Budget Solar 4KW system for £8000 fitted

[Zipp]

Has anyone had any dealings with Budget Solar based in Bolton? They are advertising an MCS fitted 4KW system using JA Solar 250W mono panels and a Fronius IG TL 3.6 inverter with 5 year workmanship warranty for £8000 all in.

Is this kit OK or is it a case of 'get what you pay for'?

BTW found out today that Fronius are offering a 20 year extended warranty for the price of a 10 year extended warranty until the end of October.

 

[cjapeterborough]

Same chap is offering another unspecified 4kw system on Ebay for £7500...I think he is just using the Budget Solar logo btw as his Ebay ID suggests he is a roofer...
Cant argue with the spec much and the price is certainly interesting....I doubt after sales support will be a strong point at these prices but who knows?
Looks like competition is driving prices sub £10K now-a year ago £14K plus...where will it end?

 

[dansk]

Mate it sounds like they have cashflow problems/or are desperate, i know how much JA Solar panels are, and how much 3.6 inverter is, there hardly making a bean out of this, unless the kits coming out of the back door.

 

[mandiemo]

hi everyone, i have had a 4kw system installed by budget solar, and i can confirm that the products they use are fantastic, they are fully MCS, REAL ETC, their documentation is fab, and the electician they used was fully accredited, and also came very well recommended by some of my friends who have used him in the past and it just so happened it was the same electician that budget use. As far as the price goes, i shopped around and the same systems that budget used i was quoted upto 15k, so come on guys do you think us householders are stupid. why would i pay an extra 7k for the exact same service, i now realise the profit you guys are charging. i have reccomended budget to 12 of my friends and i know that 10 of them have booked them. so before you all go make derrogitory comments about budget, think about the costs you are charging for the same products and the same service. i have asked my friends who budget are doing work for to post on here as soon as the work is completed on their houses. so guys if you want more work........lower your prices. my friends are having to wait for upto 7 weeks as budget are so competitive, but the savings they will make is worth the wait.

 

[pto]

Hi there,

Rarely do I go through the effort of going to make an account just to make a recommendation, but I used Budget Solar for a 2Kw system I wanted, and they were without doubt the best priced. The guy came and did a quick survey, we decided a date, the work was done and the bill paid. I got the MCS certificate / REAL warranty application as part of the hand over pack and I'm waiting to hear back off Scottish Power. I'll be a reference for them any day of the week.

FYI I got 8 * JASolar panels installed with a 2Kw Fronius Inverter.

Would recommend (and have done) to my friends and family.

Jack

 

[SolarCity]

Mandiemo and pto - or should I say Budget Solar - spare us the charade, would you?

Does everyone think we're stupid on this forum?

 

[mandiemo]

biggssolar, i was alerted to this by my friend who is awaiting an installation. if you would like my telephone number and address, so you can see it for yourself, then by all means let me know. i have nothing to hide ....at all..................................grow up and get a life. no wonder there are programmes all the time on tv about excessive over priced tradesmen.

 

[Worcester]

Bet you won't get an installation like this for that price:

 

[langstroth2]

Worcester, rather going off topic, but any pictures of the cable run up and over the soffit's/roof side boards to the panels; or do you go through the roof tiles if possible? Just be interested to compare with my install - I noticed the cables are not in any sleaving where they go over the roof edge. Won't they suffer from wear and tear that way?

 

[Worcester]

That's precisely the point, there aren't any cables going over the roof edge ...

AC cables run in conduit along the line of black bricks to minimise its presence visualy, We took the trellis off, conduit in place, trellis back on. - the 2.5mm2 t & cpc isn't ours, we didn't touch it (it was already there)

DC cables in conduit up side of house into roof space then through protective oval conduit to come out under the tiles, back of tile slightly ground out to give space for conduit protected cable, conduit run under tile and through lap in felt, no penetrations.

If you have to come down the eaves side, then it should be simple to run the conduit through the soffit board and exit the cables either into the roof space and exit as above, or if no access to the roof space run the DC up under the tiles, making sure it is mechanically protected where it need to be. - 25 years of wind will flap cables about and chafe them unless they are properly secured / protected.

 

[SolarCity]

biggssolar, i was alerted to this by my friend who is awaiting an installation. if you would like my telephone number and address, so you can see it for yourself, then by all means let me know. i have nothing to hide ....at all..................................grow up and get a life. no wonder there are programmes all the time on tv about excessive over priced tradesmen.

For that price, I couldn't afford to pay my men NOR erect scaffold NOR get a structural survey.

If you can't see the room in the middle between excessive priced tradesmen and cheap as chips installs then the "dodgy builder" tv shows are clearly aimed at you.

Lets hope that you don't wake up one morning to find a solar array in the spare room.

 

[solarsavings]

I guess some of you are lucky to live in an area where things are not yet cut throat. It is here, and it's coming your way soon. It wont matter how good you are or claim to be install prices are on the way down. We can all supply and fit a (cheap Chinese) 4kw system for around £8000, whether we want to or not is another matter.

 

[SolarCity]

I guess some of you are lucky to live in an area where things are not yet cut throat. It is here, and it's coming your way soon. It wont matter how good you are or claim to be install prices are on the way down. We can all supply and fit a (cheap Chinese) 4kw system for around £8000, whether we want to or not is another matter.

£8k? For a 4kWp system, properly surveyed and designed, installed, commisioned, with structural surveys, scaffold, paid men, diesel, van and tools?

Not a chance. Something would have to give and I'm guessing for most it will be the survey, the structural calcs and the paid men.

 

[SRE]

We can all supply and fit a (cheap Chinese) 4kw system for around £8000, whether we want to or not is another matter.

Absolutely no chance of doing it for that price - it would be cheaper to give the customer 1k to go away!

 

[solarsavings]

67p a watt for chinese mono's unknown cell grade. Do the math.You can do it as can the man in Bolton.

 

[MorganPVI]

Wow, 8K is a great price - I wish all their customers well, good luck to them.

I do wonder how they can afford paid schills bigging them up on this forum.

 

[SRE]

67p a watt for chinese mono's unknown cell grade. Do the math.You can do it as can the man in Bolton.

Of course I can, but then it costs me a fortune to put right the complaints and deal with an unknown Chinese firm to rectify the problem, marketing costs would rocket because I wouldn't be trading on reputation (marketing costs are currently £500/pa) and would be potentially paying solicitors to defend cases. So the answer is the same - no can't do it for 8k, it would be cheaper to pay them to go away.

 

[solarsavings]

If you believe what's been written here by Bolton man's happy customers then he won't have any of the problems you expect to have if you copy his business plan.

The simple truth is module and inverter prices are falling and labour cost will too. If you don't believe that, you've either got your head in the clouds or up your.....................

 

[MorganPVI]

How bad are the 67p/W panels? They must be absolute tat and knocked up in a small asian industrial unit dumping toxic waste left right and center, there is no way these panels will last 25 years. Cheap solar panels are a false economy and Caevat Empor

 

[SRE]

If you believe what's been written here by Bolton man's happy customers then he won't have any of the problems you expect to have if you copy his business plan.

The simple truth is module and inverter prices are falling and labour cost will too. If you don't believe that, you've either got your head in the clouds or up your.....................

That'll be why we're booked out until January then ..... obviously we've no idea what we're talking about.