May 10, 2024 • 28 mins
Ever feel like the world of solar energy is a maze of misinformation and unanswered questions? Fear not, because Ben and Ralph are here to answer questions you submitted to us in our latest Q&A session. Join the conversation and let's turn those burning questions into a cool, clear understanding of solar power's potential.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another edition of the Harmon Solar
Podcast.
I'm Rob Romano, vp of Sales andMarketing at Harmon Solar,
alongside Ben Walschlager.
You guys also know him as MrEverything.
Ben, how are you doing?
Good, good.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Belly is full, ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Belly is full.
You had your barbecued pizza.
That's good.
You gained about three pounds.
You didn't make a mess on yourshirt, so I'm good.
I gained about three pounds.
You didn't make a mess on yourshirt, so I'm good, I know.
So today we're doing somethinga little different.
Usually we come in here and wegrab a topic and we talk about
it and we script it up and doall this stuff.
Today we're not doing that, nottoday.
Today we've got questions fromour listeners and our viewers, a
lot of questions.
So I think we took the top 10or 11 questions and we're going
(01:00):
to go ahead and read those andtry to provide some answers for
you guys.
So something a little different.
And we appreciate you guyssending in questions.
Send more.
Yeah, keep them coming.
We seem to be getting a lotmore lately, so keep them coming
and we'll do our best to getthem on the air.
Okay, first question what isthe biggest drawback from
getting solar installed?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Good question.
The biggest drawback would benot knowing what you're doing.
Biggest drawback would be notknowing what you're doing, not
not knowing what company you're,you know, signing up with
because every, as we'vementioned many times before,
it's all depending on who you'reworking with.
So you could be working with acompany that it sounds great on
paper and everything's fantastic, and then they come out there
and it's a horrible job.
It's a nightmare.
Roof caves in panels fly off,you don't see the savings that
(01:41):
you're guaranteed and all thatstuff and you're like oh so it's
a gamble if you're not educated.
Yeah, so get yourself educatedfirst to eliminate that gamble.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I would agree.
I'd say the biggest drawback iseducation not being educated
and one of the bigger drawbacks,in my opinion, is we have a lot
of companies in this industrythat are not looking out for
your best interest.
Yeah, it's about them and howmuch money they can make and
that makes this industry kind oftough.
We fight it every day.
That's one of the drawbacks ofbeing in solar, but we're here
(02:12):
to help kind of fight that andget that out of the way, because
solar is so beneficial for somany people.
So good question.
Next question what's the numberone positive for getting solar?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Number one positive for getting solar.
Well, it's.
The main reason people getsolar is to save money.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Save money, that's the that's, that's it, I mean
that's.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I don't know how else you answer that I don't think
people get solar because itlooks cool on their roof.
Some people actually do.
I don't care about the savings,I just want panels.
You know, it just looks cool,yeah, so yeah, number one
positive for getting in solar.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Don't turn that positive into a negative.
Right savings is positive.
Don't put yourself in a badsituation again because you're
not educated and now thatpositive is a negative because
now you're not saving money, yep, and you're stuck.
All right.
Next question after it'sinstalled, how long before we
see a difference in our electricbill?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
it all depends when you get your system installed.
If it was installed thebeginning of, you know, january,
february, you probably won'tsee a huge difference because
your usage is low, so yourutility bill is already low,
right, solar production is low,so you're just not offsetting a
whole lot of power that time.
So you know you're gonna getyour first bill in january,
february and go this is notgreat.
But then if you get your systeminstalled in the you know,
(03:17):
middle of summer, um, you mightnot, depending on your utility
company you might not see agreat savings because you didn't
have your credits built up fromFebruary, march, april and May
to last you through that summer.
You don't have that savingsbuilt, so it depends.
So I would say you start seeinga really good.
This is what I should expect tostart seeing savings once
(03:39):
you've completed your first fullyear of what I call growing
pains of solar.
You'll see a savings the firstmonth with your first build,
depending on how you use yourpower.
But you start to see the realpicture play out that first full
year.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, it's an annual proposition.
You have to look at this thingevery year and that's where you
really see the true savings.
You will see savings on amonthly basis.
Obviously it's funny, the firstmonth you mentioned, oh, you'll
see savings the first month.
I say you won't, because thisis what happens.
Everybody gets solar and goes.
Now I've got solar and theyjack down their AC or they jack
up their heat or use more power.
What the heck happened?
(04:14):
Well, that's what happens, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Or sometimes I see people Be careful of that, See
people.
You know, during your solarsystem install it was during the
middle of like a billing cycle,Right?
So when you get your first bill, you only had two days worth of
solar on that bill, yeah, soyeah, you're not really seeing a
savings in there.
You have to wait for the nextbilling cycle.
You know Exactly.
Wait for things to play outyeah.
Exactly Wait for things to playout.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know, yeah, so don't get solar.
And then the first bill, you'recalling the company going hey,
what's going on?
It's again.
It takes time.
You have to go through somebilling cycles Again.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I explained this to all customers as well, Like
there's growing pains for it.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, next question.
Appreciate the question, sonext question.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
If I got, if I get solar and absolutely hate.
What's the protocol for gettingit removed?
Or is it my problem once it'sinstalled?
It's kind of your problem.
The nicest way to say it isit's your problem, because you
know you have the contract, yousigned it, you write a legally
binding thing.
Will companies remove thesystem?
Sure, will they remove a freeNope.
So you paid for your system andnow you're paying for them to
remove it.
Right, I mean, that's thebottom line.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And now you're way underwater and if you have a
loan for it.
That loan doesn't just go away.
You keep paying it, so if yousay, well, I'm just not going to
use this, Well, good luck, Turnit off.
You're still paying the loanpayment for it.
So no, make sure you again.
This is why you get educated,this is why Make sure you know
what you're getting into as faras your loan, your system,
everything and that kind ofmoney you expect to save.
(05:44):
It's kind of like buying ahouse.
Yeah, exactly what it is.
I bought the house.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I got the keys.
I signed all the paperwork.
A month later you go.
I don't want it anymore.
Yeah, too late, like no, youbought it.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right.
So again, really good question,all right.
Next, will the system mess upmy roof in the long term?
Does it affect the futureinspection or selling of our
home?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well, hopefully not.
Again, depending on the companythat you go with.
We don't want to obviously havethe system fly off or cave in
or anything like that.
So we will go out there and dopenetrations on the roof, but as
far as messing up your roof, ifit's us, obviously not, but
depending on who you go with andhow they do their install.
So take a look at reviews, askquestions, ask neighbors you
(06:30):
know, ask around theneighborhood how their install
went, things like that right, soyou can get an educated
assumption of what you'regetting into don't be afraid to
ask how does, how do theyinstall it?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
because there's different companies that do it
different ways.
They might say, oh, we're notgoing to mess your roof up.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to put tile hooks and
we're not even going to drill inthe house.
Yeah, and those things arekites on tile hooks and I can
show you pictures of systemswith tile hooks and what
happened to the panels.
They just took off in amicroburst.
They're in someone's backyard,right?
So ask the question about howwe install.
(07:00):
Go listen to our roofing podcast.
It gets into detail about that.
So, yeah, ask that question.
That's really important to know, because you don't want someone
going up there messing up yourroof and you know.
