Air conditioning in Dartford, Kent and south-east London
Air conditioning in Dartford and Kent, cool in summer and warm in winter.
Apex fits, services and repairs air conditioning for homes and businesses in Dartford, across Kent and in south-east London. The systems we fit are heat pumps, so one unit cools a hot bedroom in July and heats it in January. Olly surveys each room, sizes it properly and fits it himself, with a small team.
Olly HughesOwner and engineer. He quotes and fits the jobs himself.4.7 on Google (19) 25 Checkatrade reviews, 9.9/10 F-gas certified company
Olly Hughes, owner and engineerQuotes and fits the jobs himself, with a small team
Heating and cooling in one
Air conditioning you'll use all year, not just in a heatwave
The systems we fit are air-to-air heat pumps. The same indoor unit cools a hot bedroom in summer and heats a cold room in winter, for much less than a plug-in electric heater costs to run.
- Sized room by room. We work out how much heat each room gains and loses before we choose a unit, so it is not too big, too small or noisy.
- Quiet outside too. We site the outdoor unit away from bedroom windows and check it against the 37 dB(A) neighbour noise limit.
- Neat pipework. Pipes run through the wall behind the unit where possible, or in tidy trunking colour-matched to your walls.
- Control from your phone. Most units we fit have Wi-Fi, so you can warm the house up or cool the bedroom before you get home.
What we do
Air conditioning in Dartford and Kent: installation, servicing and repairs
From one bedroom unit to a whole-office system. We also service heat pumps and look after cellar cooling for pubs.
Air conditioning installation
Heat-and-cool systems for homes, sized room by room.
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Air conditioning servicing
Annual service and deep clean, keeps your warranty valid.
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Air conditioning repairs
Not cooling, leaking, noisy or showing an error code.
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Heat pump servicing
Checks, cleaning and leak tests before winter.
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Cellar cooling
Cellar coolers for pubs and bars: fit, repair, service.
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Commercial air conditioning
Offices, shops, salons, restaurants and surgeries.
Find out moreReviews
Reviews you can check for yourself
Every review is word for word from Checkatrade or Google, with the job and the area as the customer gave them.
Couldn't have asked for better service. The install was difficult and challenging due to access issues in loft. Olly made it look easy and dealt with everything in a professional and reassuring way. He went above and beyond as other companies had told me it couldn't be done. First rate job and top bloke.
First class service! Ollie is very knowledgeable, provided a thorough service and deep clean of all our units and fixed a leak.
I would highly recommend Apex Air Conditioning. Olly was great to work with from the start, giving me a break down of my options and never making me feel under pressure. The installation went smoothly and for a fair price. I would definitely use them again.
Home air conditioning
Air con for the rooms that get too hot
Most of our work is for homes. Every room is different, so here is what matters for each.
Bedrooms
The room most people start with. A quiet wall unit cools it before bed and takes the chill off on winter mornings.
Bedroom air conditioningLoft conversions
Lofts trap the heat under the roof. Sloping ceilings and tight eaves need careful planning for the unit and pipes.
Air con for a loftHome offices and garden rooms
Working from home in a hot room is hard. A heat-and-cool unit keeps a garden office usable all year round.
Home office air conFlats
Flats need the freeholder on board and a careful spot for the outdoor unit. We give you the details they ask for.
Air con in a flatLiving rooms
Bigger, sunnier rooms need a bigger unit, or two indoor units on one outdoor unit. Design finishes suit a lounge wall.
Wall-mounted unitsThe whole house
A multi-split serves several rooms from one outdoor unit. A ducted system hides everything in the ceiling.
Whole-house systems
Why Apex
Air con installers in Kent, run by the engineer who fits it
Apex is a Dartford air conditioning company. You deal with Olly from the first message to the last check, not a call centre or a sales rep.
- Checkatrade reviews since May 2020
- 25
- of those scored a full 10 out of 10
- 23
- stars on Google, from 19 reviews
- 4.7
- towns and areas we cover across Kent and London
- 42
- The person who quotes is the person who fits. Olly surveys the rooms, writes the quote and fits the system with his team, so nothing gets lost between a salesperson and an installer.
- Sized by calculation, not guesswork. Building regulations guidance (Approved Document L) says cooling should be sized from a heat-gain calculation. That is how we choose each unit.
- F-gas certified company. By law, only a certified company can install or service air conditioning. Apex is on the REFCOM register, certificate REF1017376. Check the register.
