Marketing Issue [RE-wrenches]

Pat Redgate solarpro at aol.com
Mon May 19 08:21:22 PDT 2003


"People don't generally buy a furnace or hot water heater off the internet 
and then have someone install it. Why should PV be any different?
Daryl"

A virtual constant in the solar business has been the DIYER*.  People that 
would not even replace a thermocouple will consider and pursue the self 
installation of anything solar.  I once stood on a bluff overlooking the 
Pacific Ocean in Newport Beach discussing the details of a solar pool heating 
installation with a multimillionaire (he owned three planes -- a GulfStream, 
a Grumman Goose seaplane and
a Beach Twin) on the mansion he was building for his family...  His slate 
roof was probably worth more than my home. I began to feel that his questions 
were getting a little too tecky but my suspicions were assuaged as I 
witnessed him authorize a $6000 change order for his kitchen cabinets with 
barely a twitch.  This man eventually purchased the panels directly from the 
manufacturer and put them on the roof himself.  He probably saved about $2000 
but I am sure every one of his acquaintances knows that HE installed that 
damn system, himself.

We have survived wholesale discounters by SELLING our service, but for a 
while (many, many years ago) indulged every opportunity to sell to a solar 
imagineer.  The sale was always more complicated, the follow up (we sold our 
kits with inspections) was sometimes never-ending.  These days we do not even 
advertise our business address for fear that we may be surprise-visited by 
someone looking for 1) the cheapest price 2) free info 3) the names of our 
suppliers 4) our costs.  A number of solar thermal manufacturers have finally 
seen fit NOT to unload their products on wholetailers because they have 
discovered what we already know: it's better to work with a few knowledgeable 
and competent customers who understand how to sell and install their products 
rather than a whole bunch of one-timers that can be real &^%$#@*'s. 

"If you raise your price to $12, you only have to cut 18 heads to make the 
same dollar amount of profit."   

Very true, but you may only have 9 customers by the end of the day.  The only 
way installers can make a decent living without fear of pricing themselves 
out of work is when sales of solar become mainstream enough for the 
distribution network channels to actually work (manufacturer -- 
manufacturer-rep -- distributor -- contractor/retailer).  Theoretically this 
will happen as it almost did once, back in the mid eighties.  Although there 
was at that time a hardware chain (National Lumber) that sold SHW kits for 
less than we could buy them (as components), they just could never get enough 
customers. Eventually their wholesale division lost its installer-customer 
base too, because no self respecting contractor/retailer would sell a product 
that was carried and advertised at such a low price.  Hopefully manufacturers 
and distributors will lose interest in the DIY market as they notice that 
their contractor based sales are diminishing.

Patrick A. Redgate
AMECO
Long Beach, CA
(562) 595-9570
<A HREF="www.amecosolar.com">www.amecosolar.com</A>

*PS  Check out the DIY article in HP this month (and the little girl with a 
soldering iron - yikes!)

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