Buyer beware

Buyer beware! During the last month we have exhibited at a number of country shows and as a result been out and about across the Dorset and Devon countryside carrying out surveys on homes and businesses. Yet again during these trips we are seeing way too many badly installed solar PV and solar thermal systems. Crimes committed include:

Drilling through slate! – We have seen this a number of times and a trusted competitor claims he has seen this on several occasions also. We always remove the tiles. Drill into the rafters and seal with flashing etc.

No additional roof bracing – This is common. During one visit to quote for PV this week we saw a solar thermal system plonked onto the roof of an unsuspecting chap only two years back. The internal rafters were already twisting badly under the weight. The roof was starting to bow and there was evidence of cracked ridge tiles.

Overhang – We always ensure all systems sit within 30 cms or more of the roof line to prevent ‘kiting’. This is where the wind creates lift on the panels (much like an aircraft wing) and continually tugs at the panels. Keeping them well in from the roof line help prevent this. Sitting them too close to the edge is bad enough, but we have seen a number where they are even over hanging the ridge line!

Why has all this happened?

During the ‘Gold Rush’ of solar installs when the Feed in Tariff Rate was at 43p the temptation for companies to make money was clearly too much. Installers were clearly badly trained and the salesmen ruthless. We have heard many stories of mis-selling and indeed there are now newspaper adverts from ‘claims companies’ asking readers if they have been mis-sold solar. This mainly relates to claims against declaration of over performance. It is of course impossible to guarantee the power yield of a solar panel as the weather is unpredictable at best, however there are many ways to get a good estimate and any sound renewables company will

undersell the performance rather than over sell.

We met last night with a chap, my second in a week, who said he had ‘sold solar’ for about 12 months during the boom times. He rattled on about how he made 3 sales a day, often staying in clients home for 3-4 hours. He smiled as he told us how he measured the roof (how he did this without getting inside I dont know) and took a cheque on the first visit from each customer. He told us how he made £10,000 a week in commission too! I have no doubt that this was the motivation for quick and sloppy selling and even quicker and sloppier installation. Like double glazing and mobile phones in the early days,

boom leads to greed

and we hope that now the market has settled most of these unscrupulous salesmen and companies will have disappeared or have moved on to the next gold rush with some or other product.

At

Puragen Dorset

we never spend more than 2 hours with a client, we don’t cold call at peoples homes or call them at all times of day and night to sell them solar. All installations are signed off by an independent architect and our boss who is an ex-helicopter engineer will not leave site until he is 100% certain their system is good to go..and as for the £10,000 commission a week. No chance!