Plumbing, heating and gas tenders: boiler programmes, heat pumps and servicing contracts
If you are Gas Safe registered and have a van, there is more tendered work available to you than most firms realise. Social landlords must service every gas appliance every year. Boiler replacement programmes run in their thousands. The push to decarbonise homes is funding heat pump and insulation retrofit on a scale the industry has never seen. All of it is bought through tenders.
The contracts that come up
- Annual gas servicing and breakdown contracts for housing associations and councils, often five years long with a per-property rate
- Boiler and heating system replacement programmes, let in lots by area
- Air source heat pump installation under the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and similar schemes
- Legionella risk assessment, monitoring and remedial work for schools, care homes and leisure centres
- Commercial plant room upgrades for NHS and university estates
- Plumbing and heating packages within refurbishment projects let by main contractors
- Water hygiene, drainage clearance and sanitaryware replacement on measured-term contracts
TenderPilot's Plumbing and gas preset expands to include heating, boilers, gas servicing, heat pumps, legionella, water hygiene and the CPV codes for plumbing and heating installation, so one search covers the lot.
The credentials buyers insist on
Gas Safe registration with the right categories is non-negotiable. For heat pumps you will need MCS certification, which is also the gate for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. For unvented cylinders, G3. For legionella, membership of the Legionella Control Association. Add SSIP accreditation, and for occupied-property work, DBS checks for operatives.
Buyers increasingly want TrustMark registration for domestic retrofit and PAS 2030 and PAS 2035 compliance for grant-funded energy-efficiency work. If you are planning to chase retrofit contracts, get PAS 2030 done now; it takes months.
Pricing servicing and breakdown contracts
The per-property rate has to carry the annual service, the certificate, the first-visit no-access and the follow-up, plus a share of the breakdown call-outs. Buyers often give historic data: number of properties, breakdown rates, appliance ages. Use it. A contract for 3,000 properties at the wrong rate loses money for five years.
Model the geography. The difference between twelve services a day in a dense estate and six in a rural patch is the whole margin. EstiMate's job costing lets you track actual cost per visit against your tender rate from month one so you know early if a contract is drifting.
Pricing replacement programmes
Replacement programmes are priced per installation type: combi swap, system boiler and cylinder, full heating system, heat pump with radiator upsizing. List exactly what is included, what is a variation (asbestos, electrical upgrades, pipework replacement) and the rates for those. The buyer wants certainty; you want the variations recognised. Both get what they want from a clear schedule.
Quality answers that score
Resident care, appointment keeping, vulnerable-customer handling and complaints are weighted heavily on housing contracts. Show your appointment process, your text reminders, your approach to no-access and your escalation route. Describe your certificate and asset data flow: the landlord's compliance team needs the CP12 in their system within days.
For heat pump work, buyers want to see your design process (heat loss calculations per property), your commissioning and handover to the resident, and your aftercare. Commissioning photos and a resident guide go a long way.
Keep the paperwork straight
Hundreds of small jobs against one contract means hundreds of invoices and certificates. Use the site document pack for RAMS and COSHH that buyers accept, and let invoicing chase the ones that go unpaid. Then set a saved search on TenderPilot so the next contract finds you.
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The Construction Industry Scheme in plain English: who it applies to, the 20%, 30% and gross rates, verification, monthly returns, deduction statements, and how to reclaim what you are owed.
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