Finally signed contact 5.30 kw

[solar_newbie]

Finally i decided to signed contact with Sullivan Solar www.solarreviews.com for 5.3 kw system.

The detail is Kyocera 265 x 20 panels with Sunny boy 5000TL (extended 20 yrs warranty) and Locus monitoring system. I would expect around 8000 kwh to offset my usuage of around 8250 kwh/year. The total I paid (cash) 21,939 but will get back around 1,400 from Sullivan as a rebate for Riverside resident. The price per watt is not as good, come out to be 3.86/watt. But i will get around 420 more from 30% tax credit (30% off 1400) plus value off 10 year extended warranty for SMA inverter(750?). If calculate everything the price would come down to around 3.65/watt.

I know my price is not the cheapest but I think Im happy what I got so far. The other two that quotes me about the same price or a little bit cheaper are Jamars 3.60/watt for LG panel with Solaredge and Petersen Dean 3.55/watt for Solarworld with also SMA inverter without addon nor monitoring system.

Now it is just a waitting time. It seem Sullivan got hit with a lot of traffic. I signed contact on 9/24 and have a schedule meeting with project manager on 10/13. Anyway Sullivan people confirm that I will have my system running before the year end.

To tell the true, you over paid $3000-$5,000. Your extra warranty is nothing as SMA solution is at least 1.500-2.000 cheaper than Enphase and SolarEdge. They can give you 1-2 more inverter.
I hope they did your site survey, roof , and electrical inspection before you sign contract and paid for deposit. Sign anything before all are done is the risk on your side. As they might come up with something and you force to pay.
I hope your payment schedule is reasonable ? Only pay 50% - 75% when at least everything is installed. Paid the rest when everything is sign off by city and electrical company.
Otherwise, you have to hope that the project manager does not find any extra things or city does not find any extra things for you to do.... Because extra = extra money.

[Justjames]

To tell the true, you over paid $3000-$5,000. Your extra warranty is nothing as SMA solution is at least 1.500-2.000 cheaper than Enphase and SolarEdge. They can give you 1-2 more inverter.
I hope they did your site survey, roof , and electrical inspection before you sign contract and paid for deposit. Sign anything before all are done is the risk on your side. As they might come up with something and you force to pay.
I hope your payment schedule is reasonable ? Only pay 50% - 75% when at least everything is installed. Paid the rest when everything is sign off by city and electrical company.
Otherwise, you have to hope that the project manager does not find any extra things or city does not find any extra things for you to do.... Because extra = extra money.

I know i will be paying a little too much for SSP, but to say SMA cheaper than SilarEdge is not so true. For example a quote from same company with SolarEdge is about 3.60/watt but if I want SMA the price increase to about 3.69/watt, go figure. I think it also depends on installer who have a deal with inverters company as well.

I dont have any shade issue so to me is not wise to put more unneccessary part on the roof beside Solar Panel itself.

Another point of extended warranty, almost everyone say any inverter wouldn't last 20 years so to have another 10yrs extended from mfg warranty is not bad at all. How much to get inverter replace maybe the next 15 yrs?

[jmgray28]

Should be better inverter technology and or cheaper inverters in 15 years.

[solar_newbie]

Should be better inverter technology and or cheaper inverters in 15 years.

Agree. If you pay something later, it is the better

[Justjames]

Should be better inverter technology and or cheaper inverters in 15 years.

And that i will be covered if i ever need new inverter, and pay nothing. That's even better.

[solar_newbie]

And that i will be covered if i ever need new inverter, and pay nothing. That's even better.

LOL read your warranty document Usually you will not get a new one.
The money you paid for warranty can buy you a new one later and better.

[Gstachura]

Congrats on making a decision and signing a contract! There will always be those whose comments or uneducated opinions cause you to second guess your decision. You might (or might not) have been able to do better price-wise but may have had to give something else up. If you're comfortable with your decision and can afford it then what others think and supposedly know really doesn't matter. I look forward to reading more about your system after it's installed.

[solar pete]

To tell the true, you over paid $3000-$5,000. Your extra warranty is nothing as SMA solution is at least 1.500-2.000 cheaper than Enphase and SolarEdge. They can give you 1-2 more inverter.
I hope they did your site survey, roof , and electrical inspection before you sign contract and paid for deposit. Sign anything before all are done is the risk on your side. As they might come up with something and you force to pay.
I hope your payment schedule is reasonable ? Only pay 50% - 75% when at least everything is installed. Paid the rest when everything is sign off by city and electrical company.
Otherwise, you have to hope that the project manager does not find any extra things or city does not find any extra things for you to do.... Because extra = extra money.

Solar Newbie I think you are full of it, I happened to meet the Sullivan guys at SPI and had a real good chat, these guys have been in the biz for ages, not some fly by night outfit, who will most likely not be around next year, like lots of others. They struck me as true solar professionals and if you want to deal with the real pro's guess what you will have to pay a premium

[solar pete]

LOL read your warranty document Usually you will not get a new one.
The money you paid for warranty can buy you a new one later and better.

