Swapping a boiler for the same kind in the same place is a one day job.
Changing its type or moving it takes up to four days or more.
The price does not follow the hours, and the band below that sets the fitter's time beside the fitter's price shows that the gap on every job is at least double.
Every figure is printed as its source prints it, and the one sum that is ours is marked.
How long each kind of boiler job takes
Three sources, each in its own column, and "not given" where a source does not describe the job.
On the commonest job, two of the three agree to the hour.
Boxt is an installer describing its own jobs rather than a directory describing the market, and it is the slowest of the three on the commonest job.
| Job | Checkatrade | MyJobQuote | Boxt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Like for like swap, same place | 4 to 6 hours | 4 to 6 hours | 6 to 8 hours |
| Like for like, moved to a new place | variable | 1 to 2 days | at least a day and a half |
| Regular or heat only boiler to combi | 1.5 to 2 days | Not given | Not given |
| Different type, same place | Not given | 1.5 to 2 days | Not given |
| System boiler to combi | up to 3 days | Not given | around 2 days |
| Different type and a new place | Not given | 2 to 3 days | 3 to 4 days or more |
| Back boiler to combi | Not given | 2 to 3 days | Not given |
MyJobQuote also prints a heating firm's own answer on the same page, from J A Nippers Heating and Plumbing, which puts a combi to combi swap at about 4 to 6 hours in total, the same as the two directories.
Dates as each source states them: Checkatrade March 2026, MyJobQuote 26 August 2026, Boxt 12 November 2025.
Your next step
You know how long the fit takes, so the next step is the gas engineer day rate that pays for those days.
Your overheads go into the Rate Sorted calculator, already set to gas engineer, and a day rate you can quote a boiler swap with comes out.
Cite this page
The job lengths and prices belong to the sources named beside them.
The comparison and the day rate arithmetic are free to cite with a credit and a link back, under CC BY 4.0.
What boiler installation costs
The new boiler and the fitting together, as two named directories publish them.
MyBuilder prices the boiler and the labour separately and publishes no total, so it is not in this table.
Neither total is ours.
Checkatrade's widest figure, £3,000 to £15,000, covers any new boiler fitted with the typical extras it lists, which is why it runs so far above the like for like swap in the first row.
| Guide | Job | Price as published |
|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Like for like combi, same place | £2,500 to £4,000 |
| Checkatrade | Regular, system or back boiler to combi | around £4,000 |
| Checkatrade | Any new boiler, fitted, with typical extras | £3,000 to £15,000 |
| MyJobQuote | Combi to combi, same place | £1,200 to £3,500 |
| MyJobQuote | System to combi | £1,200 to £3,500 |
| MyJobQuote | Conventional to combi | £2,500 to £4,500 |
| MyJobQuote | Back boiler to combi | £3,200 to £5,800 |
| MyJobQuote | No boiler before, new combi system | £4,200 to £7,500 |
The fitter's time against the fitter's price
MyJobQuote is the one source that publishes a labour only price beside a timescale for the same job.
The last column is those hours at the £259 gas and heating engineer day rate this site benchmarks, on a 7 hour day, and it is our arithmetic.
Ours, not theirs.
| Job | Time, MyJobQuote | Labour price, MyJobQuote | Same hours at the day rate, ours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Like for like swap, same place | 4 to 6 hours | £600 to £900 | £148 to £222 |
| Like for like, moved to a new place | 1 to 2 days | £1,000 to £1,300 | £259 to £518 |
| Different type, same place | 1.5 to 2 days | £900 to £1,300 | £389 to £518 |
| Different type and a new place | 2 to 3 days | £1,400 to £1,900 | £518 to £777 |
| Back boiler to combi | 2 to 3 days | £1,200 to £1,700 | £518 to £777 |
Read across any row and the published labour price is two to just over four times what the same hours come to at the day rate, which is the clearest sign on this site that boiler fitting is sold as a finished job and not by the day.
Every row shows it.
Where a guide disagrees with itself
Printed rather than tidied away.
| Guide | It says | And it says |
|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Most boiler engineers charge around £300 a day. | Installation costs £1,000 to £2,000 for a swap it says takes 4 to 6 hours. |
| MyJobQuote | Its introduction says labour runs as high as £1,700. | Its labour table goes to £1,900. |
Common questions
The same answers the structured data on this page gives a search engine, word for word.
How long does it take to install a boiler?
A like for like swap in the same place takes 4 to 6 hours, according to both Checkatrade and MyJobQuote.
Boxt says longer.
It fits boilers itself, allows 6 to 8 hours for the same swap and tells customers to set aside a full day for it.
Changing the type or moving the boiler takes 1 to 4 days or more.
How much does it cost to install a new boiler?
Checkatrade puts a like for like combi swap at £2,500 to £4,000 including the boiler, and a change to a combi at around £4,000.
MyJobQuote is cheaper.
It publishes £1,200 to £3,500 for a combi to combi swap.
This site publishes no boiler price of its own, because the market sells a fitted boiler as a finished job and nothing on this site can build that price out of a day rate.
How much is the labour to fit a boiler?
MyJobQuote prices the labour in a like for like swap at £600 to £900.
That buys 4 to 6 hours of work.
The same hours at the £259 gas and heating engineer benchmark come to £148 to £222, which is our arithmetic.
MyBuilder says a Gas Safe engineer's £500 to £1,500 of labour covers the survey, removal, pipework, flushing and commissioning, all of it priced as one job rather than charged by the hour.
Can a boiler be fitted in one day?
Yes, when the new boiler is the same type and goes in the same place.
All three sources put that job inside a working day.
Anything that changes the type of boiler, or moves it to a different wall or room, adds at least half a day, and the bigger changes take two to three days in total.