What air conditioning
actually costs in London

A single room wall-mounted split system costs 2,400 to 3,200 pounds supplied and fitted including VAT. Two rooms on one outdoor unit is 4,300 to 5,800 pounds, three rooms 6,400 to 8,600 pounds, and a whole four-bedroom house 8,400 to 11,300 pounds.

London sits at the upper half of those ranges, mainly because access is harder, parking is worse and more properties need scaffold or a lift to get an outdoor unit into position.

Three reasons, and only one of them is profit. First, what is included: some quotes exclude the electrical circuit, the making good, or the scaffold. Second, the unit: a budget brand and a Daikin or Mitsubishi of the same output differ by 400 to 700 pounds at trade. Third, the time spent commissioning, which is invisible on the quote and is where cheap installs are cheap.

Compare the make and model number, the length of pipe included, whether a dedicated circuit is in the price, and whether you get a commissioning record. Those four questions separate quotes faster than the total does.

Yes, 20 percent, and every price on this page includes it. Air conditioning does not qualify for the 0 percent VAT relief that applies to heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage, because that relief covers energy saving materials and air-to-air cooling is not on the list.

There is one narrow exception: a system installed as part of a qualifying renovation of a dwelling empty for two years or more can attract 5 percent. Your accountant, not us, should confirm whether that applies.

There is one now, and it is smaller than the heat pump grant people usually mean. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme lists 2,500 pounds towards an air-to-air heat pump, which is an air conditioner, alongside 7,500 pounds for an air-to-water heat pump, which heats radiators and hot water.

Since 2026 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme also lists 2,500 pounds towards an air-to-air heat pump, which is what an air conditioner is. It is not the same as the 7,500 pound grant for an air-to-water heat pump and the conditions are narrower: it depends on what is being replaced, on the property having a valid EPC, and on an MCS certified installation. We will check whether your property qualifies and tell you either way, and we will not put a grant in a quotation until it is confirmed. The current rules are on GOV.UK.

There is a full page on it: is there a grant for air conditioning.

If the grant is what you are after, that is an air source heat pump and it is worth 7,500 pounds.

The indoor and outdoor units, wall brackets or floor feet, up to 25 metres of insulated pipework, condensate run and termination, the isolator and the electrical connection, core drilling and making good, commissioning with a weighed refrigerant charge, certificates, warranty registration, and removal of all waste.

It does not include the dedicated fuse board for the system. Most installs need one and it is 350 pounds on our quotations, which is why it is a tick box on the calculator rather than folded into the headline figure. Also outside the price: scaffold where the position needs it, structural work, redecoration beyond making good the core hole, and a consumer unit upgrade if your board has no spare capacity.

All of it is identified at the free survey and written on the quote before you agree it, never afterwards.