As far as future inspectionsand selling your home, yeah, I
mean, when you sell a home withsolar, that system is going to
be part of that inspection, likewe do.
Just like you have to go get ahome inspection.
(07:20):
Harman Solar provides a solarinspection for people selling
and buying homes where we'll gothere, we'll do a complete
inspection and you get acomplete report on your system
how it's working, what it needs,if it needs anything, etc.
Yeah, so those kind of thingsare all part of the game now as
we've evolved into a more of asolar friendly society
residentially.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So yeah, it absolutely is part of that so
there's there's lots ofdifferent types of inspectors
out there.
So obviously when you're buyinga home, you say like, okay, I
need an inspector for the home,but I also have a pool.
Will my inspector inspect thepool as well?
Some do, some don't.
I also have a solar system.
Will my inspector do the home,the pool, solar system?
Some do, some don't.
So when you are doing thoseinspections, make sure that you
(07:57):
ask your inspector can you doall this?
And if not, well, I need acompany to come out here and
inspect the solar system as well.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I remember 11, 12 years ago, when I started, the
home inspectors knew nothingabout solar, yeah, and they put
zero value on it because theydidn't know.
And we've come so far in thelast 11 years Now there's value
to it, they understand whatthey're looking at, et cetera.
So, yeah, it's definitely partof it.
Great question Are therelong-term costs associated with
(08:25):
solar?
In other words, will I bereplacing expensive equipment,
making this whole thing lose itsappeal and losing its cost
effectiveness?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Long-term costs.
Well, I guess it depends on howyou're paying for it.
So if you're doing like a 20 or25-year loan, yes, there's a
cost to your paying off the loan.
Or if you're doing a lease,same thing Cash there's.
Obviously.
You pay that up front andyou're looking for a return on
investment.
But as far as you know, Ibought this five years down the
road.
Now my panels don't work,things like that.
No, that's not the goal ofsolar.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
We have warranties in place for that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
That's the key For that.
You know, if your panels dodecide to break or your
inverters don't work anymore,there's warranties that replace
that, and we do warranty claimsall the time.
Right, we have a whole servicedepartment that does that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think the other part with that was, like you
know, changing technology type.
You know, if the they're justmore, they're more, they're more
focused on the fact that am Igoing to have to replace this
expensive technology that's upon my roof and I think you hit
on it.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It's warranties, oh, kind of like iphone 2 and then
iphone 10.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So the difference with solar is we have there's 25
year warranties on these panels, on the micro inverters.
You know, tesla gives you likea 12 and a half year warranty on
their inverters.
Everything has a warranty on it.
So, no, you're not going to bespending money long term, um, if
something does go out outsideof warranty.
So think about how long thesewarranties are, though the only
thing I think of would be like atesla inverter that, after 12
(09:49):
and a half years, could go outof warranty.
Yeah, you have to replace toget it fixed, but outside of
that, I mean, everything has gotsuch a long warranty on it.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You're, you're, you're pretty solid you're good
after you know 24 years and 11months if it's still working,
and fine and great you.
You've saved a lot of money.
Obviously in 24 years you knowsomething goes wrong in that
24th year.
You're good, you got a warrantyGet it fixed, get it fixed.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, so all right.
No good question.
I mean, it's like I get it.
All right.
Next question how effective isit on different parts of the
roof?
Do they need enough?
There's a lot of questions.
Does it cause roof damage,which we've talked about already
?
How does it work with myelectric company?
So let's take that piece bypiece.
So how effective is it ondifferent parts of the roof?
(10:29):
I guess that's a north, south,east, west question it depends,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So south is best followed by west, then east,
then north.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, in that order.
So if you have a good sun.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
If you get a good south facing roof, then it works
best.
And the reason behind that?
Well, since the earth is roundand we have the equator, right
here, arizona is north of theequator.
Since the equator is south of us, the sun gets most.
Ok, we've done.
Since the equator is south ofus, the sun gets most Okay,
we've done this.
We've done this, yeah.
So, yeah, south is best,followed by west.
(11:01):
People are asking about eastand west.
West is better because that'susually when you're on peak
times with utility companies,right?
So we want to kind of offsetthat higher cost, right?
As far as solar production goes, east and west is pretty much
the same, but if we're lookingat a cost benefit, then west
would be better than east onthat aspect.
Then east and then north is notas great because, again, we're,
(11:23):
you know, the sun's in thesouthern sky in the winter, so
it doesn't produce as well.
So if you have a goodsouth-facing roof, then put more
panels on the south.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
South is primary.
Unless you're an SRP, then youwant to go west.
Do Put more panels on the south.
South is primary.
Unless you're an SRP, then youwant to go west.
Do they need to be broken up?
So I would say that depends onthe design of your roof.
Again, it depends on how muchspace you have on the different
planes on different sides.
So if we can fit enough of whatyou need in one plane, like in
the south plane, then we're good.
No, we don't need to break itup.
But if we have to, you know,and maybe put more panels on the
West because we can't coverenough on the South, then we're
(11:54):
going to break it up.
It all depends on your usageand how much roof space you have
.
It's what it's about, it'susage and roof space.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a roof
and just went oh, if only yourhouse was flipped right, Cause
you're the back of your home isperfect, but it, it work and
this kind of goes with.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It is my roof big enough?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
well, I don't know until I know what your usage
looks like, and I look at yourroof yeah, a lot of times what I
tell people is if you get,depending on your utility
company, we'll just go with aps.
For example, if you use 20 000kilowatt hours, well then we
need to design a system thatproduces 20 000 kilowatt hours
or more.
So I don't know how much youuse and once I figure that out
(12:36):
then I can figure out okay, well, how many panels do you need
based off that usage, and whereare these panels going to go
exactly?
So we kind of go from thereagain.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
There's a whole process to this right, which is
why you have to have asalesperson asking questions
versus just forcing somethingdown your throat as you can see
in your questions, these aregreat questions.
It's not a one-size-fits-allright.
Does it cost roof damage?
We just talked about that, so Iwon't dwell on that again.
How does it work with myelectric company?
Depends on electric company.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Everything depends, everyone's answer is well, it
depends.
So we have a whole podcast onSRP, obviously, yeah they're
different APS, so it's going todepend.
That's why we always tellpeople get multiple quotes from
multiple companies, because Iguarantee you know someone's
going to be telling you this iswhat you need, this is what you
should do.
You know things like that, anda lot of them are going to be
(13:21):
very, very different.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
so and you know again .
So 35 000 foot level.
What you're doing is it'sconnected to your utility and
when you're over using, you'repushing stuff back to the
utility.
When you need power, you'rebringing stuff in from the
utility.
So the solar system isconnected to the grid, so it
does work in, you know, incohesion with your utility
company.
(13:42):
So I'm not sure if you're askingthat or if you're trying to get
more specific.
If you're trying to get morespecific, go watch our SRP
podcast.
You'll get an idea of how thatworks.
We talk even about APS in therea little bit.
So you can get an idea of howit works.
Or just give us a call andwe'll explain it to you.
Yeah, all right, um, is thatthe last part of that?
That was the last part of thatquestion, okay.
Next one we already pulled thetrigger on a solar system, but
(14:04):
we were told we would get like$16,000 back on our taxes.
Turns out that's not how itworks.
We got a $16,000 credit on ourtaxes, so it worked over.
