Running Cost Calculator

The same floor heating can cost $240 a month or $601 a month.

The quote won't tell you which one you're buying. This will. Put in your home's size and see the gap between a system built right and one built the common cheap way – for your house, before the slab is poured.

Modelled estimates for a 200 m² Perth home, per winter month, at today's Synergy A1 rate – not a quote or a promise.

Your home

Floor area you want heated

The rough size of the heated area, in square metres. It's the only number that changes the estimate – estimate if you're not sure.

200 m²

Where in Western Australia?

These three don't change the estimate – they tell Joseph what to look at first.

Single or double storey?

Do you know your slab type? optional

If you don't know yet, that's normal – and it's exactly why this matters. Slab on ground: poured straight onto the ground. Suspended slab: open air or a room underneath.

What's the build costing, roughly? optional

Lets us show what's at stake if the heating's the part that gets done cheap.

Your home · 200 m² · Perth metro

Two ways to build it. Here's what each one costs to run in a Perth winter.

Built rightInsulated screed, sized correctly, heat pump sited to breathe $240/mo in wintermodelled estimate

Built the common cheap wayPipe in an uninsulated slab, no thermal break – the quote that looks like a bargain $601/mo in wintermodelled estimate

$361 a month difference, every winter month (modelled estimate)

Same house. Same comfort. Same winter. Over 20 winters that's $36,100 – and the cheap version is the one you'll usually be quoted, because it's faster and cheaper to pour.

Get the full breakdown – and the guide.

We'll email you these numbers in a format you can share with your partner, architect, or builder – plus Phil's free 27-page guide, You Find Out in July, on the five floor heating mistakes that turn a hydronic system into an expensive space heater.

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Your guide is ready: Read You Find Out in July now → · Download the PDF

Now: how do you make sure you land on the $240 side?

The calculator shows you the gap. It can't put your home on the right side of it – only the engineering can. That's what the Comfort Guarantee Roadmap does: your home's route to the efficient number, your build slot held, and every room guaranteed to temperature when we build it.

See the Comfort Guarantee Roadmap →

Next steps once you have your guide

Know the gap – now check your build for the specific risks that create it.

The calculator shows the gap in principle. The Thermal Risk Scan checks which side your actual build decisions are pointing toward – floor type, thermal break, insulation under the slab, heat pump siting.

→ Thermal Risk Scan (free, 2 minutes)

Already holding a quote? Run it through the Quote Comparison Decoder → Tick what it includes in writing, and see what the silence costs.

Not giving us your email? Fair enough – here's what the Comfort Guarantee Roadmap does →

The hidden scenario

What if the bad build gets too expensive – and you switch it off?

Cheap floor heating – installation costTypical cheap unengineered install (no design, no guarantee) $22,500

Extra running cost – 2 winters before giving up$601 instead of $240 a winter month, before the owner switches it off (modelled estimate) –

Spent on a heater nobody usesThe installation plus two winters of extra running cost –

Modelled estimate, not a quote or a promise. The model assumes a five-month Perth heating season at about 7 hours a day, today's Synergy A1 rate (33.26 c/kWh) held flat for 20 years – no price rises, no discounting – and a conservative 2.5× difference between a careful build and a typical cheap one; real-world worst cases run up to four times. Location, storeys and slab type do not change the estimate. Your actual cost depends on your final design, build quality, how you heat, and energy prices. The number is the reason to get the design right; it is never something we guarantee.