A PDF floor plan and a scale ruler
A customer extending their kitchen wants wet underfloor heating on the ground floor. They send an architect's PDF. Your estimator prints it, measures each room with a scale ruler, works out areas, decides on screed or overlay system, estimates pipe runs, counts zones and manifold ports, then prices it. It takes most of a day. The customer has asked two other firms.
Then the customer decides to move the utility room door and add underfloor heating to the downstairs loo, and the estimator starts again.
Why UFH quotes take so long
An underfloor heating quote depends on several things that vary per room: floor area, the floor build-up, the floor finish, pipe spacing, whether it's its own zone. The maths isn't difficult, but it's tedious and easy to get wrong across a whole floor. And every design change from the customer means doing it again.
| Per room | Affects |
|---|---|
| Floor area | Pipe length, insulation |
| Build-up (screed, overlay, suspended) | System type, labour |
| Floor finish | Design considerations |
| Zone | Thermostat, manifold port |
| Distance to manifold | Pipe length |
Plans also vary in quality. Some customers send a scaled architect's drawing, others a sketch on squared paper or a phone photo of an estate agent's floor plan. The estimator has to work out dimensions from whatever arrives, which adds time and uncertainty.
What slow quotes cost
Estimators spend a day on a quote that may not convert. Customers go with whoever responds first. Errors in pipe length or manifold size are found on install day. And design changes restart the whole process.
Heat output and system design are for your designer or your UFH supplier's design service. This is about quoting efficiently.
Extensions add pressure. The builder wants to know about the floor build-up early, because the screed depth and insulation affect their work. A slow UFH quote can hold up the builder's plans as well as your own.
Estimators also get worn down. Measuring plans by hand is the least rewarding part of the job, and it takes time away from the conversations with customers and builders that actually win work.
The quote builder we build
- Plan input: the customer's plan is uploaded, and rooms are traced over it on screen, or entered as dimensions.
- Room settings: for each room, the estimator chooses build-up, finish and zone from lists.
- Material calculation: pipe, insulation, clips, manifold ports and thermostats are calculated from your rules per system type.
- Labour: install time is calculated from your rates per system and area.
- Quote: a clear quote by room and zone is produced, with exclusions in your wording.
- Design hand-off: accepted quotes go to your designer or supplier's design service with all room data attached.
Your estimator can save standard room settings, such as a typical kitchen extension on a screed floor, so similar jobs start from a sensible default and only the differences need attention.
Quotes in hours, not days
Your estimator traces a plan and checks the output rather than working it all out by hand. Design changes are a few clicks. Customers get prices while they're still deciding. And the room data carries through to design and install.
It also helps with coordination. The room data can be shared with the builder so they know the screed and insulation you are planning, which reduces surprises when your team arrives.
Accepted quotes also carry cleanly into ordering, because the pipe lengths, manifolds and controls are already listed per zone, ready for your supplier.
Does this sound like your UFH quoting?
- UFH quotes are worked out by hand from plans.
- Quotes take a day or more to produce.
- Customer design changes mean starting again.
- Pipe or manifold quantities are wrong on install day.
- Customers go with quicker firms.