What does a PSSR written scheme and examination cost?
Pressure-system prices vary because buyers often combine different services: mapping the system, preparing or reviewing a written scheme, opening and preparing plant, carrying out the statutory examination, undertaking specialist tests and repairing defects.
Check my situationPrice the scheme and the examination as separate decisions
A quote should say whether the provider will create or certify a scheme, which vessels, pipework and protective devices are included, what examination will be performed and what the dutyholder must do to prepare the system. Without that separation, two prices may describe materially different work.
- Count main plant, vessels and protective devices and identify system interconnections.
- State whether a suitable current written scheme already exists.
- Describe access, isolation, strip-down, shutdown and specialist-test requirements.
What to do next: Request a line-item quotation for inventory or discovery, written-scheme work, competent-person examination, reporting, travel and optional tests. Exclude servicing and repairs unless every bidder receives the same specification.
What moves the figure
System complexity, number and type of examinable parts, missing records, new-scheme preparation, deterioration mechanisms, access, shutdown and non-destructive testing can all change the time and competence required.
- Number of systems, vessels and devices
- Simple, intermediate or complex system characteristics
- Existing scheme quality and equipment history
- Internal and external examination preparation
- Specialist testing and multi-site scheduling
Why published prices need restraint
The public figures found by Vendor Atlas are mainly for simpler individual equipment such as dental pressure vessels and coffee boilers. They help constrain the bottom of the model but are not evidence of the price for a steam installation, industrial refrigeration plant or complex process system.
The calculator states that limitation and uses a wider spread for pressure work. Actual quotes should rapidly replace the initial assumptions once comparable buyer data exists.
Dutyholder preparation can be a separate cost
The competent person may require plant to be isolated, cooled, drained, opened, cleaned or stripped down. A maintenance contractor may undertake that work even when an independent inspection body performs the examination.
Ask exactly who supplies labour, replacement seals, safety-valve work, access equipment and recommissioning. A low examination fee can omit substantial preparation.
Published prices are boundaries, not a market average
Vendor Atlas uses these provider sources only to constrain the deterministic planning model. Dates, regions, inclusions and equipment differ, so the result is not a market benchmark or a live quotation.
- Lloyd & Whyte : Publishes £255 plus VAT and an administration fee for its specified pressure-vessel inspection service.
- Bridge Coffee Roasters : Publishes £445 per coffee machine including its stated inspection, certification, records and standard parts.
- United Coffee Company : Publishes a single-machine pressure-vessel test from £318.75 plus VAT.
What is still missing: awarded quote data normalised to the same asset schedule, access conditions and deliverables. The calculator shows every adjustment so it can be replaced cleanly as that evidence arrives.
Use the comparable-quote standard