Cutting Home Solar Costs by 10%: Solar Installation Advice for Real Homeowners
A federal study shows that buying your solar installation from a smaller company can cut your home solar cost by twenty-one cents per watt. Let’s look at some numbers and see what this means for you as a homeowner. Is it really that simple to save money? Here’s some solid solar advice about getting the best installation quote: choose a small but experienced solar installer. How else can you make the money side work?
Smaller Installer = Lower Home Solar Costs
Have you heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory? They are a government-funded lab that is part of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. In 2015, they did a study[1]NREL about solar costs. They looked at which kinds of solar installation companies cost the least for homeowners. The numbers were clear: 70% of the time, smaller firms gave a lower price quote than large solar installation companies did. Often, the price difference hovered around 10% less.
However, most consumers choose a larger installation company! The NREL showed that just 10% of installers do 90% of home solar installations. That means about 90% of consumers could be overpaying by choosing a more expensive installer. It is likely that this happens because consumers think a smaller, mom-and-pop solar company won’t offer as much value as a larger brand. But when you’re shopping for the right solar installation, don’t assume a bigger company will give you a better deal; the numbers say otherwise. (The study called companies that do more than 1,000 installations per year “larger.”) To get your best value, look for a company that does a smaller volume of business.
Hidden Home Solar Costs
There’s one complicating factor to the simple “smaller company is better” rule: the NREL study didn’t look at all forms of value. They were only calculating the upfront home solar cost per watt. As a homeowner looking for a power system that will give you good value for years, there’s more to think about. When you compare quotes, notice that one company might have a better warranty offer, or use high-quality equipment that will last longer. Your home solar savings are only as good as your big picture over years of use. So when you’re looking at quotes, keep your eye out for warranty value as well as sticker price. If your deal doesn’t include repair or replacement support, you could be looking at hidden home solar costs a few years down the road. A good system will last for 25-30 years, so think big picture.
Solar Installation Track Record
Besides company size, another clear result from studies of home solar panel cost is that experience matters; experienced installers do the job more quickly and more effectively. Recent NREL reports describe that a large study in 2016 and multiple studies in 2017 all uniformly showed that an experienced installer offers something called a “learning-by-doing” cost reduction. Simply put, this means that by doing solar installations a company learns how to do them more quickly and less expensively. Their employees become skilled and labor costs go down. Their installations last longer because they know how to select equipment that won’t fail and design systems that suit the specific home.
Is it common sense to trust an experienced installer? Yes, but it’s also scientifically proven to save you money. There’s no reason to let your home be the site of a solar installation company’s first day on the job. As a homeowner, look at the company’s track record of happy customers to make sure you’ll get your best value.
Get Solar Savings Sooner
The minute you invest in an installation, you’ll start saving money on your monthly energy bills. So, of course you want to keep your solar installation costs low. That way, you aren’t spending extra every month on your electric bills while you wait to make the switch.
The least expensive option is to get hands-on and do your own solar panel installation. That way you’re only paying for equipment costs and not labor. It’s not realistic for most homeowners to be able to get on their roof with a hammer and do such a large project, but if you are one of the lucky few with the skills it’s a gift to your bank balance to do it sooner rather than later.
Even if you aren’t DIY-savvy enough to install your own solar panels and cut out the middleman, shopping with your eyes open is just one way to keep the home solar costs low.