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Bromley · Orpington · Petts Wood · Chislehurst

What Air Conditioning Actually Costs Round Here.

Most installers won't put a price on their website. Here's mine, along with an honest explanation of why a 1930s semi in Petts Wood costs more to do than a new flat in Bromley — and why there's no VAT to add to any of it.

Surveys & fixed quotes now — installation dates from September
No VAT to Add
CIPHE Member
£2m Public Liability
One Room, Fully Installed
Wall-mounted unit, supplied & fitted
from £1,450
No VAT to add — that's the price

A typical single-room installation in a local home. Fixed in writing after a free survey — no day-rate surprises, no "extras" invented halfway through.

  • Indoor unit & outdoor condenser supplied
  • Pipework, condensate drain & trunking
  • Electrical connection & commissioning
  • Cooling in summer, heating in winter
  • Everything cleared away and taken with us
Get My Fixed Price
Real Prices

The Numbers, Not a Brochure

These are starting prices for homes in Bromley, Orpington, Petts Wood and Chislehurst. Your survey turns the starting price into a fixed price — and if your house is a straightforward one, it stays where it started.

Two rooms — multi-split system

Two indoor units running from one outdoor condenser. Usually two bedrooms, or a bedroom and a living room. Cheaper than two separate systems and only one condenser on the wall.

Quoted at survey No VAT to add

Three or more rooms

Whole-upstairs or whole-house systems. Worth doing in one visit rather than piecemeal — one condenser, one set of scaffolding or access, one lot of making good.

Quoted at survey No VAT to add

Servicing an existing system

Already have air conditioning? A full clean and health check — filters, indoor and outdoor coils, condensate drain, electrics and controls. Available right now.

from £89 No VAT to add

Why some prices say "quoted at survey". Because I'm not going to make a number up to fill a table. A two-room system in a Chislehurst detached and a two-room system in a Bromley flat are different jobs with different pipe runs, different access and different amounts of making good. I'd rather come and look, then give you a figure I'll stand behind, than post a headline price and revise it upwards on the day. The survey is free and there's no pressure at the end of it.

No VAT Isn't a Discount. It's Just Maths.

Smith EcoFlow isn't VAT-registered, so there is no VAT to add to the price I quote you. A larger firm quoting the same £1,450 has to add 20% on top before you pay.

It's not a promotion and there's no catch — it's simply how a small father-and-son firm is set up. On a bigger multi-room job, the difference stops being pocket change.

Single-room install, my price£1,450
VAT I have to add£0
Same job, VAT-registered firm£1,740
You keep£290
Local Housing

Why Your Neighbour Paid a Different Price

The unit on the wall is rarely what changes the cost. It's the pipe run, the access and the making good — and round here, that's decided by what kind of house you're in.

Petts Wood & Orpington

The 1930s Semi

The classic local house. If the bedroom you want cooled is above the side return, the pipe run is short and you're at the bottom of the price range. If it's the front bedroom over the bay, the run has to travel round the flank wall to reach a sensible condenser position — more pipe, more trunking, and usually a tower or ladder work at first floor. Same unit, different day's work.

Chislehurst

The Larger Detached

Usually the easiest houses to do well and the most likely to want more than one room done. Plenty of external wall to work with and somewhere sensible to put a condenser out of sight. The thing to watch is the conservation areas — if you're inside one, the position of the outdoor unit matters and may need consent from the borough. I'll flag that at the survey, not after.

Bromley

The Flat

Often the cheapest install and the most likely to hit a paperwork problem. The pipe run is usually short and straight, which keeps the price down. But almost every leaseholder needs written consent from the freeholder or managing agent before a condenser goes on an external wall or balcony. Get that moving early — it takes longer than the installation does.

All Four Areas

The Loft Conversion

The single most common reason people in this area call me. Loft rooms bake — heat rises, the insulation traps it, and a fan just moves warm air around. It's also the room where a long pipe run down to ground level is most likely, so it's rarely the cheapest install. It is, however, the one that makes the biggest difference to whether the room is usable in summer.

