"Roughly how much for air con?" is the first question on most calls we take, and we give the same honest answer every time: it depends on your property, and we don't quote until we've seen it. That isn't evasiveness — two houses on the same Stoke street can come out meaningfully different once you account for pipework routes and access.
What we can do is show you exactly which factors move the price, so you understand what a surveyor is looking at and why a fixed written quote after a free survey protects you from both underquoting and padding.
1. How many rooms, and which system type
The single biggest factor. A wall-mounted split serving one bedroom or home office is the entry point; a multi-split running three or four rooms from one outdoor unit costs more but less than separate systems; a fully ducted whole-home installation is a different scale of project again, usually specified during renovation. Our residential installations page walks through each system type and where it fits.
2. Your property itself
This is where Stoke-on-Trent gets interesting for an installer. A Victorian terrace in Hanley or Burslem means solid brick walls, longer internal pipe runs and careful routing to keep the front elevation clean. A Trentham new-build usually offers short, simple runs and an electrical supply already sized for modern loads. Loft conversions, conservatories and heavily glazed south-facing rooms carry more heat gain, which changes the capacity — and therefore the unit — you need.
Access matters too: a ground-floor outdoor unit on a patio is straightforward, while a bracket-mounted condenser above a rear extension needs more time and kit.
3. The brand and model tier
We install Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung, LG, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Panasonic and Haier. Within any brand there are tiers — the quietest premium wall units with the longest warranties cost more than entry-level models with the same cooling output. At survey we recommend against your priorities: budget, noise expectations, running cost and warranty length, not whatever carries the biggest margin.
4. Pipework runs and unit positioning
Refrigerant pipework, condensate drainage and cabling all have to travel between the indoor and outdoor units. Short, direct runs cost less; long runs across a property, or routing that has to stay invisible on a period frontage, take more materials and more engineer time. This is usually the factor phone estimates get most wrong, and it's the main reason we insist on seeing the route before pricing it.
5. Electrical supply
Most single-room systems run happily from a standard domestic supply with a dedicated fused connection. Larger multi-splits and some whole-home systems need more, and older properties occasionally need consumer-unit work before installation. The survey confirms this up front so it never appears as a surprise extra.
6. Home or business?
Commercial jobs are priced against a heat-load calculation: floor area, glazing, occupancy, equipment heat and opening hours all feed the design, and out-of-hours installation to protect trading time is a factor of its own. If that's you, start with our commercial air conditioning page — offices, retail, hospitality and salons across Stoke-on-Trent and the wider Midlands.
What's always included
Whatever the project, an Airtastic quote is fixed and written, and the installation includes nitrogen pressure testing, vacuum evacuation, commissioning to the manufacturer's specification, F-Gas paperwork and warranty registration in your name. Those aren't extras — skipping them is how systems fail early.
- Free on-site survey and fixed written quote — no obligation
- F-Gas certified installation, pressure test and commissioning
- Manufacturer warranty registered in your name
- Controller and app setup before we leave
How to get your actual number
Book a free survey and you'll have a fixed price for your property, usually within 48 hours of our visit for Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme — we're based in Basford, so ST postcodes are our shortest run. Call 0330 043 9244 or request a survey online.