Heating and plumbing in Great Lever
I am Chris Greenhalgh — Gas Safe and CIPHE registered, based in Tonge Fold, a couple of miles across Bolton from Great Lever, and the man who will actually turn up at your door.
A couple of miles across town, and priced the same as my own street.
Gas Safe registered, working on Great Lever boilers, bathrooms and landlord certificates myself — no call centre, and nobody else turning up in my name.
£132 call-out, includes the first 90 minutes, inc VATInside the same-day area
Same day is a seven-mile promise, and Great Lever is comfortably inside it
I cover about twenty miles around BL2 2TA but only claim same-day availability inside seven of them. Great Lever is about two and a half miles away, across the south side of town. I would rather tell you where that line is than let you find it on the day you need me.
If it is genuinely an emergency and I am already on a job the other side of Bolton, I will say so on the phone rather than keep you waiting. There is no call centre between you and that answer.
Where I cover around Great Lever
The BL3 postcodes on the south side of town — Green Lane and the streets running off it, Crescent Road, the terraces around St Michael’s, down past the cricket club and Doe Hey, and as far as Will Hill Brook where Great Lever becomes Farnworth.
There is one flat call-out charge across the whole 20-mile area, so a terrace off Green Lane is charged exactly the same as a detached house four miles further out. The only thing distance changes is how quickly I can be there, not the bill.
What I actually get called to in Great Lever
Great Lever filled up fast. The population went from about 5,400 in 1891 to roughly 17,000 today, and most of the housing that went up in that first rush is still standing — dense two-up two-down terraces, built quickly, close together, with the yard and the back alley behind.
That shapes almost every job here. Rooms are small, so boiler and radiator sizing is not the same sum as it is in a semi. Flue routes are tight when your gable is a party wall and your back wall looks onto an alley. And a lot of these houses have had a bathroom added over the back kitchen at some point, which is its own set of problems.
Three things Great Lever calls me out for
A street of terraces built to the same pattern tends to produce the same three jobs, over and over.
Getting a combi in where a back boiler used to be
Take the back boiler out and you are not doing a like-for-like swap — you are moving where the heat comes from, re-routing pipework, dealing with the old flue and finding somewhere sensible for the new boiler to live. It is a good job when it is done properly and a mess when it is rushed. I price it after a look, not off a list.
The bathroom over the back kitchen
Where a bathroom has been built onto the back of a terrace, the hot water has a long cold run to make before it arrives, and the pressure upstairs is often disappointing. That is usually pipework and layout rather than the boiler being too small — which matters, because replacing the boiler will not fix it.
Landlord gas safety records, done on time
A lot of these terraces are let, and a gas safety record is £99 for the first appliance and £10 for each one after it. Add a full boiler service at the same visit and it is £150 all in — that is the boiler on the certificate, with the £10 per extra appliance still applying. The certificate is emailed before I leave the property.
What it costs
Every figure below is the same in Great Lever as it is on my own street. Bathrooms are quoted after a survey rather than off a price list.
Call-out £132
Covers travel and the first 90 minutes on site. Each further half hour is £45. Parts are quoted and agreed after I have diagnosed the fault, never before.
Boiler service £105
Flat, whatever the make. A gas fire service is the same. Add a gas safety record for £150 all in — that is the boiler on the certificate, and £10 for each other gas appliance added to it.
New boiler from £1,799 fitted
A like-for-like combi swap, system flush and magnetic filter included. Moving the boiler, changing system type or coming off a back boiler is priced above it, after a look.
Everything else
Gas safety record on its own £99 for the first appliance, £10 each extra. Leak detection and trace £180, covering travel and the first 90 minutes, with a written report for an insurer at £60. Cancellation or missed appointment £66.
Fixed-price bookings made online — the £105 service and the £132 call-out — take the full amount at the time of booking, and that payment is the whole price for the visit. Quoted work such as a boiler install or a bathroom takes 50% at booking with the balance on completion.
How a Great Lever job runs
- You book a real slot, not a callback. The online form takes the date and the payment, so the job is in my diary rather than on a list I get back to.
- You get a text with an ETA and a live tracking link when I set off. A couple of miles across town means that window is usually short.
- The certificate is completed on site and emailed before I leave, and the appliance is registered with the manufacturer on your behalf.
- I remind you at about eleven months, so the next service does not creep up on you.
Same engineer, same price, whichever side of Bolton you are on.
You deal with me from the first message to the certificate. That is the whole business, and it is why the work is backed by a 24-month workmanship guarantee on heating, gas and plumbing.
Common questions
How quickly can you get to Great Lever?
About two and a half miles, so it is inside the area where same-day is realistic when there is a slot. I will give you an honest date rather than promise a time I cannot keep.
Can I put a combi where the back boiler is?
Usually, but it is not a swap and it should not be priced like one. The pipework, the flue and the position of the boiler all change, and the old back boiler has to come out properly. I will tell you what it involves in your house before you commit to anything.
I let out a terrace here. What do I actually need?
A gas safety record every twelve months on every gas appliance — £99 for the first and £10 for each extra. Most landlords add the boiler service at the same visit, which is £150 all in. You get the certificate by email the same day.
Do you service unvented cylinders?
Yes. It needs a separate ticket beyond Gas Safe and I hold it — the Unvented Hot Water Storage Systems certificate, in compliance with G3 of the Building Regulations. It is worth checking that whoever works on yours has it.
If you are in Great Lever and want a straight answer on a boiler, a certificate or a bathroom, the price is on the page and the diary is open.
Book Great Lever work in
Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Tell me what needs doing and I will come back with a price before anyone sets off.
Water coming through a ceiling right now? Emergency plumbing tells you what to do first.