According to a recent report, only about 4% of American houses have solar panels on top of them. There are still so many people who haven’t taken advantage of the many benefits of solar panels.
Do you fall into this category? If so, you should try to change that immediately by having a residential solar system installed. It can help to reduce your monthly energy bills and allow you to do something good for the planet.
Hiring a solar provider is going to be the first step you’ll need to take when you’re ready to embrace solar panels. This can, however, be more challenging than you might think thanks to all the options for solar providers that are out there.
We’re here to make your search for a solar provider a little easier. Check out our guide on hiring a solar provider below.
List Your Options
If you haven’t ever looked into installing solar panels before, you might not know which solar providers exist in your area. To make hiring a solar provider simpler, you should start by generating a list of the different options you have.
Google “solar panel providers near me” and you should see a bunch of options appear. You shouldn’t have any trouble creating a list of local solar panel providers who can install solar panels for you.
Do Your Research
Once you have a list of local solar providers together, you can begin doing your homework on each of them. You should visit each of their websites to see what they can offer you.
On a solar provider’s site, you’ll be able to see how much solar installation experience they have. It’ll be important to focus on solar providers that have a wealth of experience within the industry.
You should also look for solar providers that sell the types of solar panels you want. Additionally, you should sneak a peek at which services they can provide. Give bonus points to any company that can both install solar panels for you and lend a hand with solar system maintenance.
Read Online Reviews
When hiring a solar provider, you’re going to find that all the providers you’re considering will portray themselves in a positive light on their websites. But what do their past customers have to say about them?
You can answer this question by reading through online reviews for each solar provider you’re considering. Ideally, you should strive to find a solar provider that has accumulated a lengthy list of positive reviews from past customers.
If a solar provider’s customers have had almost nothing nice to say about them, that should serve as a big red flag for you. You aren’t going to want to enable a solar provider like this to get anywhere near your home’s roof.
Ask for Recommendations
As you’re moving through the process of hiring a solar provider, you may want to think about whether you have family members, friends, neighbors, etc. who have had solar panels installed. They could be invaluable resources during your search.
Ask them which solar providers they would recommend. If you keep hearing the same solar providers mentioned over and over again, it’ll indicate that you should look closer at them.
By doing this, you might also be able to gather information on the solar providers you should steer clear of at all costs. You won’t want to work with any solar providers that didn’t do right by the people around you.
Compare Prices
You may be under the impression that all the different solar providers out there are going to charge right around the same prices. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just about every solar provider is going to extend slightly different prices to customers. This will make comparing solar installation costs imperative.
It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to reach out to a handful of solar providers to secure quotes from them. It’ll put you in a better position to choose a solar provider that’s going to check the right boxes for you while also fitting into your budget.
Check Availability
Remember when we said that only about 4% of American homeowners have solar panels right now? Well, that’s all going to change in the not-too-distant future.
Solar industry analysts are predicting that millions of Americans are going to start having solar panels installed on their roofs. It’s going to lead to a surge of people scheduling solar panel installation projects.
With this in mind, you might have a tough time getting some solar providers to find room in their schedules for you. It’s one more thing you should consider when you’re hiring a solar provider.
If a solar provider is booked up for the next six months, that alone might be enough to knock them out of the running. You’re going to need to work with a solar provider that has enough time to devote to installing solar panels for you.
Begin the Process of Hiring a Solar Provider
When you’re interested in installing solar panels on your home’s roof, the last thing you want to do is Google “solar provider near me” and hire the first company that appears. That may be a recipe for disaster.
Instead, you should take each of the steps listed here when hiring a solar provider. They’ll lead you down the right path and leave you with a solar provider you know you can count on.
Look for more home improvement tips by reading through the rest of the articles published on our blog.