Um, it worked out over a coupleof years.
Whatever we paid in, we gotback until that credit was used.
Maybe touch on that topic onyour podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Should we flash to this?
Lamer, and we have touched onthis topic.
We are not tax experts right,but you are.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
What you just said is the most common thing we hear
with taxes.
People will come into your homeand tell you the government's
going to cut you a $16,000 check.
They are not going to do that.
It's a tax credit and it'sbased on your tax liability,
just like you just explained,and you found out.
Over a period of years you wereable to use it, but you didn't
get a check for 16 grand in themail.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
A lot of companies get credits and rebates confused
.
A rebate and a credit are twovery different things in the
eyes of the IRS.
So solar is a tax credit, not arebate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that's as simple as that.
Yeah, I do want to bring on aCPA, but I fear having that
conversation because, again, weare not tax consultants.
But I'd love to hear fromsomebody that does that for a
living to give you his opinionnot mine, not Harmon's opinion,
but his opinion, right, just tokind of hear it.
We might do that, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Maybe it wouldn't be a Harmon employee.
It's just a touchy subject,right?
So?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
we, we, just that's not what we do.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
It's one of the questions that I ask and I think
every salesperson should asktoo, when I, when I talk to them
, talk to customers of how doyou want to pay for this?
Do you want to do cash, finance, lease?
And then I go into what is yourtax liability?
Do you know what it is?
Do you know if you need thecredit, things like that.
And a lot of times I would sayprobably 9 out of 10 times
people go huh, I don't know whatthat means so like okay, well,
(15:51):
you got to talk to a tax guythen to figure out what's good
for you and your situation,because I don't want to sell you
something that's not going tobe a good situation for you,
Right?
Good question.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I like that question.
I'm glad you asked it and Ianyway.
All right, are the?
Are the panels truly effective?
If they don't?
If they don't move with the sun, how do the seedings affect
their efficiency?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Well, there are those big solar solar farms where
they do, you know, move the sun,but those are huge and those
are maximum efficiency becausethey do follow the sun.
Those are multi-billion dollarsystems.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So yeah, and they sell smaller things like that
that you can use residentially,but they're so expensive, it's
just stupid we always got tolook at you know what's being
cost, what's cost effective?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
you know, there's.
We get all kinds of requests allthe time.
People like oh, can I put aground mount in my backyard?
Can I do this, can I do that?
Yeah, we can, but what is yourgoal?
Your goal is to save money,right, so we're not trying to do
this as cheap as possible.
You know, putting it up therewith paper clips and gum.
We're not trying to do asexpensive as possible either.
We need to find a happy mediumof what's going to be cost
(16:49):
effective for you.
To save a decent amount of sun?
Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So we just talked about that South and West and
South.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It doesn't need to move a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So we, we line them up based on that.
We know where you're going toget the most production and then
that's how this works.
So, yeah, they don't need to bemoving.
Would that be cool?
Of course it would.
Would it be cost effective?
Absolutely not.
And the seasons again go.
Look at the solar one-on-onepodcast.
It talks about this.
I think part one really getsinto this.
The seasons do affect solarproduction.
Real quickly.
35,000 foot view.
(17:27):
The sun is in the southern skyin the winter.
Panels are sitting on your roof.
They're getting sun on thesouth side, but they're going to
get a little bit less thannormal.
Same on the west and east North, not going to see a whole lot.
Angle of sunlight's less.
And as the sun comes up and upand up over into the summer,
where now it's overhead, it'shitting a lot more and you're
and you're getting a lot morelight, um, and it's doing more
on the north, especially becausenow the north is getting more
(17:49):
light.
So, yeah, the seasons do affecthow your solar system produces,
which is why you see moreproduction in certain times of
the year.
And also heat affects how yoursolar system produces, because
too much heat is no bueno.
Yeah, so go listen to solar 101podcast I think it's part one
and it goes into that in detailand you'll get that more of a
better answer than I just gaveyou.
Right now I'm going to put youon the spot, ralph?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
No, what's the?
You can just edit this out.
I guess what's the best monthsfor solar production?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I would say April, May, June.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
There you go.
Look at that.
A lot of people are like what?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
July, august Too hot, too hot, way too hot.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's got to be May, June-ish.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, right now my system's producing really well.
This is the time, because thisis the time of year it's not hot
hot yet and the sun is moreoverhead than it's been all year
and it's producing really well.
So yeah, you're right, peoplethink it's summer.
Absolutely not.
It's too hot.
These panels can only take.
What happens if the roof needsto be redone?
Well, you sell the house.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
What else would you do?
Move out?
Well, hopefully we have thatconversation beforehand,
hopefully that.
Or even if we don't, maybe itcomes up in the audit because
the idea is, we want it to becost effective.
We don't want to go out there,install your modules and put
everything up and you're good togo.
A couple months later you go oh, I need to redo my roof.
Well, to redo your roof, wehave to take the modules off,
(19:07):
and we don't do those for free,so we have to take it off.
That's the cost of that.
Fix your roof, put them back on.
Yeah, so if you know your roofneeds to be replaced, let's talk
about that before you make thatpurchase.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So if your roof is in really bad shape, don't just
throw solar panels on it.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, that's a really bad decision.
It's a good idea to do theroofing and solar combined
because you take advantage ofthat tax credit.
La, la, la, la la, we don'ttalk about tax credits, but yes,
there is something there thatthe government does allow for
you to do things that work withthe solar system.
They give you the tax credit onRight.
So, yeah, real important tomake sure your roof's in good
condition.
A lot of solar companies aregoing to bypass what your roof
looks like because they justwant to sell you solar.
But that's a bad decision.
If your, if your roof needs tobe replaced, get it done with
(19:50):
the solar we.
What we do at Harmon is as inour contract you'll read that it
says if you do a re-roof withus after you've gone solar, that
we'll include the R and R inpart as part of the re-roof
package.
So we do that in a cost inthere.
So it's actually not a bad dealat all for you.
But again, we do that one time.
Just be smart about it.
(20:10):
Don't throw a solar system on abad roof that needs to be
replaced in the next year or two.
That's just dumb.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Get the roof redone.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
At least get where you're doing, the solar redone
at a minimum.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We'll do that at a minimum.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So good question, really good question.
Question.
Okay, as a new homeowner umwill my house appraise for more
now that it has solar?
So we kind of touched on that alittle bit too.
It actually again, this isanother touchy one, right?
Yeah, um, everyone will say yes, that's the standard answer in
the industry.
I feel it's very case by casethough it is case by case.
Because is it a lease system?
Is it a purchase system?
Um, the short answer is itshould.
(20:48):
It should increase value.
You know, it depends on a lotof scenarios.
If you have a lease on yourroof and it's a really bad lease
someone really took you to thecleaners and it's a bad payment
um, it's gonna hurt your resaleperiod.
Yeah, just, it just does,because no one's gonna want to
buy something that's bad.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, they're gonna force you to pay it off before
you sell the house yeah, when Iwas home shopping, you know
there was a lot of homes I waslooking at the real estate agent
was like, oh, it has solar,here's their bills and all that
stuff.
I'm like, well, let me take alook at it right and there was a
few cases where I looked at I'mlike you know, that's great
that they have solar.
I was taking a look at, youknow, was it a cash purchase,
finance, lease or whatever?
