Solar Energy Show

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Your friendly local solar contractor has to contend with two basic types of costs: hardware costs (solar panels, inverters, racking, batteries, etc.) and non-hardware costs, referred to as “soft” costs (just about everything else, including sales, advertising, salaries, rent, insurance, vehicles, inspections and interconnection paperwork). Solar contractors do not have much control over equipment costs, other than diligent equipment selection and shopping. However, contractors have control over soft costs by carefully managing their sales, installation and back office activities. Not surprisingly, these soft costs are over half the costs of a typical solar or battery installation! To keep these soft costs down, solar companies are always seeking ways to improve their efficiency. Automating these soft cost activities — marketing, rooftop design, sales proposal, engineering, permitting, inspection, interconnection, incentive, etc. — can reduce these costs by 2