Can I get some help with my system?
Northern California
2000 Sq ft house. South facing roof. Everything is electric (heater, pool, water, appliances), so we use a lot of energy. Suffice to say I am an excellent candidate for solar.
Our bill is usually around $350 a month from PG&E. Doing some energy upgrades but probably going to add a few things anyway. Anyways, usage is not the problem, I've whittled that down in energy projects and insulation. R60 in the attic. Windows. Lots of other stuff.
The issue is I don't know if I am getting a good deal on panels, equipment and labor.
The system I priced out was 45 60-cell panels and equipment.
The systems will all come with SolarEdge inverters, iron ridge racks etc. Basically the lot was about $12500 priced out on Wholesalesolar.com. Plus some other stuff.
Onto the panels.
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Q-cells G5 BLK 305 - $300 per panel (what the installer recommends). So $13,500
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Mission Solar 310 - $200 per panel. So $9000
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Canadian Solar 310 - $260 per panel. So $11700
To make a long story short, about $20,000 - $26,500 for the equipment.
Wholesalesolar.com has the Missions and almost everything else I want for around $20,000 flat.
Here's the problem.
My installer is bidding $47,500 for this project. Over $20,000 more then equipment cost. When I confronted him about it, I stated that there was no way it's going to cost $21,000 in labor. He stated that he needs to cover fuel, workers comp, profit, insurance, and a bunch of other things. Jesus $21,000 to put them up there though? I've already confirmed that I don't need a new panel, nor is my roof particularly treacherous. That seems steep for California even. He also stated that people have had "nightmares" with wholesalesolar. They must be good at scrubbing them, because I haven't seen anything indicating that. I'm even doing the permitting myself...
Is this unreasonable? Am I better off buying my own equipment and just calling an installer for labor? What is a reasonable amount of labor to put 45 panels on a simple roof.
Thanks for reading.
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