Plans for 2012

[SolarCity]

I'm interested to hear the plans of other installers. As you are no doubt aware, I am one of the more pessimistic installers on the forum. I think PV is ruined unless Greg Barker has a rethink.

Therefore, I am looking at 2012 and how I plan on riding out the lull. I plan on spending most of the year investing in training for other renewable energies and moving our company in that direction. During our last lull in work, I spent a lot of time partitioning and installing suspended ceilings and I've just been offered 23 large jobs over the next 12 months. This will keep my head above water while I invest the rest of my time in training and desperately seeking out PV work. My brother, and business partner, is looking at training to become a DEA - It is starting to look like a pretty crucial role....

 

[JulianC]

Currently thinking of ways to make solar more attractive while keeping fingers crossed that the C-rating restriction on FiTs is reconsidered. I know we can reduce system costs, but I think we need to add value. Inverters with battery charger outputs are looking interesting, as are a variety of energy saving measures - heat recovery etc. A holistic approach, to quote our beloved government. Did initially plan to look at ASHP but RHI uncertainty for this technology isn't encouraging. Realistically, will probably fall back on domestic sparkying and general property maintenance and refurbs - have been insulated-boarding out the mother in laws place in between PV jobs and the state of her house could keep me busy for years! DEA training is another possibility, but I think we will be inundated with assessors once the details of the Green Deal are finalised - I expect dozens of training courses will be churning out the energy equivalent of the 5 day wonder electrician. Also keen to investigate the role of PV in the new build sector - might come to nothing but it's something I've not given any attention too at all.

I feel fortunate in that my business partner/roof monkey is from a building trade background so our skills complement each other pretty well. We're both C&G trained energy efficiency advisers too (we first met on the training course we were sent on by our then employers!) - gotta be worth something.

 

[Markc]

As you may know PV was added into our existing business, Electrical Contracting as this is still going strong as it has for the past 40 years then end don't need a fall back. PV has not been our main line. We only just got to one a week due to not wanting it to swallow all our time. We have many large customers including educational establishments who have budgets that must be spent.

Our earlier talks about taking someone on to make us a four man team are shelved we will stay as 3. the two new vans are paid for so nothing to worry about there. Plant that has been bought will still get used (not sure on the irradiation meter?) the rest we had. We worked out of our garages etc so no lease agreements on premises to worry about.

In all we are as strong now as we were before Monday. We have installations for December and the new year on those who accept the new rate but don't want the EPC. So we will still have the odd installation.

We are going to look into what changes are needed in the new year. Between December and January I see me taking a long well earned break form this and the paperwork. I still love PV. I think it is has been kicked in the nuts and needs to recover. I don't see the government changing to much to the proposal until another year or so when they sit back and count the cost on jobs etc.

So for now we will carry on as normal see what PV we get in between now and end of March and then sit back and see what happens. As for more renewable's like ASHP etc. It's not my thing. I don't want to be subbing out bits as I'm not qualified to do it like plumbing etc. I don't want to have it taken away again by another government in a couple of years time.

After two years of endless paperwork, needless worry about obtaining product, job planning, prospective customer who want 16 different designs for their 2 x 2 roof! I think I will take a break. I can't say I will be sorry to see the back of all that.

Come April I might be looking at it differently.

As a wise man once said, " I have a cunning plan!"

 

[MorganPVI]

Who knows, I'm still bitter over losing a couple of large projects. That was our retraining budget! We should do ok, have to see what Febuary brings maybe there will be a pre April rush, somehow I suspect the cheapest panels will win the most jobs.

 

[SolarCity]

Cheap panels and crash, bang whallop installers will be the only show in town.

 

[JD6400]

Cheap panels and crash, bang whallop installers will be the only show in town.

I knew DP Electrical Ltd had a place in the market after all ! :rofl:

Elecsa mcs renewal due on 6/12 , i think they can go spin .:33:
I for one will not miss the bloody paper work !!!!!!!!
We had a count up yesterday -
Confirmed orders lost about £ 750,000
Orders in the pipeline we were pretty sure on getting about £200,000 - 300,000
New Orders taken since Monday £160,000 , which will take us up to about the 25Th/26Th . I have turned 3 jobs down today !
We will renew the mcs at some point in the new year but probably will go with Napit this time , we have a 30 kW barn mount with a planning decision due 13/12 that has DNO approval and a 30kW feild mount with no planning application yet , but DNO approval and both of these are still relatively keen to go ahead maybe Jan/Feb so we will see what the next chapter brings ?
Will be good to concentrate on the contracting side again for a while as i feel this has been slightly neglected for the last 6 moths or so to it's detriment !

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Well I sstill have the general sparkying to fall back on, however Im still getting enquirys for PV in Dec and Jan so all is not lost. REA renawal in Jan, so will most likely renew, MCS due in June 12, probably give it a rest until new housing reqirements in 2016 require, but will keep an eye on developments

As for the new year, its caravan park maint time and already have 2 contracts in the bag for work, 2 new builds 1 rewire and a plethora of inspection jobs...

Also been asked to look at some stand alone kit for a local island, who are running generators for power and its costing them a small fortune....

 

[AIM]

The Green Deal may offer some opportunities. Sadly looks like the plc. lobby got their way with PV. Other renewables will probably follow suit 12-18 months after introduction of RHI.
I am looking to incorporate boiler efficiency, LED lighting and other measures to help poor people save money. Most are based on a £500 - £800 spend [40% margin on materials/time] with a 18 month to three year payback.

