HOW TO HIRE · PLUMBING & HEATING · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a boiler engineer in Ireland
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
Gas work is restricted by law to Registered Gas Installer (RGI). There is no small job that is an exception. Here is how to check that in a minute, what to ask, and what you must be handed when the job is done.
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THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a boiler engineer in five steps
- Are you on the Registered Gas Installer scheme, and may I see your card?Check the BACK of the card as well as the front: it lists the categories of work they are qualified for. Boilers and cookers are different categories.
- What is your registration number?Look it up while they are standing there. It takes a minute.
- What does a service actually include?A service is a check and clean with readings taken, not a glance. Ask what is measured and what you get in writing.
- Will I get Declaration of Conformance Certificate or a written record?For an installation, yes. For a service, a record with the readings on it.
- If it needs a part, what happens to the price?Agree whether diagnosis is charged separately and what the labour rate is before parts are ordered.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
Registered Gas Installer (RGI) Scheme
Restricted to Registered Gas Installer (RGI): installing, servicing or repairing a gas boiler; any work on gas pipework or a gas appliance; commissioning a gas appliance.
Search the Registered Gas Installer scheme for the name or the registration number before you agree a price. rgii.ie →
Declaration of Conformance Certificate
Issued by the Registered Gas Installer on completion of the gas works. It matters because it is the record that the work conforms to the standards, and it is asked for on sale, remortgage and insurance.
Agree before the work starts that you will be handed declaration of conformance certificate, and keep it with the house papers.
Insurance
Expect public liability; ask who the insurer is. From a company, ask for the insurer, the limit and the VAT number, and ask who actually attends: the team that turns up may be employed, subcontracted or both, and only one of those is supervised by the firm you are paying.
Ask to see the current certificate of insurance — the insurer's name, the limit and the date it runs to.
Trader or private seller
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022 a trader must tell you they are a trader, and your consumer rights — work carried out with reasonable skill and care, and a cooling-off period on a contract agreed in your home or online — apply to traders and not to private sellers. On Locufy the trader status is shown on the profile.
Look for the trader badge on the Locufy profile, and ask anyone else for it in writing before you agree a price.
VAT
VAT at 13.5%, the reduced rate Revenue publishes for this service. Ask whether the price you were given includes it. A trader under the €42,500 registration threshold does not charge it; one over it must, and must show it separately.
Ask whether the figure you were given includes it, and for the VAT number if they are registered — Revenue publishes the rate for this service. revenue.ie →
A good answer: Check the BACK of the card as well as the front: it lists the categories of work they are qualified for. Boilers and cookers are different categories.
A good answer: Look it up while they are standing there. It takes a minute.
A good answer: A service is a check and clean with readings taken, not a glance. Ask what is measured and what you get in writing.
A good answer: For an installation, yes. For a service, a record with the readings on it.
A good answer: Agree whether diagnosis is charged separately and what the labour rate is before parts are ordered.
A good answer: On an older boiler, parts availability decides whether a repair is worth it.
A good answer: Ask whether the quoted figure includes it.
Getting the quote right
- Whether it is a service, a repair, or a diagnosis that may become a repair
- The labour rate and whether the first hour or call-out is charged separately
- Parts at cost or at a markup — ask which
- VAT at 13.5% shown as its own line, not folded into the price
- In writing before anyone starts
- What voids it — finding a second fault, finding an unsafe appliance
- Who actually attends, and whether they are employed or subcontracted
- The VAT number, and whether it checks out on the Revenue register
Walk away if
- Not on the Registered Gas Installer scheme, or a card whose number does not resolve
- Registered, but not for the category of work in front of them
- “No need for paperwork on a service”
- A price for a repair before anyone has looked at the fault
- Cash only, or pressure to replace rather than repair on the first visit
- They cannot say who insures them
What a boiler engineer costs: €90–€180 per visit
Locufy guide prices for 2026–2027. Updated 2026. Boiler Service & Repair price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
Gas engineers near you, with the badges that matter shown
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you.
- Look firstType of boiler — the specification is agreed before any work begins — that is what the boiler engineer is judging on the first visit, and a price given without it is a guess.
- Agree what is being doneExtent of the service or repair needed — the price follows the size more closely than anything else here — put in writing before anyone starts, because it is the document you both read back at the end.
- The work itselfIts condition — the first visit after a long gap is always the slowest — and anything found on the day that was not in that is priced before it is started.
- Check it togetherComplexity of the work required — a complicated brief needs a conversation before any work starts — walked against the written scope rather than against the feeling of it, while the boiler engineer is still there.
- What you are handedDeclaration of Conformance Certificate, the invoice and any guarantee on the workmanship and the parts, regular servicing can prevent costly repairs and prolong the life of your boiler.
- Combustion analysis
- The flue-gas readings that show whether the boiler is burning correctly.
- Gas pressure test
- A check that the pipework holds pressure with no leak.
- Unsafe at Risk / Immediately Dangerous
- The classifications an engineer uses if an appliance must be turned off.
- Service vs repair
- A service is a planned check; a repair is a fix for a known fault.
- Flue gas analysis
- The reading taken at the flue that shows the boiler is burning cleanly and venting safely.
- Gas rate
- A measurement of how much gas the appliance burns against what the maker says it should.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a boiler engineer: questions people ask
No. Gas work is restricted to Registered Gas Installer (RGI), and there is no exemption for a small job.
Ask for the card, read the number, and look it up on the Registered Gas Installer scheme. Check the back for the right category.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022 the work must be carried out with reasonable skill and care and put right if it is not. Say what is wrong in writing first and give them the chance; if that fails, the Small Claims procedure takes a claim up to €2,000.
Expect public liability; ask who the insurer is. Ask who the insurer is and what the limit is, not simply whether they have it — the cover matters most on the job nobody expected to go wrong, and a boiler engineer who cannot name the insurer may not be carrying any.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2022 the work must be done with reasonable skill and care. Put the complaint in writing first.
The work, what is not included, the materials where they matter, the dates, and the total with VAT shown as its own line. A figure with none of that around it is a price and not a quote, and it is the reason two boiler engineer quotes for what sounds like the same job are not comparable.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in plumbing & heating
Gas engineers near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- CRU — RGI and Safe Electric schemes
- RGI — find a Registered Gas Installer
- CCPC — your rights when you buy a service
- Consumer Rights Act 2022
- Revenue — BOILERS - MAINTENANCE/REPAIR ( Private dwellings/Non-residential immovable goods ) — Reduced rate
- Revenue — current VAT rates (effective 1 January 2026)
- Revenue — VAT thresholds: €42,500 for a person supplying services only