[telfordwindowclnr]

I have to say Steve it's foolish in the extreme posting location details of the facilities youve managed to piece together on your website. Youre simply advertising to others where to target for anyone wishing to pursue this side of the business.


Just a few examples.


http://www.solar-panel-cleaners.com/solar-panel-cleaning-completed-on-largest-solar-array-in-shropshire


http://www.solar-panel-cleaners.com/solar-panel-cleaning-completed-on-suffolk-solar-farm


http://www.solar-panel-cleaners.com/solar-panel-cleaning-for-hampshire-cosmetics-anesco


Careful, none of us are entirely resistant to being undercut however low your rates are


IME cleaning solar panels has very very little effect on their productivity. We'll continue to sell the service but its not what its made out to be. Panels are so sensitive you can record a 20% - 30% drop in production on a cloudy day when an extra cloud passes in front of the sun. A drop is to be expected when the atmosphere darkens but theyre so sensitive you cant actually record why the change has taken place - Ive seen huge drops in output when theres no perceivable reason to the human eye as to why this is happening. Therefore any increase isnt necessarily down to cleaner panels, it can be down to a little less dust in the atmosphere.

On what are you basing your findings? Have you spoken in depth to monitoring companies and had independent verification of lack of increase from your cleaning from solar monitoring companies?

It's my experience Steve, I've stood next to the meters as they're being cleaned. They fluctuate up and down like a wh0res drawers, you can't measure the effect cleaning has on them, there's simply no stability.

I understand your conclusions are based on your experience.  However, it can measured and very accurately too.  It's already being done for us by companies and array owners that are independent of ours.
http://www.solar-panel-cleaners.com/solar-panel-cleaning-gives-large-increase-in-output-on-lincolnshire-farm
http://www.solar-panel-cleaners.com/solar-panel-cleaning-bath-solarsense-uk

[telfordwindowclnr]

We have turned things national in less than a year.  We only cleaned about 300 panels in 2012 as part of a separate business.  This has taken over that though.  Not looking to beat the VAT man, that's not a good idea to even try.  No need to go VAT registered before though because we were no where near the numbers.  In 2012 it was just me cleaning windows on my own.  Things are changing now though...

This is great to read! I admire your success in such a small amount of time

Thanks!  It just started as a small scale idea and gone from there.   

[telfordwindowclnr]

lol

Do you still sub for Steve, Alex?

He's not bad at it either...

[Frankybadboy]

lol

Do you still sub for Steve, Alex?

He's not bad at it either...

he doesn't do a RAMS then lol

[PoleKing]

lol

Do you still sub for Steve, Alex?

He's not bad at it either...

fair enough. for £25k a year i bet he puts the work in.
Fair play to him. He seems a nice guy, very helpful to me.

[hasti]

What really gets me - Steve told me he had lots of contracts in place and he asked me for a price list - so he could sub some out to us.

It is now more than obvious he has used the price list to undercut us - funny thing is - it was way too cheap! We have doubled our prices (thats why we get no work I suppose) and now it seems that he is simply working at extremely low prices and not really running a business as he claims to be.

Hopefully he has just cleaned the environmental agency solar panels - the company we cleaned them for last year - changed their business name - as they couldn't pay anybody - we took 8 months to get paid - and then they asked us to clean them this year using a different company name - we told them to sling their hook 

I think Steve does OK - he advertises well - using adwords - and his adwords costs should now go down as we have pulled out. His problem will be trying to "grow" the business - employing peopl - paye - vat - insurances - new vans and equipment etc etc etc - there won't be enough profit at current prices to afford all of this 

I really think the Solar Panel cleaning could have been a great business to get into for many window cleaning companies - but current prices quoted are way too low to make this a viable business opportunity. Maybe it is just OK for the stand alone window cleaner?

Steve has proved this by cleaning 100,000 panels and not even hitting the VAT threshold - what his customers think when he claims to be a national company after receiving his invoices is anybodies guess.

We never knowingly try to be cheaper than our competitors - any fool can work cheaper - for me I am only interested in making profit from the business and not just a working wage. No real point in being a busy fool - not for me anyway.

Steve - Increase your prices - and your business will prosper and grow - good luck to you.

Well said darran 

[Alex Wingrove]

lol

Do you still sub for Steve, Alex?

He's not bad at it either...

Thanks PoleKing, I feel all gooey inside now

fair enough. for £25k a year i bet he puts the work in.
Fair play to him. He seems a nice guy, very helpful to me.