Our next big reno project.
Ken and I have been discussing the pros and cons of solar energy for a few years. Up until now the only thing that has stopped us doing anything about it was money (the lack of it), but now that we are in the happy position of being able to afford it, we've jumped in and signed up. I have been reading forums and websites about solar panels etc for a while, and one website I check out regularly when looking for tradesmen, is "Quotify". They connect people with service providers - all you do is provide the service you want, and your contact details. They get back to you with three companies, who will contact you if you don't contact them first. They recommended three solar panel companies to me and all of them called me on my mobile phone. Only one company actually left a text message with details of themselves, but the other two didn't.
So I called The Mark Group, and their rep. came out here this morning. He stayed for nearly 3 hours and was very knowledgable and informative. He took down lots of details, checked our electricity bills, took photos of the roof, and eventually called his office with his phone on speaker so we could hear the conversation. The tech. at the other end instructed the rep to turn on his iPad and look at the email he sent. It was a Google Earth photo of the roof of our house, and the tech had already processed the information the rep gave him, and drawn up an initital plan for where the panels should go. We were very impressed! So much so, that with all the information he gave us, we decided not to hunt around for quotes, as we really don't know enough to compare his quote with others.
We said we don't want it done until about August because we've got other expenses before then, and are trying to spread them out over the rest of the year. The total cost of panels, inverter, and installation is $7100, which sounds about right compared to what we've heard from other people.
The other expense we are faced with somewhat sooner is repairing or replacing the fences that we share with our neighbours on each side. The first quote was quite cheap, as the tradesman was just going to prop up the existing fences. The guy who came out today suggested that both fences should be completely replaced, at a cost of over $8000. Assuming our neighbours will split the cost with us (and they have both agreed to) it leaves us with $4000 to pay, but we're not sure that the neighbours will agree to that price, so we're going to have to sit down with them to discuss it.
So I called The Mark Group, and their rep. came out here this morning. He stayed for nearly 3 hours and was very knowledgable and informative. He took down lots of details, checked our electricity bills, took photos of the roof, and eventually called his office with his phone on speaker so we could hear the conversation. The tech. at the other end instructed the rep to turn on his iPad and look at the email he sent. It was a Google Earth photo of the roof of our house, and the tech had already processed the information the rep gave him, and drawn up an initital plan for where the panels should go. We were very impressed! So much so, that with all the information he gave us, we decided not to hunt around for quotes, as we really don't know enough to compare his quote with others.
We said we don't want it done until about August because we've got other expenses before then, and are trying to spread them out over the rest of the year. The total cost of panels, inverter, and installation is $7100, which sounds about right compared to what we've heard from other people.
The other expense we are faced with somewhat sooner is repairing or replacing the fences that we share with our neighbours on each side. The first quote was quite cheap, as the tradesman was just going to prop up the existing fences. The guy who came out today suggested that both fences should be completely replaced, at a cost of over $8000. Assuming our neighbours will split the cost with us (and they have both agreed to) it leaves us with $4000 to pay, but we're not sure that the neighbours will agree to that price, so we're going to have to sit down with them to discuss it.
posted by Gina E. | 11:23 pm
1 Comments:
Gee, they are some hefty quotes! How many metres for an $8,000 fence! I dread the day ours need doing, we have two 80 metre side boundaries, our rear was done recently but the builders were building 3 units and going to make a tidy profit and as the fence was ok legally we wouldn't have had to pay they knew this and footed the bill. We are hopeful one side on the side fence will be the same scenario 5 units one day be built so they can pay with luck! Solar panels sound fantastic, hard to find info on savings I found.
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