Air source heat pumps: warmth pulled out of thin air
A heat pump gathers warmth from the air outside and turns one unit of electricity into around three of heat.
Every installation is MCS certified, and we handle the grant paperwork for you. An outline estimate needs only your plans or a few photos.
- £9,000 grant if you heat with oil or LPG and have no mains gas, or £7,500 for everyone else, and we handle the whole application
- Air source heat pumps designed and installed across Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, every one MCS certified
- Estimated from your plans or photos, then confirmed with full heat loss calculations before anything is ordered
- 0% VAT and the £9,000 rate both end 31 March 2027
Some of the things we hear from homeowners thinking about a heat pump
What we can do for you
You deserve to sit in a warm house without thinking about what it costs
If you heat with oil or LPG, you may know the feeling of keeping the heating off because of what the bill will say. That is the thing we fix.
A heat pump designed properly for your home pulls its warmth out of the air, costs far less to run than oil or LPG, and the £9,000 grant pays for most of the installation.
Where you end up: warm, comfortable, grant landed, and the bill no longer something you think about.
And if your home genuinely needs its insulation sorted first, we will tell you that plainly and help you get the order right.
Meet Rob Shute
'Get the design right and the system quietly gets on with it for twenty years. That is the whole job, and it is the part I enjoy most.'
I have been in heating design since 1999, and was part of the founding team at two of the UK's biggest underfloor heating companies, both built in Exeter.
Since 2014 I have designed several hundred heat pump systems, from two-bed terraces to entire housing sites. On your job, I do the heat loss calculations, size the system, and stand behind the number.
Working with Rob is Declan Taylor, the engineering half of Elevate: F-Gas certified, and the reason our installations look the way they do.
Our plant rooms have pipework laid out straight, everything lagged and labelled. They pass inspection because they are built to, and every one is photographed to prove it.
Elevate South West is two years old. The experience behind it is not.
How it works
Three steps to a warm house and the grant in your bank
Get in touch
Call or fill in the form. Plans or a few photos help if you have them.
We design, install and get it certified
Full heat loss calculations before anything is ordered, then a fixed price.
You are warm, and the grant is in your bank
A certified system quietly doing its job, £7,500 to £9,000 landed.
How you are protected
Complete peace of mind: certified, checked and looked after
Every grant-funded heat pump installation in this country must be overseen and signed off by an MCS certified body, as a condition of the grant existing at all.
The old horror stories, the guessed sizing and the cold January, cannot survive that process. We do not fit heat pumps outside it.
Whether an installation will be MCS certified is the first question to ask any heat pump installer you speak to.
Every installation MCS certified
An independent MCS consultant is attached to your job from the start, checking the heat loss calculations, the system design and the installation evidence, photo by photo.
They answer to the scheme, not to us. You receive a valid MCS certificate and the full grant.
A design that is checked before it is sold
Watts per square metre, room by room, then full heat loss calculations before anything is ordered. If £300 of loft insulation would let you buy a smaller heat pump, we say so, because it is your money.
An installation that passes inspection
Correct pipe sizing, a buffer tank so older pipework does not strangle the system, lagging done properly, a plant room you could photograph. We do photograph it.
The paperwork, done
DNO notification, commissioning certificates, MCS compliance certificate, grant application. You sign two contracts and answer one email.
A warranty that stays valid
Manufacturer warranties typically run five to seven years and most are only honoured with an annual service. We book your first one before we leave and remind you every year after.
Recent work
Recent heat pump installations
We said we photograph our plant rooms. Here they are: our own photographs, taken on site. No stock images anywhere on this website.
The evidence
What heat pumps really do in British homes
742 homes
The government trial that concluded 'there is no property type or architectural era that is unsuitable for a heat pump'.
81% satisfied
Of more than 2,500 owners surveyed by Nesta, including 83% of those in Victorian and older homes.
Around 300% efficient
The trial measured 2.8 units of heat per unit of electricity, roughly three times a modern gas boiler.
Around 250,000 installed
Industry reporting put the UK past a quarter of a million certified installations during 2025.
Prices
What does a heat pump cost in the South West?
The national average installed cost is about £13,400 before the grant, on Ofgem's own scheme data.
The grant then takes off £7,500, or £9,000 if your home runs on oil or LPG with no mains gas connection, until 31 March 2027.
Most UK buyers end up paying between £2,500 and £7,500 after the grant. VAT is 0% until 31 March 2027.
Two things drive your price: the size of your house and the quality of its insulation. That is it, plus the odd awkward unit position. A well-insulated new build needs a smaller, cheaper system than a draughty farmhouse of the same size.
Running costs, straight. If you heat with oil or LPG, this is where the case is strongest: Energy Saving Trust figures put the saving at up to £700 a year against an older LPG boiler, before the £9,000 grant.
On mains gas with a newish boiler, the answer is the opposite: a heat pump on a standard tariff currently costs about the same to run, sometimes slightly more. Heat pump tariffs and solar change that maths.
We show you your numbers in a performance estimate before you commit a penny. If they are wrong for you, we would rather tell you now than have your February bill do it.
Who this isn't for
A heat pump is the wrong choice for you if...
...your home leaks heat and you will not fix the fabric first
Below a certain efficiency threshold the grant rules disqualify the installation anyway. Insulate first, then call us and we will tell you the order to do things in.
...you want the cheapest quote in the pile
Someone will always sell you a guess for less, and an uncertified guess is exactly how the horror stories start.
The deadline
After 31 March 2027 this gets £1,500 more expensive, and then the VAT goes up too
The £9,000 oil and LPG grant rate ends 31 March 2027. The same day, 0% VAT on heat pump installations ends and 5% begins.
If you heat with oil or LPG, the coming winter is the cheapest this switch will ever be. That is two published government deadlines, not sales urgency. Estimates requested now install well inside the window.
Free, no obligation, and we will tell you if a heat pump is the wrong answer.
Frequently asked questions
Do heat pumps work in old houses?
How much does an air source heat pump cost in the UK?
Who qualifies for the £9,000 heat pump grant?
Are your heat pumps MCS certified?
How disruptive is a heat pump installation, and how long does it take?
Will you have to rip out my pipework and radiators?
If I ask for a quote, am I going to get the hard sell?
Are heat pumps noisy?
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than an oil boiler?
Do I need planning permission for an air source heat pump?
Where our information comes from
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from a named source.
- The 742-home trial, the 163 pre-1945 homes, the 85% who would recommend one, and the 2.8 efficiency figure: Electrification of Heat demonstration project, Energy Systems Catapult.
- 81% satisfaction, and 83% in Victorian and older homes: Nesta, from a survey of 2,549 heat pump owners against 1,025 gas boiler owners.
- The £13,400 average installed cost: Ofgem Boiler Upgrade Scheme data, October to December 2025, as reported by Which?.
- The £700 a year saving against an older LPG boiler: Energy Saving Trust running cost figures, July 2025, for a three-bedroom semi.
- The grant rates and the 31 March 2027 deadline: Boiler Upgrade Scheme: what you can get, GOV.UK.
- The 250,000 installations figure is industry reporting rather than a single official statistic, which is why it is written as 'around'.
Correct at July 2026. Grant rates and deadlines change, so check the current GOV.UK guidance or ask us.