It cost me £3.5K 2 years ago to install a brand new central heating system in a 2 bed terrace (4 rads, ecomax boiler with water tank). So I think you'll be looking at upwards of £5k just for the central heating system now but you may be in a good position to negotiate in this market. I

'm seriously considering installing a wood pellet boiler in my new place (just moved to a 3 bed semi) - we have no mains gas, so only electric or oil to choose from. A pelltet boiler to heat my house would cost £2k plus VAT just to purchase the boiler, not even install it. But I'm interested in moving away from fossil fuels and live in Cumbria so pellet supply isn't a problem.

Removing the chimneys is a fairly straightforward big-hammer job but the difficult bit can be to ensure that the floors are adequately supported after they've been removed. Many houses just keep the chimneys in place.

If you visit a site like screwfix.com or diy.com you can get an idea of raw materials. A basic boiler costs £500 - £600 but, if the system is for you, it's worth spending a little more. Radiators cost anything from £20 to £200 each. It might be worth putting a nice towel radiator in the bathroom. Pipes and valves could be another £100. If fitting is fairly standard involving no more than making a few holes in the walls and pulling up some floor boards, it should be done in half a week's worth of labour.

British Gas will probably be the most expensive option. If you go to www.trustcorgi.com to find some a decent plumbers for more quotes, you should be able to get the figure down to perhaps half the BG figure. If you pay more, you want to be getting something better than a basic system - "designer" radiators, a hi specification boiler and so on. A good plumber should be happy for you to choose the boiler and radiators yourself.

Hi. I am in the process of buying a 4 bed mid-terraced Victorian house (1850). It unfortunately has been neglected a little over the years. Currently the house has storage heaters and two blocked chimneys (first job when I move in!). It was my intention to remove these and modernise the entire central heating system along with the addition of a new boiler. Approximately 8-9 rooms will need a radiator.

Does anyone have a realistic ball-park figure into total product and installation cost of this sort of work (without me having to ring various companies up)?

After manipulating the British Gas website (I tried other company websites with no success) the figure £3500 was quoted, but I don't think this is valid / reliable, and this is only one company after-all!

Anyone advice / suggests on other heating measures in this type of house will also be great!