should i abandon my solar water heating idea already?

i finally met with the solar supply house salesmen.....its alot more that i thought it would be...

$11,000 for a basic system...

when done with quality it cant be lower....i got a copy of a bid from another company and it was $11,700....so i know my price is right in line...im actually cheap..

i called the Wisconsin Energy Co. who's literature says $7000-$9000...i complained to them...they said they know and have taken it off most of their literature...they said $11,000 is right in line....

i packed up all my books on it and put it in a pile in the corner. I am abandoning it right now. I will sell by word of mouth and to my new home builders...if i get a sale ill make it work.....until then i wont waste anymore time..

does ANYONE think someone would pay $11,000 (-$4,500 in rebates)to save $35 a month?

id say 20 year payback and they would have to change their lifestyle to conserve

[Udaohhxy]

well the question is are you doing it soley to save money or improve the enviroment?

Judging by your name "huggytree" tells me that you are a very enviroment concise person. The choose should be find your motive first and the rest will fall into place.

Maybe if the water heater was part of a heating and energy system, it might be more viable. Water heater alone, maybe not. In some cases, if your solar energy system is producing more power than you are actually using, the power company might buy the excess power, or, credit you for when you are using more than you're producing to help balance things out and provide an overall savings.

[mysunsite]

The cost for your basic system seems extremely high... here in Australia you can get a system suitable for most houses for around the $5K mark... and then you get all the rebates, etc... back.

Perhaps you should seek another supplier and perhaps cut your profit margin.

[imacieree]

does ANYONE think someone would pay $11,000 (-$4,500 in rebates)to save $35 a month?

id say 20 year payback and they would have to change their lifestyle to conserve

I can't help but feeling somewhat environmentally irresponsible when I say this, but........ I wouldn't.

[appleiphoneees]

have you looked into doing this yourself? I'm a very do-it-yourself kind of guy and have always considered building a solar heating setup on my own.

I know you would have to purchase solar heating panels, or at least the cell sheets, but maybe you could save money that way.???

I haven't looked into it, and don't know how hard it is.. but I'm pretty sure it's not THAT difficult. If you purchased a complete kit it's going to be more money for sure.

.. just a thought.

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the name huggytree is actually my wifes email name....its not me and neither of us are activist type...we like hiking and the outdoors, but thats where it ends....

$11,000 is with my normal remodeling wage for 30 hours...the other installer used 45 hours, but charged $18 per hour less...which wouldnt even cover my costs....so i should be increasing my hours by 15...which would add $1300 more......but i think i can do them in 30 easy.....

as far as reducing costs....i cant....i am buying bits and pieces, not a whole kit....its from 5 different suppliers....everything is just that much.it all adds up when you have 75 different parts with alot of them in the $50 range, the panels are $1000 each, the solar tank is $1500...parts alone are $7000 range with a 35% markup.......i actually wanted to do a 45% markup originally....until i found out how much it was coming to be...that 35% includes a fudge factor for forgotten parts....so its more like 30%....

Wisconsin energy says im right on for price.....they are the main ones who give the rebates...so they'd know...id be curious how it could be done for $5000....copper prices are a large factor and that cant be less in Australia.....i am using top of the line panels and solar tank....other than the panels/tank everything is a fixed price....maybe labor in Australia is much less....do plumbers live in their vans down by the river?

i will not be making any more profits on this than normal plumbing(i thought i could make a killing originally)....i spend how many hours wasting my time trying to sell this system when 99.9% wont buy it....

more office time=same profits....

why do it?

i thought i was a visionary and was wondering why no one else in the area is doing this....now i know i was dreamer......i even saw a 2nd business just for these systems.....

who knows, my word of mouth may get me a few jobs....

Huggy, do you have radiant in floor heating in your area? By that I mean plumbing in the floor that passes hot water to heat the floor and house.

If you do, maybe the payback is better when used for heating the house. Downside is you may not have enough sun in your area for this to be effective.

this winter the solar wouldnt work at all...snow every other day...i think its 1 day of sun a week for 2 months now

i spent all day working on my numbers trying to get the price down. I managed to get it down to $10,250 for a ranch and $10,625 for a 2 story. I will make decent money at that price. I switched to a lower grade tank and saved $850....i kept the top of the line tank for an option.....

i have a new home builder who says he can sell it for me....he says the $10,000 number will work....he says he has rich people who want his...by doing it on new homes i save all the sales time....the builder sells it for me..i gave him a talking points sheet with 28 different statistics ranging from the environment,laws,rebates, and basic info.....everything you need to know is summarized.

today im feeling my original idea could work, just not as well.

There is nothing wrong with abandoning a business idea, especially if your preliminary research indicates it would be unwise.

It is a good idea to hold back until you have comprehensive market research to either support or refute your idea. This takes time and will likely consist of you talking to a lot of people, in order to gain an idea of the demand.