We often get asked why we charge for talking to people, giving advice or quoting systems.

In fact we offer a large amount of basic services including education, assessment and pricing through our web page, and in the next step, basic enquiries are handled by our informed office staff at no cost to you. It is once you move into design, analysis and final pricing that you are now acquiring professional services, which are part of buying a solar system.

Like many other modern industries our charges now relate directly to the services you acquire. Since we are not supported by the government or anyone else, all of our costs to run the business need to be covered by sales or such charges.

Our web site is designed to be easy to use, understand and reduce the cost to the customer by giving all the relevant information and tools to determine if they indeed want to move into solar energy. Initial inquiries are handled by front line staff who are knowledgeable in the basics. For those people who are ready and serious to move into their project, or need specialized information, you book time and a designer puts their full attention to your project. Our customers actually say the small consultation fee that is charged is well worth it.

The total cost to you is much less than if we were to provide “free” professional advice. Free services are not free, the cost of course comes from somewhere else. The problem we face is that this industry is unusual in the overwhelming number of inquiries for just one sale, on average, 1 out of 200 people who inquire actually purchase a system. Good system designers are, and need to be very skilled people. A person with sufficient skill and expertise to be able to answer detailed questions and configuration inquiries would be a bargain at $40.00 per hour, in real costs however an employee costs a company an average of 2  to 2 ½ times their hourly rate. If we say $80.00 per hour, employing a system designer or engineer costs the company about $ 160,000.00 per year. There is about 1 hour spent on each inquiry. So, in order to get one sale with direct interaction, it takes 200 hours talking to people, answering emails etc. The cost to do this would add $16,000.00 per system, With the average system price around $ 20,000.00 (most of which is material), the system would now have to be sold for at least $ 36,000.00 just to cover this service. Obviously, you do not want to be the person who actually pays that much more for your system to accommodate such an arrangement.

Simply put, charging for these advanced services turns out to be the most beneficial and economical to you, our customers.

Thank you for your understanding.

Sean Lougheed

General Manager

Boyd Solar corp.