at your neighbour's windows has been the only accepted route — stricter than the limit it replaced. We run that calculation at survey and give you the result in writing. Conservation areas, listed buildings, national parks and most central London boroughs are the exceptions, and we check yours before quoting. Wales followed England on 1 June 2026. Scotland and Northern Ireland still work to the older standard.
Does air conditioning qualify for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
Air-to-air heat pumps became eligible in April 2026 — £2,500, residential only. Not the £7,500 you will see quoted everywhere, which is the air-to-water figure and does not apply here. The EPC requirement was dropped in the same overhaul. It is only available where the property has no fossil fuel heating system, so if you have a gas boiler you are not eligible. We will tell you honestly whether you qualify rather than letting you find out later.
Is the survey included?
Buy a system outright and it is included in the published price, and it happens after you pay rather than before. Book a survey on its own and it is £95, refunded in full against the order. Either way it is a proper piece of work rather than a fifteen-minute look — the sizing is confirmed room by room and the MCS 020(a) noise calculation is run and given to you in writing.
How loud is it?
A modern indoor unit runs at roughly 19–25 dB on low, which is quieter than a fridge. Owners describe it as almost silent when it is holding temperature. The outdoor unit is the one worth thinking about: typically 46–49 dB at one metre, and audible at start-up. Where it sits relative to your bedroom window and your neighbour's is part of what we design at survey — and since May 2026 it is also a legal requirement, calculated and evidenced.
What does it cost to run?
In cooling, a 3.5kW unit draws roughly 0.8–1.1kW, so around 25p an hour at current rates. In heating it is three to four times more efficient than direct electric, which makes it substantially cheaper to run than panel heaters. Efficiency falls as it gets colder — below about −10°C outside you are closer to break-even with direct electric, and we would rather tell you that now than have you discover it in February.
Is it only useful for two weeks a year?
That is the most common objection and it is worth answering properly. If you only ever run it in a July heatwave then yes, it is expensive per day of use. The reason to fit one is that the same unit heats: it will take the chill off a single room in October without firing the boiler for the whole house, and it reaches temperature in minutes rather than the hour a wet system needs. Most of the annual saving comes from the shoulder months, not the summer.
Start with the room
A few questions, about a minute, and no email or phone number needed to see a price band.
Buy a system outright and the survey is included in the price. Book one on its own and it's £95, refunded in full against the order.