You know some.
(21:25):
There were some cases where Ilooked at like I wouldn't.
You know, this is a great house, but because of how they did
their solar, I would never buythis house right, because this
was just a bad deal and I'mgoing to be overpaying now and
you know things like that, andit just didn't work out.
But then there's some homes Ilook at like, okay, yeah, this
is a lease and the monthlypayment's good, they got a good
deal on it.
It was a good company thatinstalled it.
(21:45):
You know, even if it wasn'tHarmon, it was some other
company that installed it andeverything pencils out.
Then, yeah, okay, I'll put anoffer on this home.
So it's going to be dependenton the value of the home.
Sure, it might go up.
But then if you're an educatedbuyer, you're, you're looking at
, well, what is the solar,what's all entailed in it?
Give me the full story so I canmake an informed decision.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
So that kind of gives , and will it appraise for more?
Most likely there's an industrystandard, national standard,
now I can't remember what theamount is.
There's a value they're puttingto solar now, yeah.
So yes, home appraisers aregiving value to solar, depending
on the situation.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
They do look at that.
So, and if you are looking tobuy a home and you know you have
your, you know inspection,whatever and the solar system,
as far as the inspection goes,checks out, but you're still
wondering, should I take overthese monthly payments of this
lease?
Is the cash purchase?
You know, I don't really know awhole lot.
Give us a call, I'll talk toyou.
Yeah, I'll take a look at thethe paperwork of the lease and
go.
You know this is actually not adeal.
So if you're making an offer onthe home, this is pretty good,
or I'll be honest with you andgo.
This homeowner got screwed.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I've had a few of my friends come to me that are
buying houses with solar andI've looked at it and I've seen
two out of three of them werehorrible situations and they
walked away.
Good thing they did becausethey were about to get in a bad
situation.
Okay, final question.
Final question go ahead.
This is a long one.
We've debated, we debatedgetting solar multiple times and
(23:09):
even had a solar guy come andgive us an estimate and
presentation.
In the end we decided againstit because we wouldn't really
save any money.
It was ralph.
The money we'd save in ourelectric bill would have been
would be used to pay off thesolar panels.
Okay, all right, that's kind ofwhat you want.
Yeah, yeah, and by the end theywould be, and by the end they
would be paid off.
Okay, they need to be, theywould need to be replaced, or
(23:31):
two.
Oh, okay, so what they'resaying is the money we would
have saved would have just beenenough money to pay for the
system.
And then in the end, when this,when you know I had paid it off
now, the system would be wornand old and I'd have to go ahead
and replace the system anyway.
So it made no sense.
Okay, our house is smaller, um,and he said it makes more sense
for larger homes.
That's dumb, um, but they justneed to buy more, more panels,
(23:53):
so it would actually be savingany money.
Okay, so this is very typical.
Yeah, this is the solar guythat he's trying to take
advantage.
He wants to give you morepanels.
He's trying to get as manypanels as he can on your house
because he makes more money thatway.
Right, you wind up in a badsituation and he winds up in a
great situation.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I'm just thinking it's probably.
You know, you're probablybreaking even on savings.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Right, and if you have to look again, you have to
look at 20 to 25 years.
How long are you financing itfor?
Is it 20 years?
Okay, if you're just breakingeven at 20 years?
Not a good idea.
Not a good idea.
No, why would you do that?
You should see.
You should see a break even likeyou're eight yeah maybe nine,
and then you're going to have agood 11 years of where you're
saving money.
(24:36):
Yeah, that, that's a goodsituation.
So if you pay off the system inthe first eight or nine years,
the next 11 years and plus areall you saving money.
That that makes a lot of sense.
But I've seen this where thesecompanies go in and they sell
really high and the savings isbasically at year 20.
Yeah, dumb, dumb dumb.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
If it's done correctly and priced correctly,
that's the biggest thing.
Priced correctly, you willalways see a savings.
Yeah, I've never seen ascenario where done correctly,
priced correctly, where youdon't see a savings.
Seen a scenario where donecorrectly, priced correctly,
where you don't see a savings.
Exactly it doesn't make sense.
There's cases in in.
We've talked about this before.
I've told people no, becauseI've done it.
You know I've priced itcorrectly, but it wasn't done
correctly for their situation.
(25:13):
You know it was an srp deal andthey had a finance and there
was a big tree on the west.
They know I cut the tree.
So they in certain situationswhere it wasn't done correctly.
So then I would say no, no,this doesn't work for you or
your usage is too low orwhatever.
But if it's done correctly andpriced correctly, it works.
It works, there's a savings.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Solar works.
And what do we say?
It's not for everybody, but youshould take a look.
And this is why All thesequestions are why you should
take a look and you should havegood questions.
If a solar sales guy is always,if his answer to everything is,
you just need more panels, tellhim to leave.
Yeah, tell me.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Because he's just trying to get more commission
out of you.
Well, if the question is, I'mplanning on adding a hot tub and
pool and he says you just needmore panels, In that case, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
In that case, yeah.
But if your savings is 20 yearsand he says you just need to
add more panels, sure, yeah,he's not.
Yeah, he's putting member.
They get paid by the panel.
Yeah, so I understand that.
Great question.
Um, sounds like you had areally bad solar company trying
(26:17):
to sell you something and youwere smart enough to see in
through it and you walked away.
Good job.
I would love to be able to takea look at your situation and
give you a real quote at a realprice and see what it looks like
.
Sure, so you know, give us acall.
That's it.
Those are our questions for this, for this podcast.
That was easy.
Did I pass?
No, you did.
These are good questions.
These are very common questionsthat we see.
A lot of these kinds ofquestions.
(26:38):
Keep keep bringing us questions.
Give us more stuff to talkabout.
Um, there's a ton of questions.
There's a ton of hesitation onsome things, but as we're
getting now into the summermonths, we're starting to see
business really pick up.
This is the time of year italways picks up, and this is
where you're going to be gettingvisited by a lot of solar
people.
They're going to be calling you, knocking that door.
(26:58):
Don't hesitate to give us acall or just send us an email or
send us a question.
We don't need to sell it to you, but we'll be more than happy
to help answer the questions tokind of help you through the
process.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
We do it all the time , invite those people in and
then call me during thepresentation and we can have a
three-way phone callconversation with the sales rep,
you and me.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
We've done that.
We'll see how it goes.
We can talk about the guy thatyou sat there with four other
solar companies I think it wassix of them.
Was it six of them.
Okay Again.
So go look at our podcast, theSolar 101 podcast, parts one and
two.
Really good information onthere.
If you want to get morespecific about certain topics,
go take a look at our list ofpodcasts.
I think there's 15 or 16 ofthem out there now.
There's some really goodspecific information and we get
(27:39):
down into it.
We go into the weeds and wegive you no nonsense information
, no nonsense answers.
We're not going to just giveyou an answer to make us look
good.
We tell you the truth, aspainful as it is Sometimes.
You're going to find the truthin these podcasts, so go take a
look.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out
to us.
Um, and that's this episode.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Make sure you like and follow and subscribe to all
the socials and all that stuffto keep you up to date with the
next podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, and we'll be back with something in the next
couple of weeks and I'll let youknow what.
I'm not sure yet.
