New Solar System

[gazcallyt]

Hi Guys,
I'm new to the forum but a couple of questions to ask about pv, had various companies coming out and giving me quotes for a 2.8kw system, they are roughly around the 12.5 grand mark, after further investigation most of them are making a killing on the install some as much as around 4 grand, after doing a bit of searching around I came across a company that would install a 2.6KW system for 9 grand, this included schuco panels and a sma inverter, but as a rule they will not install the inverter in the loft saying its down to temperature that will cause the reduction in life of the inverter, on most of the sma inverters it clearly states that they will cope with temps upto 60 degree and over, so thought it a bit strange to have that as a rule, surely the shorter the dc cable between the panels and the inverter the better.

Any comments / suggestions welcome.

Gaz

 

[Worcester]

@ 12.5 grand they aren't making a killing, they are making a living.
@9 grand he is about to go broke, he is not recovering all his costs and his cashflow will kill him, he may not be around in a few years to fulfill his warranty.

The length of DC cables in a domestic install is not that significant, we have some commercial installs with 60 m+ lengths.

Loft or elsewhere - the debate rages! there is no right answer it is case by case.

 

[gazcallyt]

Cheers for clearing up the cable question, but come on 4.5 grand for 2 days work, I can see where your coming from if you are a small installer, but the bigger companies that have the financial backing behind them are just in it for the money, especially when they have contracts with the suppliers to get the kit cheaper in bulk as with most things.
The 9 grand price came from a company that has that backing from shuco, and the savings are passed on, no matter whether the installer is big or small nobody can gaurantee if they will be around to fulfil there warranty, take focus diy for example, you pays your money you take your chances.

Gaz.

 

[Worcester]

It's not 2.5 days work.

There can easily be three days of paperwork for a job (You'll never see any of that, just the nice certificate you get at the end)

And they have to buy all the materials with their money any pay their labour and buy at 20% VAT, the cost of providing the cash to run a Solar PV business is a big one also.

The larger guys also have to pay a salesman, a sales manger, a finance director, the MD's new car

I would always recommend stay local, they have a reputation to maintain, and will be around when the big boys have consolidated.

 

[SolarCity]

Worcester you must write really slow !!!

Perhaps it's because he does the job properly.

 

[gr7]

I would have said 3 days (24 man hours) is the minimum we spend on the documentation for each project. The customer is paying a lot of money of their system and deserves a quality paperwork throughout and a well organised indexed handover pack. We take great care with the presentation of all our paperwork.
Even if the documentation was quickly churned out with no real attention to detail it would still take at least 2 days when you take into account the time taken to produce the system design, quotation materials, H&S, notifications, certificates, ordering materials etc.

 

[SolarCity]

are you trying to say i dont ?

dont know how it takes three days to write the paper work ?

Not at all. Simply saying that Worcester clearly does the job properly.

Three days of documentation seems entirely accurate to me. Sometimes shorter, often longer.

 

[sparky3366]

When I saw the heading, I thought it was a cosmic incident

 

[Triplesolar]

hiya all.
We do all our paperwork in a day(domestic). sometimes if its complex then two-three days(commercial)
gazcallyt we can do a 2.92kw system with sma inverter and scheuco mounting system for A very competeive price. in london and upto 100 miles
the panels are mono crystalline * 30 Year Output warranty * * 7 Year product warranty *.
usually most panels on the market have 20-25 year output warranty.

pm for prices.

cheers

 

[Markc]

The 9 grand price came from a company that has that backing from shuco, and the savings are passed on,

Gaz.

I would be a little skeptical of this statement. Schuco do not supply direct to the installer only via supply partners and wholesale. No installer can boost that they have Schuco backing only they use Schuco products. Schuco are there for tech support and training but the prices will come from the suppliers.

 

[SRE]

3 days at least - sometimes more! Don't know anyone that takes any less - waiting with baited breath to get it down with the help of Paperclip. I worked in the public sector for 14 years before this and even they didn't have this much paperwork!

Sorry Gazallyt, Worcester and everyone else is right about the pricing. We've been working until 12 midnight for 13 out of every 14 days since August last year and we just started to take a wage of £600/month last month.

If less than £1/hr is making a killing then yes, we're guilty

Mind you next month we're hoping to get up to the dizzy heights of £2/hr .... Aldi beans will be out and Heinz back in at this rate!

 

[gr7]

Well said SRE.

 

[gazcallyt]

Cheers guys for all the comments, obviously not been an installer myself I don't see what goes into it behind the scenes so appreciate that it does take time to plan a system, and we all have to make a living somehow, just trying to get a professional install at a reasonable price by a professional installer, but talking to so many different companies each has different ways of how they should be installed.
At the moment I am leaning towards a 2.58 kw system using 12 Schuco 215 PS 05 panels with a sunnyboy 2500 HF inverter, the inverter has a 15 year warranty with it, and the panels have there effeciency gaurantee, this coming it at around £9200 installed, my question is does the system sound ok fo the money, after months of research it sounds pretty good to me.

Gaz

 

[SRE]

Honestly - I'd be a bit concerned that the installer may not be there long enough to help you out with the guarantee - I can't see how the overheads and contingency funds could be covered in that BUT it's only my opinion

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Cheers guys for all the comments, obviously not been an installer myself I don't see what goes into it behind the scenes so appreciate that it does take time to plan a system, and we all have to make a living somehow, just trying to get a professional install at a reasonable price by a professional installer, but talking to so many different companies each has different ways of how they should be installed.
At the moment I am leaning towards a 2.58 kw system using 12 Schuco 215 PS 05 panels with a sunnyboy 2500 HF inverter, the inverter has a 15 year warranty with it, and the panels have there effeciency gaurantee, this coming it at around £9200 installed, my question is does the system sound ok fo the money, after months of research it sounds pretty good to me.

Gaz

Id be about £1K higher, so its all down to the installer and that will count for a fair bit.

“The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory.”
​

 

[gazcallyt]

Surely the Gaurantee's would be with the manufacturers and not the installers for the kit itself ?

Gaz

 

[BruceB]

Surely the Gaurantee's would be with the manufacturers and not the installers for the kit itself ?

Gaz

The installer is your first port of call for any guarantee work as they will guarantee their work for anything from 1 to 5 years and if you are a consumer then you have the sale of goods act on your side. And REAL (or a related insurance organisation) backs up the installers warranty if you pay £35 from memory. However, on top of any installer guarantee, both inverter and panel manufacturers are giving of the order of 5 year warranties. Inverter warranties quite often are extendable at a price and panel warranties also have a performance warranty, typically out to 25 years.

Regards
Bruce

 

[gazcallyt]

nice one, cheers Bruce.