“Heat pump cowboys” are stopping ignorant consumers for the big bucks

Due to long wait times and a lack of installers, defaulters are getting more and more space in the heat pump market, according to BNR Tour. Consumers are being extorted for hundreds of euros or more by “heat pump cowboys”.

This is evidenced by a survey conducted by BNR among dozens of installers and other experts. “These people are taking hundreds of euros off the ignorant consumer, who has no knowledge of heat sources,” says Loek Pander of the Heat Pump manufacturer.

Consumers’ relative unfamiliarity with the heat pump, Bander says, makes them an easy target. Three out of ten homeowners don’t even know what a heat pump is, according to a previous survey of 1,028 homeowners by Milieu Centraal.

Heat Pump Cowboys work in different ways. Some give tips of hundreds of euros, such as calculating inventory or sending, which are subsequently ignored. I regularly attend a trade show. Eighty percent of those interested, Bander says, are self-appointed water pump consultants.

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Increased demand leads to problems

The increasing demand for their services is driven by government policy. From 2026 it is mandatory to switch to a hybrid heat pump installation when the central heating boiler needs to be replaced. “This is a huge jump,” says Taco Van Hook, director of the Economic Institute for the Construction Industry (EIB). This means that 300,000 central heating boilers must be replaced in one year. This can have unpleasant consequences for the consumer. However, the installer sector is putting on blinders, while it goes without saying that such a big jump would lead to a scarcity of installers and higher rates.

Doekle Terpstra, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Techniek Nederland, says that he is already working hard to achieve sufficient capacity in 2026 for the high demand for heat pumps. For example, the employers’ organization launched the “Hybrid Heat Pump Action Plan” in collaboration with the government. An important part of the plan is further education and training for the mechanics. With the partial MBO certification “Hybrid Heat Pump Installation and Commissioning”, technicians can be trained more quickly. In addition, Techniek Nederland wants to cut the heat pump installation time in half, from an average of 32 hours to 16 hours.

Unnecessary advice is just one of the questionable revenue models in the growth market. There are also bunglers between the installers. For example, geothermal installer Anita Hart-Deoticom often sees an air source heat pump offered for too much money with incorrect throughput numbers. Customers then think they are saving, but a year later, they incur additional costs.

Harte-Deutekom says: “Nowadays, heat source companies appear like mushrooms, and suddenly everyone has been working in this profession for twenty years. We even know that some companies have not installed more than a few heat pumps in their career.

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Ignorance plays a role.

According to Harte-Deutekom, many plumbers do heat pump work on the side and lack the necessary certifications. This is a particular problem when installing technically complex ground source heat pumps. There are huge amounts involved. For example, a customer is assisted by someone who cannot provide the correct knowledge and services and cannot subsequently fulfill the guarantee, with all the misery that entails.

Van Hooke of the EIB suspects that ignorance plays a role in many cases. The EIB has no numbers, but the manager knows the problem firsthand. ‘I once did an inventory with an installer to see if a hybrid boiler was an option for my home, but he found it difficult,’ says Van Hoek. “It is very likely that the various parties to this market simply do not know what they are doing.”