I got some ideas.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
So I always have ideas.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So, ben, thanks again for joining us to help me
answer the questions, and wewill see everybody again soon.
Thanks for joining us, allright.
Welcome to another edition of the Harmon Solar
Podcast.
I'm Rob Romano, vp of Sales andMarketing at Harmon Solar,
alongside Ben Walschlager.
You guys also know him as MrEverything.
Ben, how are you doing?
Good, good.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Belly is full, ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Belly is full.
You had your barbecued pizza.
That's good.
You gained about three pounds.
You didn't make a mess on yourshirt, so I'm good.
I gained about three pounds.
You didn't make a mess on yourshirt, so I'm good, I know.
So today we're doing somethinga little different.
Usually we come in here and wegrab a topic and we talk about
it and we script it up and doall this stuff.
Today we're not doing that, nottoday.
Today we've got questions fromour listeners and our viewers, a
lot of questions.
So I think we took the top 10or 11 questions and we're going
(01:00):
to go ahead and read those andtry to provide some answers for
you guys.
So something a little different.
And we appreciate you guyssending in questions.
Send more.
Yeah, keep them coming.
We seem to be getting a lotmore lately, so keep them coming
and we'll do our best to getthem on the air.
Okay, first question what isthe biggest drawback from
getting solar installed?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Good question.
The biggest drawback would benot knowing what you're doing.
Biggest drawback would be notknowing what you're doing, not
not knowing what company you're,you know, signing up with
because every, as we'vementioned many times before,
it's all depending on who you'reworking with.
So you could be working with acompany that it sounds great on
paper and everything's fantastic, and then they come out there
and it's a horrible job.
It's a nightmare.
Roof caves in panels fly off,you don't see the savings that
(01:41):
you're guaranteed and all thatstuff and you're like oh so it's
a gamble if you're not educated.
Yeah, so get yourself educatedfirst to eliminate that gamble.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I would agree.
I'd say the biggest drawback iseducation not being educated
and one of the bigger drawbacks,in my opinion, is we have a lot
of companies in this industrythat are not looking out for
your best interest.
Yeah, it's about them and howmuch money they can make and
that makes this industry kind oftough.
We fight it every day.
That's one of the drawbacks ofbeing in solar, but we're here
(02:12):
to help kind of fight that andget that out of the way, because
solar is so beneficial for somany people.
So good question.
Next question what's the numberone positive for getting solar?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Number one positive for getting solar.
Well, it's.
The main reason people getsolar is to save money.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Save money, that's the that's, that's it, I mean
that's.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I don't know how else you answer that I don't think
people get solar because itlooks cool on their roof.
Some people actually do.
I don't care about the savings,I just want panels.
You know, it just looks cool,yeah, so yeah, number one
positive for getting in solar.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Don't turn that positive into a negative.
Right savings is positive.
Don't put yourself in a badsituation again because you're
not educated and now thatpositive is a negative because
now you're not saving money, yep, and you're stuck.
All right.
Next question after it'sinstalled, how long before we
see a difference in our electricbill?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
it all depends when you get your system installed.
If it was installed thebeginning of, you know, january,
february, you probably won'tsee a huge difference because
your usage is low, so yourutility bill is already low,
right, solar production is low,so you're just not offsetting a
whole lot of power that time.
So you know you're gonna getyour first bill in january,
february and go this is notgreat.
But then if you get your systeminstalled in the you know,
(03:17):
middle of summer, um, you mightnot, depending on your utility
company you might not see agreat savings because you didn't
have your credits built up fromFebruary, march, april and May
to last you through that summer.
You don't have that savingsbuilt, so it depends.
So I would say you start seeinga really good.
This is what I should expect tostart seeing savings once
(03:39):
you've completed your first fullyear of what I call growing
pains of solar.
You'll see a savings the firstmonth with your first build,
depending on how you use yourpower.
But you start to see the realpicture play out that first full
year.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, it's an annual proposition.
You have to look at this thingevery year and that's where you
really see the true savings.
You will see savings on amonthly basis.
Obviously it's funny, the firstmonth you mentioned, oh, you'll
see savings the first month.
I say you won't, because thisis what happens.
Everybody gets solar and goes.
Now I've got solar and theyjack down their AC or they jack
up their heat or use more power.
What the heck happened?
(04:14):
Well, that's what happens, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Or sometimes I see people Be careful of that, See
people.
You know, during your solarsystem install it was during the
middle of like a billing cycle,Right?
So when you get your first bill, you only had two days worth of
solar on that bill, yeah, soyeah, you're not really seeing a
savings in there.
You have to wait for the nextbilling cycle.
You know Exactly.
Wait for things to play outyeah.
Exactly Wait for things to playout.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know, yeah, so don't get solar.
And then the first bill, you'recalling the company going hey,
what's going on?
It's again.
It takes time.
You have to go through somebilling cycles Again.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I explained this to all customers as well, Like
there's growing pains for it.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, next question.
Appreciate the question, sonext question.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
If I got, if I get solar and absolutely hate.
What's the protocol for gettingit removed?
Or is it my problem once it'sinstalled?
It's kind of your problem.
The nicest way to say it isit's your problem, because you
know you have the contract, yousigned it, you write a legally
binding thing.
Will companies remove thesystem?
Sure, will they remove a freeNope.
So you paid for your system andnow you're paying for them to
remove it.
Right, I mean, that's thebottom line.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And now you're way underwater and if you have a
loan for it.
That loan doesn't just go away.
You keep paying it, so if yousay, well, I'm just not going to
use this, Well, good luck, Turnit off.
You're still paying the loanpayment for it.
So no, make sure you again.
This is why you get educated,this is why Make sure you know
what you're getting into as faras your loan, your system,
everything and that kind ofmoney you expect to save.
(05:44):
It's kind of like buying ahouse.
Yeah, exactly what it is.
I bought the house.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I got the keys.
I signed all the paperwork.
A month later you go.
I don't want it anymore.
Yeah, too late, like no, youbought it.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right.
So again, really good question,all right.
Next, will the system mess upmy roof in the long term?
Does it affect the futureinspection or selling of our
home?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well, hopefully not.
Again, depending on the companythat you go with.
We don't want to obviously havethe system fly off or cave in
or anything like that.
So we will go out there and dopenetrations on the roof, but as
far as messing up your roof, ifit's us, obviously not, but
depending on who you go with andhow they do their install.
So take a look at reviews, askquestions, ask neighbors you
(06:30):
know, ask around theneighborhood how their install
went, things like that right, soyou can get an educated
assumption of what you'regetting into don't be afraid to
ask how does, how do theyinstall it?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
because there's different companies that do it
different ways.
They might say, oh, we're notgoing to mess your roof up.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to put tile hooks and
we're not even going to drill inthe house.
Yeah, and those things arekites on tile hooks and I can
show you pictures of systemswith tile hooks and what
happened to the panels.
They just took off in amicroburst.
They're in someone's backyard,right?
So ask the question about howwe install.
(07:00):
Go listen to our roofing podcast.
It gets into detail about that.
So, yeah, ask that question.
That's really important to know, because you don't want someone
going up there messing up yourroof and you know.
As far as future inspectionsand selling your home, yeah, I
mean, when you sell a home withsolar, that system is going to
be part of that inspection, likewe do.
Just like you have to go get ahome inspection.