- A fixed written quote. The model, the size, where the pipes go and what is included. One Tunbridge Wells customer wrote: "Price we were quoted was the price we paid".
How it works
From first message to a room that's the right temperature
Send a photo or call
WhatsApp a photo of the room or the old unit, or call Olly. Most questions get a straight answer straight away.
Free survey and written quote
Olly looks at the rooms, the walls and where the outdoor unit can go, then sends a fixed written quote with the options explained.
Fitted neatly
Dust sheets down, dust caught while drilling, pipes hidden or in tidy trunking. One room is usually done in a day.
Shown how to use it
We test and commission it, show you the remote and the app, and tell you when it will be due its first service.
Before you buy
Cost, running costs and planning, answered straight
The three things people ask first. Each one links to a full guide.
£1,500 to £3,000one room, fitted (published UK range)
How much does air conditioning cost?
Published UK guides put one room at roughly £1,500 to £3,000 fitted, with London and the South East at the top of the range (Selectra, October 2026). Your price depends on the room, the unit, the pipe run and where the outdoor unit goes. We give a fixed written quote after a free survey.
Air conditioning cost guide13 to 26pan hour for a typical wall unit
Is it expensive to run?
An inverter wall unit typically draws about 0.5 to 1kW once the room is at temperature. At the October to December 2026 price cap of 26.32p per kWh (Ofgem), that is roughly 13 to 26p an hour.
What air con costs to runUsually notfor a house in England
Do I need planning permission?
Usually not, for a house in England. Since 29 May 2025 a unit that heats as well as cools is normally permitted development, if the outdoor unit passes the MCS 020(a) noise check. Flats, listed buildings and cooling-only units are different.
Planning permission guideReal Apex jobs
The finish matters as much as the unit
Photos from our own installs. You'll see the same tidy pipe runs and trunking on yours.
For pubs, bars and businesses
Warm beer costs you money. So does a hot office.
We fit, repair and service cellar coolers for pubs and venues (keeping cellars at the right beer cellar temperature), and air conditioning for offices, shops, salons, restaurants and surgeries, with the F-gas records your business has to keep.
Areas we cover
Based in Dartford, working across Kent and south-east London
Pick your area for local advice on planning, the homes there and what we've fitted nearby.
Dartford and north-west Kent
Bromley and south-east London
West Malling and mid Kent
Tunbridge Wells and the High Weald
Sussex and Surrey borders
Central and west London
Questions
What people ask before they book
Can air conditioning heat my home as well as cool it?
Yes. Nearly every system we fit is an air-to-air heat pump that runs both ways. It cools in summer and heats in winter from the same indoor unit. It moves heat rather than making it, so it gives out around three to four times more heat than the electricity it uses. How air-to-air heat pumps work.
What size air con do I need for a bedroom?
Many bedrooms suit a small wall unit of around 2 to 2.5kW, but it depends on the room. A south-facing room with a big window, a loft bedroom under the roof or a room with a computer running all day can need more. We work it out room by room at the survey, so the unit is not too big or too small.
How long does it take to fit air conditioning?
One room is usually done in a day, often less. A multi-room system takes longer, and the dates are in your quote. We put dust sheets down, catch the dust while drilling and clean up before we go. You get shown how to use the remote and the app before we leave.
Will my neighbours hear the outdoor unit?
Modern inverter units are quiet. We site the outdoor unit away from bedroom windows where we can, fit it on anti-vibration mounts and check it against the 37 dB(A) noise limit at your neighbour's nearest door or window. One Dartford customer was worried it would be loud, and it "turned out to be surprisingly quiet".
Do you service and repair air conditioning you did not fit?
Yes. We service and repair most makes, including Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Panasonic, Samsung and Fujitsu. WhatsApp a photo of the unit and its label first. It tells us the make and model, so we can bring the right parts. See air conditioning servicing and repairs.
Which areas do you cover?
We are based in Dartford and cover north-west Kent, Bromley and south-east London, Sevenoaks and the Darent Valley, West Malling, Tunbridge Wells and the High Weald, and the Sussex and Surrey borders. Commercial work also takes us into central London. See all the areas we cover.
Get a free quote
Talk to Olly directly. He quotes and fits the jobs himself.
Quickest way to a price: send on WhatsApp
- A photo of the room and the outside wall
- Your town and what you need
- For a repair, the unit's label and any error code
Free survey and a fixed written quote for new systems. No obligation.