The current focus for many in the heating pump sector and associated industries is predominantly on increasing heat pump installations to meet net-zero targets. As more heat pumps are installed, there’ll be more demand for heat pump repairs, maintenance and servicing (RMS). But is the industry prepared to take on this role? What challenges will the sector face in expanding its work in RMS?

Our 2024 report How to install more heat pumps shed light on some of the findings from our survey with 345 heating engineers, which we ran in partnership Emma Bohan and Nathan Gambling. There were many other findings we weren’t able to include, so this project update is part of a series examining those remaining topics.

The previous update looked at the role industry bodies and informal networks can play in empowering heat pump installers. This final update explores the changes required for the heating sector to meet increasing demand for RMS.

Figure 1 shows the vast majority of respondents (74%) already offer RMS, with the proportion growing for those that are part of larger companies and have been in the sector for longer also shown in Figure 2. This might be expected as both larger companies and those with more time in the sector might have more clients with units requiring routine maintenance or servicing. Larger companies may also have more business capacity to take on this work, while those with more time in the industry might also have more experience and confidence with troubleshooting repairs.

In addition to this, Figure 3 shows over 80% of those who currently offer RMS are expecting to expand this offer in the future. This suggests a positive outlook for the sector’s ability to cope with an increased demand for RMS in the future.

Understanding the challenges that businesses currently face with RMS is important to ensure they don’t become any more burdensome as the sector responds to a growing number of requests from households.

Figure 4 shows that about a third of company owners are struggling to find the skills needed to offer RMS and find it difficult to fit this work into their schedule. Just under a quarter also report that it’s hard to make a profit from this work.

Despite these challenges, it’s possible that many businesses might not offer RMS because they don’t currently have enough customer demand for it at the moment, and not due to major challenges in other areas. Figure 4 shows how 31% of business owners face a low level of customer demand for RMS. Taken alongside Figure 5, which shows an increase in customer demand is the reason for the majority of businesses moving into RMS work, it might be possible that many are mostly prepared to take it on when the demand arises.

However, that isn’t to say that challenges around the profitability of RMS, the skills required for these tasks, and the ability to fit it into current work schedules shouldn’t be addressed. Figure 5 shows 43% of businesses intend to move into RMS as it becomes more profitable and 37% as they now have access to the right skills and expertise, demonstrating just how important addressing these issues is to ensure the workforce can meet this increased demand. Furthermore, some challenges, such as the difficulty of fitting RMS into current work schedules, might actually become more challenging as customer demand grows or businesses expand their work in this area.

While it’s positive that the sector is keen to expand its work in RMS (Figure 3), there is anecdotal evidence of some engineers who prefer not to work on systems installed by others. If this reluctance is widespread, it could cause issues with the capacity for the sector to meet household demand for RMS in the future.

We investigated how widespread this sentiment was as part of our survey. Figure 6 shows that we found only a quarter (25%) of respondents don’t offer, or don’t intend to offer, RMS for heat pump systems other than their own installations. This, again, is positive as it suggests the majority of the sector would work on most systems, regardless of who installed them.

For those who aren’t interested in working on systems installed by others, Figure 7 shows the majority (61%) don’t want to take responsibility for issues that might be associated with the initial installation. A large proportion (43%) also only want to work with systems they’ve been trained in or understand, or with customers with whom they have an existing relationship.

Overall, the industry is relatively prepared for the likely future increase in RMS demand. The majority of companies are already offering RMS and are also expecting to expand this work in the future. Our survey found that three-quarters of respondents are also happy to work on systems installed by other engineers, which may become increasingly important

However, businesses face some challenges with RMS. Although the lack of customer demand for RMS (the most common barrier) will likely grow as the prevalence of heat pumps increases, it’s important to note that this very increase in demand could also deepen challenges around obtaining the skills required for RMS work and fitting it into engineers’ work schedules. If these challenges aren’t addressed before demand increases, the currently positive outlook for heat pump RMS may not continue. 

To address these issues, RMS-specific training could be developed to help close the skills gap engineers are reporting, while training on business management could help address challenges around fitting RMS into existing work patterns. Our survey also found that engineers were particularly keen on improving their business management skills, adding weight to the potential importance of this solution.