The honest answer to “how much does a heat pump cost in 2026” is somewhere between £2,500 and £12,000 net to the homeowner, depending on the property size, current heating fuel, and post-grant calculation. Pre-grant the range is £10,000-£22,000. The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant — which all AMP customers receive deducted from quote — closes a meaningful chunk of that gap.
Here’s the actual breakdown.
Headline figures by property type
For a complete air source heat pump installation including the outdoor unit, indoor cylinder, all pipework, controls and any necessary radiator changes:
| Property | Heat pump size | Total install cost | After £7,500 BUS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-bed semi or terrace | 5-7kW | £10,000-£12,500 | £2,500-£5,000 |
| 3-bed semi or detached | 8-10kW | £11,500-£14,000 | £4,000-£6,500 |
| 4-bed detached | 10-14kW | £13,000-£17,000 | £5,500-£9,500 |
| Large detached or rural off-gas | 14-20kW + buffer | £15,500-£22,000 | £8,000-£14,500 |
These are pre-tax figures based on AMP install pricing in May 2026. The bands assume:
- Mains gas swap (no significant fuel-system change beyond install)
- Reasonable property insulation (EPC C or D)
- Standard outdoor unit siting (ground-mounted base, no special bracketing)
- 1-3 radiator changes needed (typical)
- Existing hot water cylinder needs replacing (typical — most homes have a vented cylinder that won’t work with a heat pump)
Properties further from these defaults shift up or down. We quote fixed-price after a free survey, so the figure on your quote is the figure you pay.
What’s actually in the bill
A full breakdown of where the money goes on a typical 3-bed semi install at £12,000 (before BUS):
- Heat pump unit (Mitsubishi Ecodan, Vaillant aroTHERM Plus or Daikin Altherma 3): £3,000-£4,500
- Indoor cylinder (180-220L unvented, manufacturer-matched): £900-£1,400
- Pipework, valves, expansion vessel, weather compensation controls: £600-£900
- Outdoor unit base, bracketing, cable runs, electrical connection: £400-£700
- Radiator upgrades (typically 1-3 changes): £300-£900
- Decommissioning of old boiler / oil tank / LPG plumbing: £200-£500
- Building Control notification + MCS certification: £200-£300
- System design, heat-loss survey, commissioning, project management: £1,800-£2,400
- Labour (typically 2-3 engineers for 2 days): £2,000-£3,000
- Profit margin / company costs: £1,500-£2,500
This adds up to roughly £11,000-£17,000 before applying the grant. The £7,500 BUS knocks the homeowner’s net cost down to the figures in the table above.
What drives the price up
Several factors can push a heat pump install above the headline range:
Heat loss higher than typical. A draughty 1930s detached with single-skin solid walls and original windows might need a 14kW unit where a similar-footprint 1990s house with cavity insulation needs 8kW. Unit size doubles, capital cost rises 30-40%.
Off-gas-grid replacing oil or LPG. Installs are technically similar, but oil tank decommissioning, LPG plumbing reroutes, or remote-rural site logistics add £500-£1,500. Often offset by larger running cost savings.
Significant emitter changes. Most homes need 1-3 radiator changes. A poorly-sized system with all 8 radiators undersized for low flow-temperature operation needs full radiator replacement: add £2,000-£3,500.
Underfloor heating retrofit. Best-in-class for heat pump performance but expensive to retrofit. Suspended floors easier than concrete. Add £4,000-£10,000+ for a full UFH install on the ground floor.
Roof-mounted or screened outdoor unit. Standard ground-mount adds nothing. Roof bracketing, acoustic screening for tight gardens, or specialist mounting for listed buildings adds £400-£900.
Three-phase electrical supply. Standard residential heat pumps run single-phase. A small minority of installs (large units, certain configurations) need three-phase, which can require a DNO supply upgrade. Rare, typically £1,000-£3,000 if required.
Listed building or conservation area. Listed building consent applications and any required heritage assessment add £300-£800 to project costs and 4-8 weeks to the timeline.
What drives the price down
Some factors can reduce the cost below the headline:
Recent boiler/cylinder. If you have a modern unvented cylinder (post-2015) at the right capacity, it can often be retained. Saves £900-£1,400.
Already-optimised radiators. If your home was recently re-piped or fitted with K2/K3 radiators sized generously, no emitter changes may be needed. Saves £300-£900.
Solar PV planning ahead. If you’re installing solar PV at the same time, several costs (scaffold, electrical work, project management) overlap. Combined install saves £500-£1,000 vs sequential installs.
Combined orders. Multiple-property installs (e.g. a small landlord with several rental properties) attract bulk pricing. Worth asking if applicable.
Heat pump cost compared to a new boiler
A common question: how does the net cost compare to just fitting a new gas combi?
- New A-rated combi boiler install: £2,200-£3,800 typical
- Heat pump install after BUS grant: £2,500-£9,500 typical
For a 2-bed semi or small terrace, the post-grant heat pump cost can be within £300-£800 of a new boiler. At that gap, running cost savings over 10-15 years more than cover the difference.
For a larger detached or rural off-grid property, the post-grant gap is wider (£5,000-£7,000). But the running cost savings are also much larger — typically £1,200-£2,000/year if currently on oil. Payback against the cost difference is 3-5 years on those homes.
Hidden costs to budget for
A few costs that aren’t always quoted upfront by every installer (we include all of them in our fixed-price quote):
- EPC for the BUS application (if your existing EPC is over 10 years old): £60-£120
- Power flush of existing system (recommended for older heating systems): £400-£700, sometimes included
- Insulation completion (if your EPC has outstanding recommendations needed to qualify for BUS): variable
- Electrical consumer unit upgrade (small minority of properties): £300-£600
- DNO notification fee (for larger 3-phase units): typically £100-£300
We list these explicitly in every AMP quote so there are no day-of-install surprises.
Running cost — the other side of the equation
The capital cost is half the equation. The other half is what the heat pump actually costs to run year-on-year. We covered this in detail on the /heat-pumps page, but the headline numbers:
- Gas boiler swap: £50-£150 saving per year (heat pump roughly cost-parity with modern gas combi)
- Oil boiler swap: £1,000-£1,500 saving per year
- LPG boiler swap: £1,200-£2,000 saving per year
- Electric storage swap: £500-£1,200 saving per year
Adding solar PV (typically £4,999 for a 4kW system) drops heat pump running cost by another 25-35%.
When is the right time to install?
Three factors usually drive timing:
Existing boiler condition. If your current boiler is 12+ years old and starting to give problems, planning a heat pump install in the next 12 months removes urgency from a likely impending boiler failure. Installing reactively in mid-winter when the boiler dies is the worst of both worlds.
Insulation/EPC work. If you have outstanding EPC insulation recommendations, getting those done is the right first step. Insulation has its own ROI and reduces the size of heat pump you need.
BUS scheme timing. Current funding runs to early 2028 at £7,500. Government policy beyond that is undefined. Installing while the grant is confirmed at £7,500 removes timing risk.
Shoulder season install. Heat pumps are best installed in March-May or September-October. Mid-winter installs (no heating for 1-3 days) are stressful; mid-summer installs are fine but no heat demand for testing means commissioning verification happens later.
Getting a quote
If you’re in our North East service area (Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Northumberland, Teesside) we can do a free survey within a week of enquiry. The survey takes 60-90 minutes, the quote follows within 2-3 working days, and the quote is fixed-price after BUS deduction.
Book a free survey → or call 0191 535 2711.
Related: Boiler Upgrade Scheme 2026 complete guide · Solar panel cost UK 2026 · Heat pumps service page