How Much Does a Unifi Network Installation Cost in the UK? (2026 Guide)

Before We Get to the Numbers: Why Unifi Specifically?

Worth being upfront about this before we go any further. Unifi isn't the only professional-grade networking platform out there, but it's the one we've built the whole business around, and the reason isn't brand loyalty. After 50+ installations across Yorkshire, we genuinely haven't found anything else that delivers that same combination of hardware quality, real visibility into what's happening on your network, and long-term reliability without charging a monthly fee just to keep basic features working.

Here's the bit some people find surprising, though. Unifi isn't a plug-and-play product. You can't buy a couple of access points off Amazon, fire them up and expect miracles. A Unifi setup that's been badly designed or sloppily configured is genuinely worse than a well-set-up consumer mesh system. The hardware is only a portion of what you're paying for when you go professional. The design, the installation and the configuration are where most of the actual value sits.

Anyway. The numbers.

What Actually Moves the Price

Mostly five things. Understand these and you can make a reasonable call about whether any quote you receive is in the right territory:

1. Size and layout of the property

A one-bed flat usually needs a single access point. A four-bed detached with a loft conversion and a detached garage is a completely different project. More floor area means more APs, longer cable runs, more installation time. The costs compound faster than most people expect, which is why two properties that look similar from the outside can quote very differently.

2. How many access points you actually need

Each Unifi access point covers roughly 100–150m² in a typical UK home, but that word "typical" is carrying a lot of weight. Solid brick walls, chimney breasts, concrete floors, steel-framed extensions, foil-backed insulation: all of these eat signal faster than an open-plan floor plan would suggest. A decent installer works out the AP count after walking the building, not from staring at a floor plan. Anyone quoting a specific number without a site visit is guessing, frankly.

3. Cabling: the real wildcard

Each Unifi AP needs a physical cable run back to a switch. That's how Power over Ethernet works. In a new build with open joists and accessible loft space, this is fairly straightforward. In a finished 1930s semi with solid concrete floors, no loft void access and no obvious route between storeys, it takes considerably longer. This is almost always the single biggest variable between two properties that look similar on paper but quote very differently.

4. The rest of the system

The APs are just one piece of the hardware. You also need a router and firewall (typically a UniFi Dream Router or Dream Machine, depending on scale), a managed PoE switch, and if CCTV is on the spec, a Network Video Recorder too. Hardware isn't cheap and every item should be spelled out line by line in any quote before you agree to anything.

5. Whether you're bundling other work

Worth knowing: quite a few customers add CCTV, door access or a full Cat6 structured cabling run at the same time as the WiFi install. Because we're already on-site running cables, the labour overlap makes the combined job noticeably cheaper than two separate bookings. Something worth thinking about before the walls go back on.

Residential Costs: Realistic UK Ranges

These are based on what we actually quote and invoice. Not national averages, not aspirational figures. Yorkshire properties, real prices:

Business Installation Costs

Commercial work sits in a different category to residential, not necessarily because it's technically harder, but because the requirements layer up quickly. More devices, more distinct network segments, compliance considerations in some sectors, and cabling infrastructure that needs to last the lifetime of the building rather than until someone decides to move house.

Anything multi-site or genuinely complex gets scoped on its own terms. The variables are too significant to generalise beyond the figures above.

What the Quote Should Always Include

This is where people get caught out more often than anywhere else in the process. A low headline figure sometimes means items have been quietly excluded, ready to reappear as additions once work has started and it feels awkward to raise objections. Before signing anything, check the quote explicitly covers:

• Hardware supply: access points, switch, router/firewall, patch panel. All of it.
• Cabling and containment: the runs, the faceplates, trunking or in-wall work. Not just "labour".
• Full configuration: VLANs, SSIDs, firewall rules, guest portals. Not just plugging things in.
• Testing and sign-off: speed tests at every AP, a proper coverage walk before they leave.
• Handover pack: network diagram, all credentials, device inventory. You should own this information.

Every Astral Networking Solutions quote covers all of the above in a single fixed price. What's on the quote is what you actually pay. No extras at invoice, no "we found some additional work while we were there" calls mid-job. We're fairly firm about that.

The £75 Consultation Fee: and Why It's Worth It

Some people push back on this, which is fair enough. Why pay for a quote?

A Unifi installation simply can't be accurately priced without seeing the property. The things that drive the cost most, what the walls are actually made of, where cable routes are, what existing infrastructure can be reused, how the building actually absorbs radio signal, none of those are visible from a floor plan. An installer quoting remotely is either padding the price significantly to cover unknowns, or they're guessing and the quote may not survive contact with reality.

The site visit covers a full walkthrough, cable route assessment, a review of your existing kit, and a preliminary coverage design. The £75 comes off your quote in full if you go ahead. If you decide not to, you've paid £75 for a thorough professional network assessment from someone who actually knows what they're looking at. Most people think that's fair value. A few don't, and that's absolutely fine too.

Unifi vs Consumer Mesh: an Honest Comparison

A four-node Eero Pro or Google Nest system runs £400–£600 in hardware alone. No installation. No configuration beyond the app wizard. No network segmentation, no meaningful firewall. For a studio flat with one person working from home? Honestly, probably adequate.

For a larger home with a proper home office, a collection of IoT devices, cameras, or any commercial space at all, consumer mesh systems start to show their limits fairly quickly. Everything lands on the same flat network: your work laptop, your kids' tablets, the smart doorbell, the NAS drive, all sitting together with no meaningful separation between them. That's not a setup that should sit comfortably with anyone who thinks about it for thirty seconds.

Yes, the Unifi install costs more upfront. But run the numbers over five years. Factor in the reliability difference, the fact the hardware won't get discontinued when the manufacturer moves on to the next subscription model, and not replacing a consumer mesh kit every three years when the app drops support for it. The gap closes considerably.

So, What Will Mine Actually Cost?

Genuinely, we can't give you a number without seeing the property. Anyone who says otherwise without a site visit is guessing. What we can tell you is that after the survey you'll have a precise, itemised, fixed quote with no grey areas, and the £75 comes off that figure if you proceed.

We cover all of Yorkshire: Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, Mexborough, Wath, Wombwell, Hoyland, Stocksbridge, Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Maltby, Swinton, Conisbrough, Wickersley, Dinnington, Penistone and everywhere in between. Give us a ring on 07438 972049 or fill in the form below.