(07:20):
Harman Solar provides a solarinspection for people selling
and buying homes where we'll gothere, we'll do a complete
inspection and you get acomplete report on your system
how it's working, what it needs,if it needs anything, etc.
Yeah, so those kind of thingsare all part of the game now as
we've evolved into a more of asolar friendly society
residentially.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So yeah, it absolutely is part of that so
there's there's lots ofdifferent types of inspectors
out there.
So obviously when you're buyinga home, you say like, okay, I
need an inspector for the home,but I also have a pool.
Will my inspector inspect thepool as well?
Some do, some don't.
I also have a solar system.
Will my inspector do the home,the pool, solar system?
Some do, some don't.
So when you are doing thoseinspections, make sure that you
(07:57):
ask your inspector can you doall this?
And if not, well, I need acompany to come out here and
inspect the solar system as well.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I remember 11, 12 years ago, when I started, the
home inspectors knew nothingabout solar, yeah, and they put
zero value on it because theydidn't know.
And we've come so far in thelast 11 years Now there's value
to it, they understand whatthey're looking at, et cetera.
So, yeah, it's definitely partof it.
Great question Are therelong-term costs associated with
(08:25):
solar?
In other words, will I bereplacing expensive equipment,
making this whole thing lose itsappeal and losing its cost
effectiveness?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Long-term costs.
Well, I guess it depends on howyou're paying for it.
So if you're doing like a 20 or25-year loan, yes, there's a
cost to your paying off the loan.
Or if you're doing a lease,same thing Cash there's.
Obviously.
You pay that up front andyou're looking for a return on
investment.
But as far as you know, Ibought this five years down the
road.
Now my panels don't work,things like that.
No, that's not the goal ofsolar.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
We have warranties in place for that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
That's the key For that.
You know, if your panels dodecide to break or your
inverters don't work anymore,there's warranties that replace
that, and we do warranty claimsall the time.
Right, we have a whole servicedepartment that does that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think the other part with that was, like you
know, changing technology type.
You know, if the they're justmore, they're more, they're more
focused on the fact that am Igoing to have to replace this
expensive technology that's upon my roof and I think you hit
on it.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
It's warranties, oh, kind of like iphone 2 and then
iphone 10.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So the difference with solar is we have there's 25
year warranties on these panels, on the micro inverters.
You know, tesla gives you likea 12 and a half year warranty on
their inverters.
Everything has a warranty on it.
So, no, you're not going to bespending money long term, um, if
something does go out outsideof warranty.
So think about how long thesewarranties are, though the only
thing I think of would be like atesla inverter that, after 12
(09:49):
and a half years, could go outof warranty.
Yeah, you have to replace toget it fixed, but outside of
that, I mean, everything has gotsuch a long warranty on it.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You're, you're, you're pretty solid you're good
after you know 24 years and 11months if it's still working,
and fine and great you.
You've saved a lot of money.
Obviously in 24 years you knowsomething goes wrong in that
24th year.
You're good, you got a warrantyGet it fixed, get it fixed.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, so all right.
No good question.
I mean, it's like I get it.
All right.
Next question how effective isit on different parts of the
roof?
Do they need enough?
There's a lot of questions.
Does it cause roof damage,which we've talked about already
?
How does it work with myelectric company?
So let's take that piece bypiece.
So how effective is it ondifferent parts of the roof?
(10:29):
I guess that's a north, south,east, west question it depends,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So south is best followed by west, then east,
then north.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, in that order.
So if you have a good sun.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
If you get a good south facing roof, then it works
best.
And the reason behind that?
Well, since the earth is roundand we have the equator, right
here, arizona is north of theequator.
Since the equator is south of us, the sun gets most.
Ok, we've done.
Since the equator is south ofus, the sun gets most Okay,
we've done this.
We've done this, yeah.
So, yeah, south is best,followed by west.
(11:01):
People are asking about eastand west.
West is better because that'susually when you're on peak
times with utility companies,right?
So we want to kind of offsetthat higher cost, right?
As far as solar production goes, east and west is pretty much
the same, but if we're lookingat a cost benefit, then west
would be better than east onthat aspect.
Then east and then north is notas great because, again, we're,
(11:23):
you know, the sun's in thesouthern sky in the winter, so
it doesn't produce as well.
So if you have a goodsouth-facing roof, then put more
panels on the south.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
South is primary.
Unless you're an SRP, then youwant to go west.
Do Put more panels on the south.
South is primary.
Unless you're an SRP, then youwant to go west.
Do they need to be broken up?
So I would say that depends onthe design of your roof.
Again, it depends on how muchspace you have on the different
planes on different sides.
So if we can fit enough of whatyou need in one plane, like in
the south plane, then we're good.
No, we don't need to break itup.
But if we have to, you know,and maybe put more panels on the
West because we can't coverenough on the South, then we're
(11:54):
going to break it up.
It all depends on your usageand how much roof space you have
.
It's what it's about, it'susage and roof space.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a roof
and just went oh, if only yourhouse was flipped right, Cause
you're the back of your home isperfect, but it, it work and
this kind of goes with.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It is my roof big enough?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
well, I don't know until I know what your usage
looks like, and I look at yourroof yeah, a lot of times what I
tell people is if you get,depending on your utility
company, we'll just go with aps.
For example, if you use 20 000kilowatt hours, well then we
need to design a system thatproduces 20 000 kilowatt hours
or more.
So I don't know how much youuse and once I figure that out
(12:36):
then I can figure out okay, well, how many panels do you need
based off that usage, and whereare these panels going to go
exactly?
So we kind of go from thereagain.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
There's a whole process to this right, which is
why you have to have asalesperson asking questions
versus just forcing somethingdown your throat as you can see
in your questions, these aregreat questions.
It's not a one-size-fits-allright.
Does it cost roof damage?
We just talked about that, so Iwon't dwell on that again.
How does it work with myelectric company?
Depends on electric company.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Everything depends, everyone's answer is well, it
depends.
So we have a whole podcast onSRP, obviously, yeah they're
different APS, so it's going todepend.
That's why we always tellpeople get multiple quotes from
multiple companies, because Iguarantee you know someone's
going to be telling you this iswhat you need, this is what you
should do.
You know things like that, anda lot of them are going to be
(13:21):
very, very different.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
so and you know again .
So 35 000 foot level.
What you're doing is it'sconnected to your utility and
when you're over using, you'repushing stuff back to the
utility.
When you need power, you'rebringing stuff in from the
utility.
So the solar system isconnected to the grid, so it
does work in, you know, incohesion with your utility
company.
(13:42):
So I'm not sure if you're askingthat or if you're trying to get
more specific.
If you're trying to get morespecific, go watch our SRP
podcast.
You'll get an idea of how thatworks.
We talk even about APS in therea little bit.
So you can get an idea of howit works.
Or just give us a call andwe'll explain it to you.
Yeah, all right, um, is thatthe last part of that?
That was the last part of thatquestion, okay.
Next one we already pulled thetrigger on a solar system, but
(14:04):
we were told we would get like$16,000 back on our taxes.
Turns out that's not how itworks.
We got a $16,000 credit on ourtaxes, so it worked over.
Um, it worked out over a coupleof years.
Whatever we paid in, we gotback until that credit was used.
Maybe touch on that topic onyour podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Should we flash to this?