A Father & Son Firm

Gary and Connor. Two people, one van, and a phone that gets answered by the person who'll be doing the work. Based in Orpington, working in the streets we live on.

Local Isn't a Marketing Word

I live in Orpington. Bromley, Petts Wood and Chislehurst are fifteen minutes from my front door — not a "coverage area" on a map.

That matters more than it sounds. I've been in the plumbing and building trade for 15 years, and my day job is running planned maintenance on a large commercial air conditioning estate. I know what the houses round here are built like, where the pipework can realistically go, and what a job like yours actually takes.

It also means that if something needs looking at afterwards, I'm not dispatching someone from an hour away. You get me.

Straight about certification: my F-Gas certification (City & Guilds 2079) completes on 7 September 2026. Charging refrigerant into a system legally requires it, so I'm surveying, quoting and holding installation dates now, and installing from September. Servicing existing air conditioning doesn't involve the refrigerant circuit — that I can do today.

How It Works

Survey Now, Fitted in September

Booking early costs you nothing and secures a date. September fills up quickly, and the people who called in July will be at the front of it.

1

Call or Message

Tell me which room, and roughly what's driving you mad about it. Two minutes on the phone tells me most of what I need.

2

Free Survey

I come and look properly — where the unit goes, where the condenser goes, how the pipe gets between them. Evenings and Saturdays if that's easier.

3

Fixed Price

A written quote you can hold me to, with no VAT to add. If the answer is that your house is awkward and it'll cost more, I'll say so then.

4

Installed

Your date is held from September. Most single-room installs are done in a day, and the house is left as we found it.

Questions

The Ones I Get Asked Most

A single wall-mounted unit in one room starts from £1,450 with no VAT to add. What pushes it up is almost always the pipe run and the access — a bedroom directly above the condenser position is at the bottom of the range, while a room at the back of the house with a long run sits higher. Every quote is fixed after a free survey, so the number you're given is the number you pay.
Smith EcoFlow isn't VAT-registered, so there's no VAT to add to the price I quote. On a £1,450 installation that's around £290 you keep compared with a VAT-registered firm quoting the same figure before tax. It isn't a discount or a promotion — it's just how the business is set up.
It usually comes down to where the pipework can go. Many of the 1930s semis in Petts Wood and Orpington have a bay at the front and a chimney breast on the party wall, which pushes the pipe run round the flank wall to reach the condenser — a longer run, more trunking, and often ladder or tower work at first floor. A modern flat frequently has a short, straight drop to the condenser. The unit is the same; the labour and materials aren't.
I can survey your home, quote you and hold your installation date now, but the installation itself will be carried out from 7 September 2026, when my F-Gas certification (City & Guilds 2079) completes. Anyone charging refrigerant into a system must be F-Gas certified, and I won't cut that corner. Servicing existing air conditioning is different — that work doesn't touch the refrigerant circuit, so I can do it right now.
For most houses, an external condenser falls under permitted development provided it meets the size, siting and noise conditions. That changes if you're in one of the conservation areas around Chislehurst, or if your property is listed or a flat — in those cases you may need consent from the London Borough of Bromley, and a leaseholder will normally need the freeholder's permission as well. I'll tell you honestly at the survey which of those applies to you rather than you finding out afterwards.
Far less than most people expect. A modern inverter unit cooling a single bedroom typically draws well under a kilowatt once it's reached temperature, so an evening's cooling costs pennies rather than pounds. The same unit run in reverse is one of the cheapest ways to heat a single room in winter — which is why a lot of local customers end up using theirs all year round.
I'm based in Orpington (BR6) and this page covers the patch I know best — Bromley, Orpington, Petts Wood and Chislehurst. I also work across the wider Bromley borough and into Kent. If you're nearby and not sure, just ask.

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Home Air Conditioning

What's involved in a home installation, start to finish.

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Commercial AC in Bromley

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Free survey, written quote, no VAT to add and no pressure at the end of it. Bromley, Orpington, Petts Wood and Chislehurst.

07717 846247