Are you thinking about installing solar panels in San Antonio?
This is a sunny area, which means that you can expect to get your money’s worth from making such an investment.
However, we should point out that, as smart of a move as that may be — the quality of your solar panels will largely depend upon the solar company you choose in the very beginning.
Naturally, most people who start considering solar panel installation aren’t exactly experts in the field.
Therefore, knowing how to negotiate and what kind of questions to ask a company that you’ll potentially hire is crucial.
And sure, some of them will depend upon the specifics of your home. However, there are some general points that everyone should talk about with their solar company, which is precisely what we’ll explore here today!
Do They Have Their Own Panels?
Before you decide to hire a company for their services when installing solar panels in San Antonio, you should ask the people who are working there if they’ve got their solar panels on their own roofs — and what type of system they have, if so.
Most reputable solar companies employ people who are knowledgeable about solar energy and utilize it themselves as well.
Ask these people where they live as well — if you decide to move from the city in the future to a more suburban area, chances are that you’ll have different lighting conditions there.
What’s The Most Cost Effective System?
When you’re choosing a solar panel system, it’s a process that’s more complicated than the average layman would tell you.
It’s not all about matching the electricity output to your current electric bill.
If a solar company is going to provide you with the best possible system of panels for your household, they’ll need some information.
For instance, they’ll want to know about your energy usage patterns on a household level. Also, they’ll want to check out the angle and solar orientation of your home’s roof, in regards to the sun.
Depending on the usage patterns, they’ll determine the ballpark of surplus energy that your household might provide to the wider grid.
All of this information is needed while making a professional estimate in regards to your home’s size — which will be the main determining factor for your price.
That brings us back to your communication with the solar company; if you notice that they boast of the pricing being the matter of a back of the napkin calculation, steer clear of them and look for another provider.
Licensing Questions
When you’re picking a company for installing solar panels in San Antonio — or anywhere else, for that matter — you need to make sure that you’re working with bona fide professionals.
This means that it’s a company with licensed and experienced contractors. Usually, a solar company needs to have a license provided by the state and city or county in which the company operates. Apart from that, high-quality contractors are usually bonded and insured, too.
Those legal questions aside, you also want to see if the company has the necessary experience.
Ask them for how many years they’ve been working in the solar industry. The last thing you want to be is a training exercise for inexperienced contractors.
Ask About Roof Inspections
As we’ve already said above, a high-quality solar company will make a professional estimate based on a variety of factors, including a thorough roof inspection.
Before the company does any actual work, they’ll need to make sure that your roof can successfully withstand solar panels.
There are many situations where the age and condition of a roof require that it’s replaced before any company can install solar panels on it.
Also, you want to ask about the specific kind of work the company will be doing while installing solar panels in San Antonio.
For instance — seeing as your roof will need to hold racks on which the panels lay, there is bound to be some drilling. Talk to your contractors about the equipment and specific materials that they plan on using. You don’t want to deal with leaks once a rain hits.
Energy Discrepancies
Most solar companies will give you some sort of estimate regarding the annual output of electric energy that your panels should produce.
When that happens, make sure to talk about potential discrepancies; more specifically, ask the solar company about what the procedure is if their estimate isn’t met in practice.
There are different options in such a situation.
For example, a solar company might offer to install additional panels with a discount or for free. On the other hand, they may offer reimbursement for the lacking performance of your solar panel system.
Whatever the solution may be, this is something you want to learn about in advance.
What About Relocation?
Realistically speaking, plenty of people don’t end up living in a single place for the entirety of their lives.
That’s why we recommend thinking about the possibility of relocation to a new home in advance, even if you’re not planning on doing so at the moment. There are different options here. You could relocate your panels to your new home. Or, the lease for your solar panels may simply be transferred to the next person who ends up owning your home.
However, if the new homeowner can’t qualify after their credit score is checked out, your solar company will probably be able to remove the panels from the house; in that case, your contract will be terminated.
What you want to ask your solar company before they even install the panels in the first place is — will you have to pay an additional fee if you want to remove the panels or transfer them to a new owner? This is the sort of stuff you want to consider well enough in advance.