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How to Vet a Heat Pump Installer in Cambridge

Last reviewed: 2 October 2026

A practical, step-by-step way to vet a heat pump installer for a Cambridge home, from register checks to judging the design, with notes for listed homes and landlords.

A willow by a frosty river and footbridge near Cambridge — the city's cold, still winter mornings put an installer's design to the test.

Step 1: check the register

Only an installer certified under MCS (the Microgeneration Certification Scheme) can apply for the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant. Since 28 April 2026, that certification is a legal condition of the grant.

Use the installer search on the MCS website and confirm:

  • the company on your quote appears on the register
  • its certification covers air source heat pumps and is current
  • it belongs to a consumer code — RECC or HIES — which every MCS installer must

Recheck before installation day. A lapse in certification means no grant.

Step 2: judge the survey

The survey tells you more about an installer than any brochure. A good one:

  • takes two to three hours in a typical Cambridge house
  • measures every room and asks about wall construction (solid gault brick or cavity?)
  • looks at suspended floors, sash windows and draughts
  • checks pipe sizes, radiators, electrics and cylinder space
  • discusses where the outdoor unit can go and runs a noise calculation

Our survey questions guide lists twelve questions worth asking while they’re there.

Step 3: read the design

The quote should include the whole-house heat loss, the outdoor design temperature for your postcode, the flow temperature, a room-by-room radiator schedule, cylinder details and the noise calculation. Cambridge’s frostier winters — around 52 air-frost days a year at NIAB — make an accurate design temperature particularly important.

If the quote is a single figure with a model number, ask for the design. If they can’t provide one, look elsewhere.

Step 4: test their local knowledge

Ask questions that reveal whether they understand Cambridge homes:

  • “How would you handle the hard water here?” Cambridge Water’s chalk supply runs at roughly 286–295 mg/l. Expect talk of system cleaning, a magnetic filter and a heat pump-rated cylinder coil.
  • “My house is in a conservation area. Where would the unit go?” Expect an answer based on keeping it off walls facing the road, and a clear view on whether a Greater Cambridge Shared Planning application is needed.
  • “The house is listed. What changes?” Expect mention of listed building consent, careful pipe routing and making good with appropriate materials.
  • “Where does the defrost water go?” Expect a plan to keep meltwater off paths so it doesn’t freeze.

Step 5: check references and protection

  • Ask for two or three recent customers, ideally in similar houses, and phone them.
  • Confirm the deposit is protected and modest.
  • Ask about an insurance-backed guarantee for workmanship.
  • Find out who registers the manufacturer warranty, and how long it runs.
  • Ask what annual servicing costs and who carries it out.

Notes for Cambridge landlords

  • Make sure the installer can work around tenancies, for example in the summer gap between student lets.
  • Ask for a simple handover sheet for tenants explaining how to run the system.
  • Confirm Ofgem’s grant confirmation email will come to you, not your tenants.

Red flags

  • Unsolicited calls or doorstep visits offering a “free” heat pump
  • A price quoted over the phone
  • Pressure to sign quickly
  • A large deposit before the grant voucher is issued
  • No radiator schedule, design temperature or noise calculation
  • A company name you can’t find on the MCS register

Independent help

Action on Energy Cambridgeshire, the councils’ home energy service, offers impartial information and is the route into the Cambridgeshire Energy Retrofit Partnership’s Warm Homes funding for lower-income households.

If you enquire through this site

Your enquiry is passed to a local heat pump installer from our network. Please run the same checks on them as on anyone else. A good installer will welcome them.

Related: the grant in six points · Cambridge planning rules

See what a heat pump would look like in your Cambridge home

The mechanism is the same in every UK home; the design is specific to yours. Our team carries out a free in-home survey including a full room-by-room heat-loss calculation, identifies the system size and configuration that fits your property, and provides a written quote with the £7,500 BUS grant already deducted.

You'll see the actual figure you'd pay — not an estimate — and the projected efficiency for your specific install.

Get a free quote →