I would like to expand this by getting other 'correctly motivated' people on board. This will NOT be a franchise or other lead generating scam.

We face many serious challenges right now. I am sure with ethical and professionally motivated services we can drive the 'double glazing scammers' out of town.

Please pm me if you are interested in getting involved.

 

[edexlab]

I work for a specialist company however I will go back to general electrical work if need be , we still have a fair bit of interest a good satisfied client base and only one cancellation so far

We've discussed this drop since we started and how it might affect us, just came a bit sooner than expected and the MD got a business plan setup taking a drop to 25p into account ,we have stocked up in advance and will carry on as usual ,then have a slow winter and expect a spring rush to beat the april deadline and see what happens then,
we are lucky in that we have never been able to borrow from the bank ,did not try and grow too quickly, and were never greedy and we have got this far with no help but a lot of hard work like many of the other installers on this forum,
if we don't survive then I don't see how anyone will !
as for the cuts I do think it had to be done but the manner and lack of foresight involved is appalling ,however they should have reviewed it when they inherited the scheme and maybe followed the German scheme more closely ,so we are remaining cautiously optimistic

 

[SRE]

Now that the dust is starting to settle and the big guys are beginning to show their hands - does anyone think that the new pricing structures are do-able?

We've accepted that we won't be making the same sort of money but everything we have we own, our mortgage has been paid off this year and our pv pays our fuel bills. If I could make 1k/job after costs we'd still make a reasonable living and it's better than working for someone else. What I worry about is that one job a week will take 2 weeks of marketing to generate .....

We've been involved in ashp before and they aren't straight forward, what concerns me is that you venture further into the renewables field, provide loads of info and end up with very few sales. Confidence in anything provided by the government such as RHI and Fit is eroded I wonder if we'll be in the same situation in 2 years time with the rhi if we go down that route.

 

[SolarCity]

£1k a job would be superb - I don't think we'll get it though.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Im hoping there will be a drop in wholesale prices after Dec 12th and might make it worth while. 4kW at about £9250 is do-able with Hyundai, and might go cheaper for farmers etc as these are easy installs. Got 4 to do on barn roofs and 16 panels is done in 1 1/2 days by myself.

Im now looking to capatilise on the current flush of installs by adding energy saving measures ranging from dual immersion heaters to back-up installations. Ive 3 jobs lined up with either Parsons Switch or SMA relays etc.

Sticking point is REA as they are asking for 12 months fees and they aint answering the phone or e-mail....

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Almost had a sub-contract position @ £750 for the 1st kW then £575 per kW up to 8kW....hopefully Ill get something out of them as a sparky and have the ability to master a few of the other renewables.....

 

[SRE]

Before all of this kicked off Segen were telling us that panel prices are due to drop in January by 10 -15%. I've already been quoted for 80p/watt for Axitech, 15% of Upsolar would bring them in to a similar price and Hyundai would be down to 94p/w - if the inverters came down a bit and roof kit we might just have a chance.

I think you're right about the farms Graeme, we've got 200 in a 10 mile radius - maybe now is the time to be getting their mailing ready. As you say the roof work is a lot easier and if we primed them now they could potentially have planning permission for the New Year.

I've renewed my Real membership - got to think positive.

 

[MorganPVI]

I think a few firms are gone already, surveyed a customer today 10 Sharp 225w panels and Dielh 2100 in his living room with full kit -boxed. he can't get an answer from the firm. Got some click fix anchors, think they may go in the scrap bin.

 

[SRE]

It'll be the cashflow that will have killed them - if we hadn't had a stash we'd have been the same.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Im lucky I had some fantastic customers offering to pay up front

 

[SRE]

Now that's what I call a customer. We've had one guy like that, we've installed 2 ground mounts and he's been spot on with payments but he's got his own business and clearly understands cashflow. On the other hand we've had customers laughing at us when we've told them how much Sanyo prices are increasing - they think we're lining our own pockets. As Biggs says I'll be pleased to get to the 12th and have some time to switch off.

 

[SRE]

We really need to be looking for work for after January - so survey etc Dec for install Jan as would be the normal process but what if the deadline really is extended and the prices of the panels are reduced?

I don't want to cut my prices for installation until I absolutely have to but to make the 21p work I have to. If the date is extended it's going to be worse than the situation is now. Customers being installed now are going to be fuming that they paid more, we'll have to take the hit on installation costs earlier than we needed to and with the cheaper prices the amount of people wanting to install before the new date will increase even more.

How on earth are we supposed to generate business? I could afford to go without work in January if I have to but I'd really rather not. What is everyone else doing?

 

[JD6400]

Our mcs runs out on the sixth December and at the moment we are not going to renew it until at least the end of January , I am now starting to think this is a mistake as we already have 2 x 30kw and 1x 10kw looking like they still want to go ahead .
I know that if we leave reregistration until January we will probably not have time to install them to the standard i will except , but at the moment we / i want a break from this f""""""g industry !
What with the **** that happened August and now this , i truly believe it has had adverse health effects on me, more so August than now but all i can think of the future of solar is how are they going to screw us next !!!!!!!!

Don't know if you have heard the latest hurdle ?
Being so close to Bedford all of our clients have been tacking in the fits application forms by hand , one of the latest ones to take it in on Friday phoned me to say that e-on will not be accepting fits forms from anyone other than their customers as from today , so one of my boys is going to Manchester tomorrow now with 2 x 10kW applications for British Gas that we did over the weekend luckily the rest are with e-on , but hey ho just another kick in the balls with no warning ! You gotta love solar , hey !?