Starting out again - What would you do differently?

[Energetic]

Hi All,

I've been employed since January with a regional installer since my previous business was very small and local and my Partner lost heart in the industry and moved on.

I am now re-entering the market as a sole trader and am interested to know what you guys would do differently if starting out again.

Obviously i appreciate that this market is very different to the one we started out in 2011 and it won't be 'just' a PV business.

 

[Gavin A]

for a one man band in particular you want to view the repair side of the business as a major element of it. We're doing multiple repairs per week at minimum £150+ vat call out charge for 2 hours work. People will pay extra for that solar expertise, and there are hundreds of thousands of systems out there now mostly with the company that installed them no longer in business.

 

[Energetic]

Thanks Gavin, I have been primarily involved in warranty, servicing and maintenance over the last 6 months and it's amazed me how little technical knowledge there is out there. Even from some sparks that have been connecting and supposedly commissioning systems for several years.

 

[SibertSolar]

Post-intall support, maintenance/service contracts, repairs (before taking on a service contract, for example) and performance verification - which can open up upselling of retrofit monitoring solutions, surge/lightning protection equipment, smart-energy management etc, etc. Don't put all your eggs in one basket focusing on picking up new, residential installations. Keep a close eye on the developments in battery storage technology and regulatory development.

As an example of diversification, we have been a country representative of Solarlog for over a year now, and sell/support/install/commission their monitoring & control solutions. We've now developed the capability of hosting client systems that are monitored via SolarLog (so no pressure on installer/seller to take over monitoring etc for the end client) so that the full portal features are available to all involved - customer just pays us for the annual portal fee. One of the reasons for developing this capability is that several UK-based portal operators have now left the industry, leaving the system owners somewhat up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

We set up the online portal for the end client, and configure email alerts/notifications/reports etc. We've been moving into a more O&M-focused service offering lately, and I envisage that we will need independent installers around the country that we can sub-contract required site work to if needed, whether installation or service response, or just for advice/consultancy etc.

Couple your solution/product offerings with other services such as energy assessment, LED lightning solutions, load management (increasing self-consumption) etc, etc. Look at offering other renewable technologies too, although not so easy with limited staffing resources I guess.

 

[Energetic]

Thanks Andy, I'll give you a call tomorrow. I need to update you on my situation.

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[whinmoor]

Don't forget to have a quarterly review meeting with yourself and to keep minutes !

 

[Gavin A]

Don't forget to have a quarterly review meeting with yourself and to keep minutes !

I wonder what proportion of quarterly review minutes have been written up the day before the annual inspection?

 

[whinmoor]

Are you pleading guilty, Gavin ?!?

Ours never get checked anyway. It could be my Gran's recipe for apple crumble with a modified title.

 

[SolarCity]

+1 to the maintenance route. Vast majority of our PV work is now repair - which generally means replacing an inverter of course.

 

[Energetic]

Thanks for the replies. Anyone finding being VAT registered a barrier for the smaller bitty jobs?

 

[Worcester]

Nope, Most of our jobs are at 5% or 0%, so actually a help - buy goods at 20%, when included in the job, passed on at 5%, careful though, you might only be able to pay yourself once a quarter when you get the VAT back

Repaid and maintenance at 20% though

 

[solarsavings]

Repaid

What's that then Gordon?

 

[Worcester]

What's that then Gordon?

Repairs automispell vs autocorrect !

 

[Energetic]

Thanks for all the tips so far. I've come to the realisation that i need to be VAT reg to do PV installs. If i fail to hit the £83k turnover as a sole trader what happens?

I may well only do half a dozen PV installs in a year and the rest could be repairs, maintenance, general contracting etc which would most likely be at a day rate... Not really sure what's out there locally in the current climate...

 

[Worcester]

@Energetic Where are you?
Lots of sales led organisations are box shifting battery storage.
Unless it is a medical necessity, I have trouble selling a system that will cost more in batteries than they can buy the leccy for.

You can turnover less than £83K - that's the UPPER limit for NOT being registered.