Boiler installers in the South East

In the commuter-belt semis and detached houses of Surrey, Kent and Sussex, a mid-range combi with a long warranty is the common pick. Coastal homes should ask about a boiler with a stainless steel heat exchanger and about yearly servicing.

The South East has a large stock of interwar and post-war semi-detached houses, most with a gas supply and a boiler already in the kitchen or garage. A like-for-like swap is the common job here, and a combi is the usual choice unless the household needs more than one bathroom running at once.

In the South East, conversions from a regular boiler to a combi are common in 1930s semis, where the airing cupboard cylinder is the first thing the owner wants gone. Check the loft tanks come out as part of the price and that disposal is included.

The South East's suburban semis make servicing straightforward, and most engineers can book a visit within a week or two outside the autumn rush. Coastal homes see more corrosion, so ask the engineer to check the flue terminal and the condensate pipe on the seaward side.

The South East has the largest stock of interwar and post-war suburban housing in the country, most of it cavity-walled semi-detached and detached. Older market towns and the coastal resorts add pockets of Georgian and Victorian stock with very different needs, and the region has an unusually high rate of owner-occupation, so most work is commissioned directly by the person living there.

Large parts of the region sit inside National Landscapes, the South Downs and New Forest National Parks, or Green Belt, all of which tighten what can be done externally. Conservation areas are common in the market towns and along the coast.

Dry and comparatively warm, with the south coast among the sunniest places in the UK. Low rainfall is kind to brickwork and render. Coastal properties are the exception: salt-laden wind corrodes fixings and shortens the life of anything metal facing the sea.