Segment: Homeowners who plan on staying in their current home for 10+ years
Interview 1 Summary
The options were either DIY or contract. DIY would have been cheaper, but required knowledge which would take too long to obtain. When evaluating solar companies/panels, a balance of price and quality was important. There is an average range of prices. Outliers are either overpriced or poor quality. Paid in cash so as to be debt-free. No regrets about purchase as of yet, except maybe not being able to have power during outages due to not having a battery.
Interview 2 Summary
Options either grid-tie without battery or with battery. Ended up going with battery system as that allowed for power even during power-outage. By way of services, personally contracted out as they had significant experience and knowledge about solar panels. Very satisfied with system. Only change, increase battery size so as to increase the time the house can be sustained without external power from grid or sun.
Conclusions
Pricing is pretty set and understood in the solar industry. Shooting too low doesn’t guarantee sales due to quality concerns and shooting too high also hinders sales due to overpricing. Solar panels are an expensive endeavor. The person buying them, especially a homeowner who plans on staying at his/her current location for a long time, has probably done significant research into pricing and different product options. The deciding factor for choosing a solar company, after the price comparisons eliminate the extremes, comes down to confidence, customer service, and respectability. After the purchase, if the product works as expected, the customer tends to be happy and doesn’t regret the decision. In fact, the customer tends to want to expand and do more!
Hi Quinton, I am impressed you have your price pretty much set and ready. I feel this can be hard to figure out but it seems you have figured out the perfect price. I do not know a lot about solar industry, however I can see you have a plan for the rest including choosing a solar company and I am glad the two interviews helped. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Quinton,
ReplyDeleteSince your opportunity is a bit more complex than others, I am sure it is not quite easy to find people for these interviews! Regardless, you did a great job gathering reliable and straightforward evidence in your interviews as well as making conclusions based on it. There are a few other instances of companies with pricy products that still have some sort of average price amongst their competitors, so I definitely agree there.