My son recently asked me how he was going to get to the airport for a 5 a.m. flight.
Easy, I said. Book a real taxi with a traditional local company. Whatever you do, don’t book an Uber in advance.
He looked at me as if I had suggested sending a fax.
But I was serious. I’ve never been disappointed by a real taxi booked for an early ride to the airport. Not once. On the other hand, I don’t trust Uber at all for pre-booked pickup. If you read the complaints online, you’ll see the same story over and over: the driver accepts, the driver cancels, and you’re standing at the curb at 4:50 a.m. watching your flight leave without you.
Why is the boring old taxi company more reliable than the fancy app?
I think it comes down to responsibility. The taxi driver is tied to a company whose name and reputation must be protected. If you let a customer fool around, there’s a boss, a dispatcher, and a good local reputation who all feel it. The Uber driver is a subcontractor. You have almost nothing to lose if they bail on you at the last second, because Uber headquarters in the US really doesn’t care if you make your flight. Your one-star review disappears into hundreds of thousands of others. And no one reading it cares anyway because they assume their next ride will be a few dollars cheaper.
A bad review of the local taxi company hurts. A bad Uber review is a raindrop in the sea.
This is exactly the problem with many large national solar retailers.
The subcontractor trap
Over the last 15 years, many large solar retailers have come and gone in this country. Origin was the largest company for a while until they exited solar retail just over a year ago. But they will be the first to tell you how brutally difficult it was to run this business. That’s one of the main reasons they bought SolarQuotes in the first place. Getting quotes from good local installers is simply a better way to buy solar energy than choosing a huge national brand.
Why are the big retailers having such a hard time?
Normally it works like this. A nationwide sales team takes over the order. Then someone has to find a local installation team to actually install the system on your roof. And in most cases, the most important criteria for selecting this team is not installation quality or experience with your particular battery or panel brand. It’s easy availability. Who can be there next Tuesday?
This crew has no relationship with you beyond the few hours they are at your home. If the system falls over the moment they turn it on, they will likely be the ones sent back to fix the problem. But what if it fails six months later? They’re long gone. They don’t care if the retailer gets a good review. And if the system you were sold is simply not suitable for your property, they are unlikely to throw away the tools and refuse because then they won’t get paid. They just push it up one way or another and let the retailer suffer the consequences.
Does this sound familiar? It’s the Uber driver on your roof.
Sometimes you strike gold
I’m not saying every subcontractor is a cowboy. Far from it. There are installation teams with really high standards and real ethics.
The thing is, these crews usually give the big discount retailers a wide berth because they know that game increases the likelihood of grief. They would prefer to build a relationship with a small number of quality local companies. The exception is when they are just starting out and orders from major retailers are plentiful and easy to get.
So if you choose a major national retailer and happen to snag one of these teams, you’ve struck gold. Great installation, bargain price. But you roll the dice. And forget about long-term customer support.
The other way to get a decent result at a big budget retailer is to know the standards yourself or bring a buddy who knows them and monitor the crew all the time. Then hire a licensed inspector to inspect the work once it’s done and withdraw it if anything is wrong.
But think about what you’re actually doing there. You take over the dealer’s quality assurance for him. That’s not a good sign. And if you do land one of the good teams, having them over your shoulder all day is a great way to make sure they never want to work for you again.
The rare exception
Very few large retailers make it. National reach and quality installations, year after year. Solargain comes to mind.
I think their secret lies in the many smaller, autonomous dealers spread across the country who take real responsibility for their own sales and quality, backed by solid national technical support and a wholesaler in the background. It works. But it’s rare and it’s difficult, which is exactly why so few make it.
So I’m not saying that all major retailers are evil. What I’m saying is that it’s really, really difficult to do solar retail at scale.
The conclusion
If you’re buying solar energy from a major retailer, do some homework about whether they subcontract the installation and how they handle it.
And when the local mob with full-time plumbers charges a little more than the national brand, think about how much that difference is really worth. My son had to answer the same question at 5 a.m. How important is it to actually be at the airport on time?
Except with solar, it’s not a single flight. It’s the system that will govern much of your life for the next 16 to 20 years, installed by someone who is either directly responsible for it or is already halfway to the next job.
I know which driver I would book.
Phase Shift is a weekly opinion column from SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock. Subscribe to SolarQuotes’ free newsletter to have it emailed to your inbox each week along with our other home electrification coverage.
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