Another total BS post from the newbie, depending on the error code will depend on whether or not it will be replaced or fixed, it has been my experience that they replace far more than go off to be fixed

[J.P.M.]

In general, that vendor seems to do good work. I requested they bid on my project a bit over 2 years ago, but they declined to provide a bid to my F.R.P. and instead blew me off with a high, verbal, take it or leave it quote on their terms.

In general, their work in my HOA seems professional, fit for purpose, and on time, but overpriced compared to other comparable quality and experienced vendors by about 10 or so %. They also play games with rebates and pricing which seems kind of low class IMO.

[solar_newbie]

Everything is done with baseline. So, let start with non-profit organization sunwork.org. It has over 100 good review from solarreviews.com.
Since it is non profit org, the price will be the real factor of the cost. I got couple quotes from them, the larger the system, the cheaper per $/watt.
The below system I used as my baseline:
The quote for 4.95KW system with REC 275 panels.
- With SMA : $13,400
- With Enphase (plus envoy computer) : $14,900
They told me the cost different between enphase and SMA. I check internet and believe them.

From Google:

The cost of REC 275 is 0.90/watt
The cost of Kyocera 265 is 0.97/watt

I would have baseline for the 4.95KW system with Kyocera 265 and SMA : $13,746
For your system, the price should be baseline as $14,718.
Let say extra warranty is $750, total baseline cost is $15,468.

Whatever above it must be justified for the price tag of $5,071.
Maybe the installer offers something beyond the solar installation which can be factor into the higher price ... Do not count tax return on their rebate. It is illegal. I hope that idea come from you, not from that company. If not, I would question about their professional ??

if no special things are offered beyond the solar installation, you bet for 33% of price increase on their professional ...

About extended warranty of SMA, I did search google and found the document for it:

http://www.grosolar.com/sites/default/files/products/spec-sheets/SMA%20INVERTER%20EXTENDED%20WARRANTY%20REGISTRATION.pdf

It states below:

Warranty Conditions
If a device becomes defective during the relevant SMA factory warranty period, one of the following services, as selected by SMA, will be performed at no charge for materials or labor costs:
• Repair at SMA, or
• Repair On-Site, or
• Exchange for a Replacement Device (of equivalent value according to model and age).

There is no statement to say they will replace with the new SMA upon failure of the old one.

[Justjames]

So my system base cost would be aroun 15,468 (good to know that BTW, thanks). Im happy to give may be 5% for commission(people have to make some money, right?) may be another 20% for company for any over head expense and to make them survive to at least taking care of my system for another 10 years as they permise to monitor my system( you know make them work for what the got paid for). Oh cost of permit to which i dont really know maybe another 500-750.

So what is my cost now? I wish there are non-profit for every thing and all the people can work for free and we dont have to worry about paying too much. Just a thought

[Justjames]

I also look at extended warranty and this what they say

Future-Proof Inverters
SMA wants to protect your customer’s solar investment. Should our inverter need replacement, we will provide you with an upgrade containing the latest technology. We will even exchange discontinued inverters with a new model where technically feasible. SMA technology is continuously evolving. With our unique future-proof guarantee, your customer can be assured his or her replacement device will perform as well as, or better than, when it was first installed.

[solar_newbie]

Baseline cost includes equipment, overhead, installation cost, project management, permit, warranty in the future ... everything you can think of to get your solar completed. It is the cost that installers can get to cover their cost (without profit).
Non-profit does not mean to work for free. It means they do not charge extra beyond their actual cost. So, the larger system , the lower $ per watt .

If you want to break down, I would say
Equipment cost should be around 8K - 9K --> This is the total material cost ...
Permits are around $200-$400. Plus the labor cost for doing all paper work : 1K total.
The rest is their charge ... 5K for the installation to cover expenses and reserved for 10 years warranty

Whatever you paid beyond the baseline is profit for the installer (owner or shareholder will get them - reserve is already counted in above baseline, so your 10 years warranty should be covered in the baseline) and possible sale commission .... That is the money you willing to put on table ...

Either way, it is your decision to choose the company ... It is done deal and you are happy with the decision.

I just want to inform other members to know what they pay money for. Knowledge is powerful. If someone pay extra premium, they should understand what is the real extra they get from it.
Example :
- Fast installation -- Within 1 month.
- Upgrade the panel for free.
- Install new panel for free.
- Doing some extra electric part for free. Like connecting the new AC, Electric Dryer, EV charger, Electric Range, Pool pump installation, or ... or add couple new outlets for a home.
- Doing panels in multiple different sections of the roof. Like to put the 5KW system to 4 parts of the roof and connect them together.
- Or anything beyond the current solar.
- Maybe some extra for high reputation company (but how much extra is depend on each person)