Lamer, and we have touched onthis topic.
We are not tax experts right,but you are.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
What you just said is the most common thing we hear
with taxes.
People will come into your homeand tell you the government's
going to cut you a $16,000 check.
They are not going to do that.
It's a tax credit and it'sbased on your tax liability,
just like you just explained,and you found out.
Over a period of years you wereable to use it, but you didn't
get a check for 16 grand in themail.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
A lot of companies get credits and rebates confused
.
A rebate and a credit are twovery different things in the
eyes of the IRS.
So solar is a tax credit, not arebate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, that's as simple as that.
Yeah, I do want to bring on aCPA, but I fear having that
conversation because, again, weare not tax consultants.
But I'd love to hear fromsomebody that does that for a
living to give you his opinionnot mine, not Harmon's opinion,
but his opinion, right, just tokind of hear it.
We might do that, okay.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Maybe it wouldn't be a Harmon employee.
It's just a touchy subject,right?
So?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
we, we, just that's not what we do.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
It's one of the questions that I ask and I think
every salesperson should asktoo, when I, when I talk to them
, talk to customers of how doyou want to pay for this?
Do you want to do cash, finance, lease?
And then I go into what is yourtax liability?
Do you know what it is?
Do you know if you need thecredit, things like that.
And a lot of times I would sayprobably 9 out of 10 times
people go huh, I don't know whatthat means so like okay, well,
(15:51):
you got to talk to a tax guythen to figure out what's good
for you and your situation,because I don't want to sell you
something that's not going tobe a good situation for you,
Right?
Good question.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I like that question.
I'm glad you asked it and Ianyway.
All right, are the?
Are the panels truly effective?
If they don't?
If they don't move with the sun, how do the seedings affect
their efficiency?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Well, there are those big solar solar farms where
they do, you know, move the sun,but those are huge and those
are maximum efficiency becausethey do follow the sun.
Those are multi-billion dollarsystems.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So yeah, and they sell smaller things like that
that you can use residentially,but they're so expensive, it's
just stupid we always got tolook at you know what's being
cost, what's cost effective?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
you know, there's.
We get all kinds of requests allthe time.
People like oh, can I put aground mount in my backyard?
Can I do this, can I do that?
Yeah, we can, but what is yourgoal?
Your goal is to save money,right, so we're not trying to do
this as cheap as possible.
You know, putting it up therewith paper clips and gum.
We're not trying to do asexpensive as possible either.
We need to find a happy mediumof what's going to be cost
(16:49):
effective for you.
To save a decent amount of sun?
Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
So we just talked about that South and West and
South.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
It doesn't need to move a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So we, we line them up based on that.
We know where you're going toget the most production and then
that's how this works.
So, yeah, they don't need to bemoving.
Would that be cool?
Of course it would.
Would it be cost effective?
Absolutely not.
And the seasons again go.
Look at the solar one-on-onepodcast.
It talks about this.
I think part one really getsinto this.
The seasons do affect solarproduction.
Real quickly.
35,000 foot view.
(17:27):
The sun is in the southern skyin the winter.
Panels are sitting on your roof.
They're getting sun on thesouth side, but they're going to
get a little bit less thannormal.
Same on the west and east North, not going to see a whole lot.
Angle of sunlight's less.
And as the sun comes up and upand up over into the summer,
where now it's overhead, it'shitting a lot more and you're
and you're getting a lot morelight, um, and it's doing more
on the north, especially becausenow the north is getting more
(17:49):
light.
So, yeah, the seasons do affecthow your solar system produces,
which is why you see moreproduction in certain times of
the year.
And also heat affects how yoursolar system produces, because
too much heat is no bueno.
Yeah, so go listen to solar 101podcast I think it's part one
and it goes into that in detailand you'll get that more of a
better answer than I just gaveyou.
Right now I'm going to put youon the spot, ralph?
Speaker 1 (18:08):
No, what's the?
You can just edit this out.
I guess what's the best monthsfor solar production?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I would say April, May, June.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
There you go.
Look at that.
A lot of people are like what?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
July, august Too hot, too hot, way too hot.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's got to be May, June-ish.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, right now my system's producing really well.
This is the time, because thisis the time of year it's not hot
hot yet and the sun is moreoverhead than it's been all year
and it's producing really well.
So yeah, you're right, peoplethink it's summer.
Absolutely not.
It's too hot.
These panels can only take.
What happens if the roof needsto be redone?
Well, you sell the house.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
What else would you do?
Move out?
Well, hopefully we have thatconversation beforehand,
hopefully that.
Or even if we don't, maybe itcomes up in the audit because
the idea is, we want it to becost effective.
We don't want to go out there,install your modules and put
everything up and you're good togo.
A couple months later you go oh, I need to redo my roof.
Well, to redo your roof, wehave to take the modules off,
(19:07):
and we don't do those for free,so we have to take it off.
That's the cost of that.
Fix your roof, put them back on.
Yeah, so if you know your roofneeds to be replaced, let's talk
about that before you make thatpurchase.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So if your roof is in really bad shape, don't just
throw solar panels on it.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, that's a really bad decision.
It's a good idea to do theroofing and solar combined
because you take advantage ofthat tax credit.
La, la, la, la la, we don'ttalk about tax credits, but yes,
there is something there thatthe government does allow for
you to do things that work withthe solar system.
They give you the tax credit onRight.
So, yeah, real important tomake sure your roof's in good
condition.
A lot of solar companies aregoing to bypass what your roof
looks like because they justwant to sell you solar.
But that's a bad decision.
If your, if your roof needs tobe replaced, get it done with
(19:50):
the solar we.
What we do at Harmon is as inour contract you'll read that it
says if you do a re-roof withus after you've gone solar, that
we'll include the R and R inpart as part of the re-roof
package.
So we do that in a cost inthere.
So it's actually not a bad dealat all for you.
But again, we do that one time.
Just be smart about it.
(20:10):
Don't throw a solar system on abad roof that needs to be
replaced in the next year or two.
That's just dumb.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Get the roof redone.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
At least get where you're doing, the solar redone
at a minimum.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We'll do that at a minimum.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So good question, really good question.
Question.
Okay, as a new homeowner umwill my house appraise for more
now that it has solar?
So we kind of touched on that alittle bit too.
It actually again, this isanother touchy one, right?
Yeah, um, everyone will say yes, that's the standard answer in
the industry.
I feel it's very case by casethough it is case by case.
Because is it a lease system?
Is it a purchase system?
Um, the short answer is itshould.
(20:48):
It should increase value.
You know, it depends on a lotof scenarios.
If you have a lease on yourroof and it's a really bad lease
someone really took you to thecleaners and it's a bad payment
um, it's gonna hurt your resaleperiod.
Yeah, just, it just does,because no one's gonna want to
buy something that's bad.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, they're gonna force you to pay it off before
you sell the house yeah, when Iwas home shopping, you know
there was a lot of homes I waslooking at the real estate agent
was like, oh, it has solar,here's their bills and all that
stuff.
I'm like, well, let me take alook at it right and there was a
few cases where I looked at I'mlike you know, that's great
that they have solar.
I was taking a look at, youknow, was it a cash purchase,
finance, lease or whatever?
You know some.
(21:25):
There were some cases where Ilooked at like I wouldn't.
