This issue is not limited to the PV market. Virtually every type of
contracting and retail business faces identical problems, and it was a
huge problem that we faced in the early 80's when everybody and their
brother decided that they wanted into the solar and wind biz. Providing
an exact equipment list is wonderful for the homeowner who is shopping
the market, and I can't tell you how many times I've had a call from
someone who has a bid from another company they are more than willing to
share. I agree that, unless you just like the exercise, giving a
customer a full parts list is not a great plan
Matt T
Jeff Yago wrote:
We are seeing more and more installers entering the local solar market
with little or no experience. Yes, they may have attended some kind
of 2-day dealer training in order to set up an account to
purchase solar hardware, but believe me, most could not design or size
anything and they are just selling pre-packaged kits designed and
assembled by their distributors. However, if your client handed them
a detailed material list that you included in your proposal, I
guarantee you they will be able to provide a quote to the client for
the exact same system and for a few hundred dollars less.
Yes, I hear you say - well the client will get what they pay for and
may even end up with real problems with an installation done by
someone who may not know what they are doing, but that does not
change this fact - you just lost another job after doing all the
planning and design.
This has nothing to do with professionalism, this is just good
business practice. Your proposal can indicate the scope of work, the
proposed system size, the general location and size of the array and
inverter, list any options, the contract terms and conditions, but
there is no reason to provide a detailed list of materials and
part numbers as has been suggested by several others on this list.
Remember, you may have spent a lot of site time and design effort to
develop this list of materials, and any professional I know in any
other business would never hand this type of business
development information over to their competition so they could bid
against them.
I say its professional to keep the playing field level. I tell any
potential client that I have no problem if they want to get a second
proposal from another dealer, and I may even suggest others to contact
if this is what they want to do, but I expect the competition to do
their own field work, do their own equipment selection and sizing, and
cost out their own material list and not steal my work. I would not
do this to others as it not only is not professional, I don't want to
have my planning clouded by what someone else was going to do.
Jeff Yago
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