Home / Services / Independent Design Reviews
SERVICE 03
Got quotes? Get a second opinion that isn't selling anything.
We review the heat loss calculations, heat pump sizing, radiator schedules and proposals you’ve already been given — then tell you plainly which solution is right for your home, not for the installer. Independent advice that turns a pile of contradictory paperwork into a confident decision.
THE SITUATION YOU'RE IN
When every quote tells a different story
You did everything right. You got multiple quotes, like everyone advises. And now you’re staring at proposals showing different calculated heat losses for the same house, different makes of heat pump, different sizes, different radiator counts and prices thousands of pounds apart — each delivered with its own level of sales pressure and its own countdown-timer discount.
You can’t all be reading the same building. So who’s right? Choosing on price means gambling that the cheapest engineering is also correct. Choosing on confidence means rewarding the best salesperson. Neither has anything to do with which system will actually keep your family warm for the next twenty years at the lowest running cost.
A design review resolves the contradiction with measurement and arithmetic. We’re not competing for the installation — we don’t install anything — so we’re the one party in this conversation with no reason to tell you anything but the truth.
BEFORE THE REVIEW
- Quote A: 11.2 kW unit, all radiators replaced, £14,900
- Quote B: 5.9 kW unit, radiators untouched, £9,400
- Quote C: 9 kW unit, “survey to follow”, £12,200
- Three heat losses spanning nearly double
- One expiring “today-only” discount
AFTER THE REVIEW
- Measured heat loss: 6.8 kW at design temperature
- Quote B closest — but undersized for hot water recovery
- Quote A oversized by 65%: cycling & higher running costs
- Clear recommendation, with the reasoning shown
- A homeowner negotiating from facts
THE REVIEW
Seven checks that separate engineering from optimism
CHECK 01
The heat loss itself
Is it room-by-room or a whole-house guess? Were rooms measured? Are the U-values plausible for your construction? We benchmark each quote’s figure against your building’s characteristics — and flag which one measurement would support.
CHECK 02
Heat pump sizing
Is the proposed unit’s output matched to the heat loss at your design outside temperature and flow temperature — from manufacturer data, not the model name? Oversizing and undersizing both cost you; we quantify either.
CHECK 03
Flow temperature strategy
The single number that drives efficiency. We check whether the quoted radiators can actually deliver the rooms’ heat at the promised flow temperature — or whether the efficiency claims quietly assume 55 °C and hope.
CHECK 04
Radiator schedule
“Replace them all” and “they’ll all be fine” are both suspicious. We check the schedule room by room, so you only pay to change the radiators that genuinely need changing.
CHECK 05
Hot water design
Cylinder size versus your household, reheat performance, and whether the quote has remembered your shower habits exist at all.
CHECK 06
The commercial small print
Grant handling, MCS status, warranty terms, exclusions, and what “including making good” actually includes. Sales pressure tactics get named as what they are.
CHECK 07
The verdict
A plain-English recommendation: which quote to accept, what to negotiate, what to reject and why — steering you to the solution that’s right for you, not for the heat pump installer.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
A written review and a booked call to talk it through
Your review arrives as a written report: each quote assessed against the seven checks, a side-by-side comparison table, and a clear recommendation with the reasoning shown. Then we walk you through it on a call booked at a time that suits you — so you can ask every question you’ve been saving up.
- Written assessment of each quote, check by check
- Side-by-side comparison table you can share with your household
- Specific questions to put back to each installer — in their language
- A clear recommendation: accept, negotiate or walk away
- Where needed, the option to upgrade to a full measured design
If our review finds that none of your quotes stack up, we’ll say so — and explain what a right-sized system should look like, so the next quote you request starts from strength.
DESIGNER'S INSIGHT
“Roughly half the quotes we review are workable with adjustments — the installer isn’t dishonest, just rushed. The review’s job is to find the version of the deal where you get a properly sized system and they get a job with no callbacks. Everyone wins except the quote that was never going to work.”
Phil
Founder & Lead Designer
GOOD TO KNOW
Reviews are location-independent
Quote and design reviews are desktop-based, so we can help wherever you are in the UK — even outside our England & Wales survey area. You’ll need to share your quotes, any calculations you’ve been given, and a few photos and details of your home.
QUESTIONS
Design reviews, explained
Wondering why the quotes disagree in the first place? We wrote the full guide.
The quotes and any heat loss calculations or surveys you’ve been given, plus basic property details — age, construction, extensions, glazing — and photos where helpful. The enquiry form walks you through it; most clients gather everything in under half an hour.
We’ll tell you which proposal is technically right for your home, what to negotiate on the others, and which to avoid — with reasons. The final choice stays yours, but it becomes an informed one. We never take referral fees from installers you’re considering, so the advice has no thumb on the scale.
It happens more often than you’d hope — usually a shared reliance on assumptions instead of measurement. If so, we’ll recommend the fastest route to a dependable number, typically our room-by-room heat loss calculation or the full design service, with the review cost acknowledged against it.
Yes — pre-purchase reviews and plan-stage reviews for renovations are common requests, and catching an undersized emitter design before the plaster goes on is about the highest-value hour in this industry.
STOP GUESSING
Send us the quotes. We'll find the truth in them.
Tell us where your project is up to and attach what you’ve been given. We’ll reply by email with next steps — and where a conversation would help, you’ll choose a convenient time through our online booking system.