You know, this is a great house, but because of how they did
their solar, I would never buythis house right, because this
was just a bad deal and I'mgoing to be overpaying now and
you know things like that, andit just didn't work out.
But then there's some homes Ilook at like, okay, yeah, this
is a lease and the monthlypayment's good, they got a good
deal on it.
It was a good company thatinstalled it.
(21:45):
You know, even if it wasn'tHarmon, it was some other
company that installed it andeverything pencils out.
Then, yeah, okay, I'll put anoffer on this home.
So it's going to be dependenton the value of the home.
Sure, it might go up.
But then if you're an educatedbuyer, you're, you're looking at
, well, what is the solar,what's all entailed in it?
Give me the full story so I canmake an informed decision.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
So that kind of gives , and will it appraise for more?
Most likely there's an industrystandard, national standard,
now I can't remember what theamount is.
There's a value they're puttingto solar now, yeah.
So yes, home appraisers aregiving value to solar, depending
on the situation.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
They do look at that.
So, and if you are looking tobuy a home and you know you have
your, you know inspection,whatever and the solar system,
as far as the inspection goes,checks out, but you're still
wondering, should I take overthese monthly payments of this
lease?
Is the cash purchase?
You know, I don't really know awhole lot.
Give us a call, I'll talk toyou.
Yeah, I'll take a look at thethe paperwork of the lease and
go.
You know this is actually not adeal.
So if you're making an offer onthe home, this is pretty good,
or I'll be honest with you andgo.
This homeowner got screwed.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I've had a few of my friends come to me that are
buying houses with solar andI've looked at it and I've seen
two out of three of them werehorrible situations and they
walked away.
Good thing they did becausethey were about to get in a bad
situation.
Okay, final question.
Final question go ahead.
This is a long one.
We've debated, we debatedgetting solar multiple times and
(23:09):
even had a solar guy come andgive us an estimate and
presentation.
In the end we decided againstit because we wouldn't really
save any money.
It was ralph.
The money we'd save in ourelectric bill would have been
would be used to pay off thesolar panels.
Okay, all right, that's kind ofwhat you want.
Yeah, yeah, and by the end theywould be, and by the end they
would be paid off.
Okay, they need to be, theywould need to be replaced, or
(23:31):
two.
Oh, okay, so what they'resaying is the money we would
have saved would have just beenenough money to pay for the
system.
And then in the end, when this,when you know I had paid it off
now, the system would be wornand old and I'd have to go ahead
and replace the system anyway.
So it made no sense.
Okay, our house is smaller, um,and he said it makes more sense
for larger homes.
That's dumb, um, but they justneed to buy more, more panels,
(23:53):
so it would actually be savingany money.
Okay, so this is very typical.
Yeah, this is the solar guythat he's trying to take
advantage.
He wants to give you morepanels.
He's trying to get as manypanels as he can on your house
because he makes more money thatway.
Right, you wind up in a badsituation and he winds up in a
great situation.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I'm just thinking it's probably.
You know, you're probablybreaking even on savings.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Right, and if you have to look again, you have to
look at 20 to 25 years.
How long are you financing itfor?
Is it 20 years?
Okay, if you're just breakingeven at 20 years?
Not a good idea.
Not a good idea.
No, why would you do that?
You should see.
You should see a break even likeyou're eight yeah maybe nine,
and then you're going to have agood 11 years of where you're
saving money.
(24:36):
Yeah, that, that's a goodsituation.
So if you pay off the system inthe first eight or nine years,
the next 11 years and plus areall you saving money.
That that makes a lot of sense.
But I've seen this where thesecompanies go in and they sell
really high and the savings isbasically at year 20.
Yeah, dumb, dumb dumb.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
If it's done correctly and priced correctly,
that's the biggest thing.
Priced correctly, you willalways see a savings.
Yeah, I've never seen ascenario where done correctly,
priced correctly, where youdon't see a savings.
Seen a scenario where donecorrectly, priced correctly,
where you don't see a savings.
Exactly it doesn't make sense.
There's cases in in.
We've talked about this before.
I've told people no, becauseI've done it.
You know I've priced itcorrectly, but it wasn't done
correctly for their situation.
(25:13):
You know it was an srp deal andthey had a finance and there
was a big tree on the west.
They know I cut the tree.
So they in certain situationswhere it wasn't done correctly.
So then I would say no, no,this doesn't work for you or
your usage is too low orwhatever.
But if it's done correctly andpriced correctly, it works.
It works, there's a savings.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Solar works.
And what do we say?
It's not for everybody, but youshould take a look.
And this is why All thesequestions are why you should
take a look and you should havegood questions.
If a solar sales guy is always,if his answer to everything is,
you just need more panels, tellhim to leave.
Yeah, tell me.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Because he's just trying to get more commission
out of you.
Well, if the question is, I'mplanning on adding a hot tub and
pool and he says you just needmore panels, In that case, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
In that case, yeah.
But if your savings is 20 yearsand he says you just need to
add more panels, sure, yeah,he's not.
Yeah, he's putting member.
They get paid by the panel.
Yeah, so I understand that.
Great question.
Um, sounds like you had areally bad solar company trying
(26:17):
to sell you something and youwere smart enough to see in
through it and you walked away.
Good job.
I would love to be able to takea look at your situation and
give you a real quote at a realprice and see what it looks like
.
Sure, so you know, give us acall.
That's it.
Those are our questions for this, for this podcast.
That was easy.
Did I pass?
No, you did.
These are good questions.
These are very common questionsthat we see.
A lot of these kinds ofquestions.
(26:38):
Keep keep bringing us questions.
Give us more stuff to talkabout.
Um, there's a ton of questions.
There's a ton of hesitation onsome things, but as we're
getting now into the summermonths, we're starting to see
business really pick up.
This is the time of year italways picks up, and this is
where you're going to be gettingvisited by a lot of solar
people.
They're going to be calling you, knocking that door.
(26:58):
Don't hesitate to give us acall or just send us an email or
send us a question.
We don't need to sell it to you, but we'll be more than happy
to help answer the questions tokind of help you through the
process.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
We do it all the time , invite those people in and
then call me during thepresentation and we can have a
three-way phone callconversation with the sales rep,
you and me.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
We've done that.
We'll see how it goes.
We can talk about the guy thatyou sat there with four other
solar companies I think it wassix of them.
Was it six of them.
Okay Again.
So go look at our podcast, theSolar 101 podcast, parts one and
two.
Really good information onthere.
If you want to get morespecific about certain topics,
go take a look at our list ofpodcasts.
I think there's 15 or 16 ofthem out there now.
There's some really goodspecific information and we get
(27:39):
down into it.
We go into the weeds and wegive you no nonsense information
, no nonsense answers.
We're not going to just giveyou an answer to make us look
good.
We tell you the truth, aspainful as it is Sometimes.
You're going to find the truthin these podcasts, so go take a
look.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out
to us.
Um, and that's this episode.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Make sure you like and follow and subscribe to all
the socials and all that stuffto keep you up to date with the
next podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yeah, and we'll be back with something in the next
couple of weeks and I'll let youknow what.
I'm not sure yet.
I got some ideas.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
So I always have ideas.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So, ben, thanks again for joining us to help me
answer the questions, and wewill see everybody again soon.
Thanks for joining us, allright.
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