Underfloor heating Cost Calculator
How much does underfloor heating cost in 2026? Electric underfloor heating costs £60–£120/m² supplied and fitted; wet (water) underfloor heating costs £90–£190/m². A small bathroom runs £400–£1,200, a kitchen-diner £1,500–£3,500, and whole-house wet UFH in a new build £6,000–£13,000. This guide…
Open the calculator →Price underfloor heating in 30 seconds
2 steps, using the figures from our cost guide.
How this calculator works
Every figure in this calculator is the one published in the cost table on our underfloor heating guide. Pick the option that matches your job and the calculator returns that published range, adjusted for your region - it does not model anything the guide does not already say.
That is deliberate. A calculator whose rates drift from the page it sits under is worse than no calculator, because two numbers on the same site disagree.
What it cannot know: access, the condition of what is already there, and anything structural. Those are what separate three real quotes from each other.
Published underfloor heating costs (2026)
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| En-suite / small bathroom | £400–£1,200 | |
| Family bathroom | £700–£1,600 | |
| Kitchen | £900–£2,400 | |
| Open-plan kitchen-diner | £1,500–£3,500 | |
| Single-storey extension | £1,800–£4,500 | |
| Conservatory / garden room | £1,200–£3,200 | |
| Whole house — new build | £6,000–£13,000 | |
| Whole house — retrofit | £12,000–£22,000 |
These are the figures from our underfloor heating cost guide.
Wet or electric, and what actually changes the fit
There are two systems and they suit different jobs. Electric underfloor heating is a thin mat or loose cable that sits under tile or stone – quick to lay, cheap per room, and easy to retrofit. Wet underfloor heating runs warm water through pipes in a screed or a low-profile panel, costs more to install, and is far cheaper to run. As a rough guide, electric wins for a single small room and wet wins for anything whole-floor.
New build and extensions are the easy case: the pipes or mats go in before the floor’s finished, so there’s no lifting and no height problem. Retrofit is where the cost and the awkwardness live. You’re either digging out to lay a proper screed or fitting a low-profile overlay that still adds height – and once you raise the floor you have to deal with doors, thresholds and the bottom of the stairs.
Build-up height is the detail people miss. A traditional wet screed is deep and slow to warm; a low-profile overlay adds far less but holds less heat. Electric mats add only a few millimetres plus adhesive, which is why they’re the default for a bathroom you don’t want to raise. Get the build-up wrong and you’re either planing doors or living with a cold, slow floor.
Response time follows the mass. A thin electric mat warms in twenty minutes or so, which suits a bathroom you heat on a timer. A deep wet screed is the opposite – slow to come up, slow to cool, happiest left ticking over rather than switched on and off. That’s not a fault, it’s just how the two behave, and it should decide which one you pick.
Floor finish matters as well. Tile and stone pass heat through best and are the natural partners for underfloor. Thick carpet and heavy underlay fight it, and solid timber can move if it isn’t rated for it. Tell your fitter the finish before anything is ordered, because it changes the output you need and sometimes the system itself.
On running cost, wet underfloor is the one that pairs with a heat pump. It works at a low flow temperature, which is exactly where a heat pump is efficient, so the two together are cheaper to run than radiators. Electric underfloor uses mains electricity at a much higher unit price than gas, so it’s best kept to small rooms used a few hours a day rather than heating the whole house.
Underfloor heating calculator — FAQs
Electric underfloor heating costs £60–£120/m² supplied and installed in 2026, while wet (water) underfloor heating costs £90–£190/m². By project: a small bathroom is £400–£1,200, a kitchen-diner £1,500–£3,500, and a whole-house wet system £6,000–£13,000 in a new build (£12,000–£22,000 retrofitted). Electric is cheaper per room; wet is cheaper to run and the right choice for large areas. London and the South East add 15–25%.
Electric is best for single rooms and retrofits where you want a thin build-up and fast warm-up — a bathroom or en-suite is the classic case. Wet is best for whole-house projects, extensions and new builds because it's far cheaper to run and integrates with your boiler or heat pump. As a rule of thumb, use electric for rooms under 10m² and wet for anything larger or whole-floor.
Wet underfloor heating is typically 15–25% cheaper to run than radiators because it works at a low 35–45°C flow temperature (versus 60–70°C), keeping a condensing boiler efficient and a heat pump at a high COP. Electric underfloor heating is not cheaper than radiators — it uses mains electricity at roughly four times the unit price of gas, so it's best reserved for small rooms used a few hours a day.
Yes. Electric mats or low-profile wet overlay systems can be retrofitted into most homes. Low-profile wet adds only 15–20mm to floor height and needs no deep excavation; electric mats add just 3–6mm plus adhesive. The main constraints are floor build-up, door clearances and skirting heights, which is why retrofit runs 20–50% more than new build once floor lifting, levelling and reinstatement are included.
Related cost guides
- Underfloor heating cost guide — The full price guide
- All plumbing services — Browse the hub
- All BestBuilders services — Every trade we cover
Get 3 Free Quotes
60 seconds · No spam · No obligation