Heat Light & Power Ltd.

I concur with the previous review which described in detail why Heat Light and Power are so impressive. I found them on Checkatrade, and as it was the first time I’d used it I didn’t realise that having stellar ratings on there was not necessarily a reliable indicator of professionalism. (I have since tried other tradesmen who have not been nearly as good.)
I have had HLP to my property on 2 separate occasions now. I was most impressed by the advice I was given prior to the first visit re why my boiler might have broken down; they even pre-​ordered a thermostat in case this was the cause of the failure, which it was. They turned up on time on both occasions, were very professional, did not overbill for the time they spent, and solved my problems. If only they did plumbing too!

After over a year of weak showers and inconsistent hot water, I finally faced up to one of the biggest downsides of being a homeowner — replacing the aging boiler. Decision made, it was time to do some research and find a plumber to handle the installation. Enter Google which quickly sent my hopes for a quick and easy job crashing down as story after story of being ripped off on labour charges or boilers that needed repairs due to faulty installation. Long story short, I found a pretty solid company (after an exhaustive search) called Heat, Light, & Power which provided a clean installation, impeccable customer service, and an overall stress-​free environment.
I started with
to locate a boiler specialist with good reviews and found a local plumber with a handful of positive feedback. They offered a free quote so I rescheduled my evening plans to get it sorted. The plumber took a cursory look around the place, suggested an unvented boiler to bring my hot water up to mains pressure, and then left without taking any measurements. A few days later I got the quote: £1,800 with little other detail. Being an avid reviewer and blogger, I find it hard to take things at face value without either having experience myself or reading other people’s reviews. So a boiler without a review and scant detail from the plumber (I was told several times to stop asking questions and just accept the quote) isn’t really going to work for me.
Enter Heat, Light, & Power which got in touch with me through Thermaflow (a top-​end boiler manufacturer that offers a free referral service). From the start HLP were head and shoulders above the previous guys. It seems to be a small family run operation, but this is a positive rather than a draw back. Le runs the admin and customer service realm and was a delight to work with. She responded to emails within hours if not minutes and provided a wealth of detail in both the original quote and follow up emails to my questions. Le also efficiently organized both the initial free survey and the installation around my schedule which meant I didn’t have to take any time off work.
The main engineer is Keith, a friendly guy who exudes a reassuring degree of competence and confidence. He came over for the initial survey and took a close look at the plumbing and electrics and explained in considerable detail why he recommended an unvented cylinder boiler and the type of work that would go into the installation. By the end of the survey, I actually felt as though I knew a good deal about the boiler and works required so for once was without any questions. During the installation, a similar degree of assurance was provided with Keith being onsite to supervise the installation and ensure the disruption was kept to a minimum. Although the work took two days, they were careful to leave the flat clean after the first day and store the equipment out of the way to the point it was barely noticeable. When there was a minor leak from a fitting the day after the installation, Keith rushed over at 7.30am to sort it out and offered to come back if there was any damage (thankfully there was none!).
A couple of key things that really distinguish these guys from the usual mob is that a) they turned up exactly on time and b) they didn’t try to up sell or install unnecessary equipment. I had actually asked for a timer which wasn’t installed as Keith didn’t believe it would be cost-​efficient given the tariff I was on. That’s a fairly rare quality that they’ll go against an order if they believe it to be unnecessary expense and I appreciated it. Keith also fixed my kitchen light switch for free as he said it was a simple 5-​minute job — that’s above and beyond for taking care of your customers!
It’s been about a month and so far no problems. I’d definitely recommend these guys to anyone looking for plumbing or electrical work and they’ll be my first call for any future projects!