Tumbleweeds...?

[Energetic]

Have had more emails and phone calls from suppliers in last couple of days than i can remember having since early 2012. They seem to have a lot of time on their hands atm...

TBH we're normally quiet through easter and see a pick up afterwards but it hasn't bounded back quite so well so far this year. What's the general feel out there? We're a bit isolated down 'ere...

 

[SolarCity]

We've gone quiet on solar PV, but we're getting plenty of work from other areas.

 

[whinmoor]

Pretty busy at the moment. Mixture of domestic, commercial & repairs.

Noticed one of our local competitors seems to be trading without being on MCS register. Two others have disappeared completely.

 

[Worcester]

We're busier on all fronts this year including solar, maybe it's because loads of people have shut up shop and gone back to house bashing.. hence we are busy because no-one else is around, and so the suppliers are quieter.. - We're even installing on Monday!

What we have seen over the last twelve months is a much large number of enquiries on new build work, and we've also seen traditional M&E firms adding MCS to their qualifications so that they don't have to sub it out..

It's called maturing of the market place

We've just secured a 14m x 12m booth and exclusivity on renewables at our local 'sub'-county show - footfall 10,000 in early July. What was interesting was how low the price was, apparently they had approached a number of other installers who had turned down the opportunity before they even found out the price... It's going to cost me more in getting the equipment there that the 'show ring edge' stand with banners on all 4 side of the ring, announcements on the pa every 15 mins, 'sponsorship' of one of the show jumping categories AND an advert in the brochure. Our county show would have charged 10x that just for the 'booth' with out all the rest and no chance of exclusivity. The margin on one deal will MORE than cover the whole cost of the event - that's how cheap it was!

 

[Gavin A]

pretty busy really, struggling to cope with the level of commercial inquiries and have just doubled the size of our office, took on another panel fitter last week and have a sales manager and graduate trainee starting in June.

Just got to keep all the balls in the air at once.

 

[Energetic]

Good to hear there's things going on for you guys.

We've had a fair few enquiries for new builds but it seems a pretty confused market. The few we've had are only interested in hitting their obligations as cheaply as possible and are not even interested in whether the system will perform.

We recently turned down 24kW of 1kw systems stuffed down the side of dormers in almost full shade because it's not the sort of work we want to be associated with. Another developer wanted the systems on the back roof because PV is 'very social housing and not what people want on premium developments'.

We've just done a couple of local days and there was a reasonable amount of interest, people we're happy to spend some time talking through things so optimistic for the year. Could do with more of the commercial stuff but we're in a pretty rural area.

 

[SRE]

We're having a bit of a lull at the moment as are quite a few installers I've been talking to in different parts of the country. To be honest we're ready for a bit of breathing space (although not too much) to try and target our customers a bit more effectively. We've not paid for any marketing for 12 months now and work keeps trickling in - I'm trying to have a more co-ordinated approach for the next 6 months.

Like Worcester we're being offered shows at really good prices but as there's just the 2 of us we have to balance the time it takes to be at the show as well as the cost of producing materials for them. We don't touch commercial of any reasonable size - just can't afford to take the risk of payment, but the flip side of that is there's more domestic potential because we're not chasing the commercial.

 

[SibertSolar]

I think we're currently in a typical part of the cyclic PV roller coaster, to some degree, albeit not as much of a trough as has been seen in previous quarters - pipelines still seem pretty full, but more quotes than commitments at the moment.

Just on the topic of shows etc - we don't often make contact with the end customer, so are rarely at the "coal-face" like you guys, but I think it's very important for the truthful/credible message to be promoted to the consumer by, what we consider to be, the bonafide installer-base such that the majority on here represent. As such, if there's any assistance we can offer to help you guys get your messages across (brochures, samples etc) then let me know and I'll see if we can help