¶ Choosing Quality Solar for Longevity
Hi guys , I'm here with Anthony Lamb from HCBColar , and Anthony has been in the Solar Game for quite a while and he's also proudly working for a company which is fourth generation Now . With the Solar Coast , many , many companies gone , finding a company that has been in the electrical and the Solar Game for four generation is quite special . Welcome to the show .
Thanks for having me , marcus . Well , you've got a lot of experience in solar . You're selling it , you're installing it . You've initially started installation game , then you're moving more into management . What's your role ?
Yeah , so my background is I've been an electrician for 11-12 years now . I started when I was 15 , straight out of school , straight in apprenticeship doing construction work and on homes and commercial things like that , and I've moved into the solar game back in 2017 .
That was up in Darwin , so , as you can imagine , it's a pretty hot place to be installing solar on the roofs and things like that , and I learned a lot in Darwin . But I also learned some of the ways not to do solar .
So I was working for quite a large company at the time , but in terms of how we were doing things there , there's probably not some of the right things to do , and so , coming to HCBC with a quality company , I learned really the major difference between quality and cheap and using quality gear .
So , yeah , it's been quite a journey learning all the solar stuff , but I love where I am now and now into management and , yeah , it's another trade to learn , so trying to manage people but I'm really enjoying it so far so you've been installing solar for quite a few years , isn't it all the same ?
It's a black panel , it's an inverter . I just stick the two together . End of story . Is there a variety ?
Theoretically it's all the same , but in terms of the actual products themselves they're definitely not the same . You can get a cheap $800 inverter that might last five years if you're lucky , or it will probably fail in five years , in one month , right after the warranty runs out .
Or you can go with a product that it comes with 10 years warranty but it'll probably last you 25 years if installed correctly .
So there's a difference in the price point ? What about the installation quality ?
The installation quality is number one , really . If you can install a quality product in a crap spot and yeah , it's not going to last , the same If you put a high-end , quality inverter on a north-facing wall cop in the sun , it's still not going to last as long .
So you said kind of stuff you look at , or is it just hurry , hurry get it out ?
No , no , every job we do is well planned out in advance .
So , once the job's sold , we have an in-house design team that looks after the managing that process of where the inverter is going to go , where the battery is going to go , what way the solar panels are going to go on the roof , making sure that everything is designed from start to finish , that when the guys get there on the day , they have a map in their
hands of this is where this is going . This is where this is going . If there's anything that's been missed , the guys are well trained in picking that up and going hang on this in location isn't going to work . It's different from the picture .
They've actually knocked this wall down and now that's in full sun , something like that , and the guys will be able to pick that up . Tell us and we'll replan it on the day .
So let's say , if I go into Hunder Valley there are lots of solar companies out there . Why would I want to pick HCB ?
solar . Well , I mean , you could go with the cheapest company out there or any one of the other companies that have been there for a few years , but I think just in that the history HCB has they've been around since 2008 doing solar , but also since the 1950s doing electrical , so it's a company that's been around for a very long time .
We're not going anywhere . When we sell you a product with 25 year warranty , we'll see you in 25 years to be able to service that 24 months , and 24 years and 11 months we'll be there to claim that warranty for you , whereas you don't know that with a company that's just started up a year ago .
I mean 800 solar companies have come and gone .
Exactly right . So it's the industry we're in is . There's a lot of highs , a lot of lows , but yeah , HCB has been through a lot of them .
So what's your philosophy ? I'm a name customer . You walked in , I'm going , I need solar , but I don't know what else I need . What do you start ? What questions do you ask me ?
I guess why do they want solar If they have a really expensive power bill ? That's normally the main driver . How do I get my power bill down ? That would be the first step , and then it would be looking at the power bill was going all right , this is how much power you're drawing or importing from the grid .
This is what this site system could meet and cover that . But it's not just like if they're out working all day . The solar system isn't going to change that for them .
So it's about educating them on their energy use and making sure that they use their sort of hydro products during the day , so that dishwashers , their washing machines , setting those things on timers and things like all these . All these stuff have . All these products have timers now , like air cons , you can set it on a timer .
So if you , even if you're out all day at work and you know it's going to be a particularly hot day , you can set the timer on the aircon to start at 12 o'clock and you can walk in from from work at five o'clock and your house is nice and cool and but it hasn't cost you a cent to run it .
You run it entirely for free . So you're saying , instead of at six o'clock whacking the aircon full blast for the house that heated during the day , I'm actually setting the timer in the middle of the day to pre-call it , and then at night my bill won't be so high because I don't have to whack the aircon too hard .
Oh , absolutely . If you turn the aircon on once the sun's gone down , the solar's not doing anything for you , so you're just paying for it from the grid . So I mean there's not much point in getting a solar system if you're just going to export it all to the grid . The feed-in tariffs , now the crap , there's nothing there .
So if you're not going to use it , you're not going to pay the system off . Like these payback periods you get given , sort of assuming that you're using that solar system . If you're not using it , you can sort of kiss goodbye to the payback periods there , mike but I mean , there are also people who do work from home .
now they're also pensioners . So if you're actually a person who's at home most of the time , then solar is really a very , very good option .
You're the best person to get solar . You're going to use all of that solar power . You're going to consume it all and not pay for any electricity .
So when you end up going to a house , have you now found also that you find some older solar systems that already now need replacement ?
Oh , there's loads of them out there . You can sort of see them straight away , you know . Yeah , you go to a house , you see these old one and a half , two kilowatt systems and you can probably like most of those ones would have been installed when the 60 cent feed-in tariffs are on and things like that , and you wouldn't even use solar power .
Back then the idea was that you would get the 60 cent feed-in tariff and export everything and capitalize on that return , Whereas now it's shifted because the feed-in tariffs aren't there . The process has shifted to consuming your energy . So with those old ones they're probably not fit for purpose anymore .
You probably need a larger system that's actually going to meet your energy needs .
Do . Sometimes customers emotionally love their little old system so well that they want you to go and fix it again . Or do , if you say , look it's past this , use by day , pull it off . They okay with it .
I think most people understand that technology's changed so much that those older ones just aren't . They're not good anymore . They understand that even panels look nicer now than you can get in some nice old , all black panels , those old blue ones that are covered in bird poop and whatever else . They're probably not the best to look at on the roof .
So I don't think they'd like they like getting a nice new system on there .
Do you sometimes still have an old system that actually works and you can put a new system right next to it ? Is that works ?
Yeah , yeah you can retrofit systems for sure . They obviously depends on the system and things like that but if there's still life in the system , there's no reason to rip the whole thing off and start again .
You want to get the maximum return off your old system , so you can definitely retrofit newer systems to them and then incorporate them all into their same monitoring platform and things like that .
So then you have two systems next to each other because the old ones . You are not allowed to add extra panels or anything like that , so you've got to leave the old system in the way it is and then could add an extra brand new one out .
Or you say , look , I want the whole roof space looking the same , not two different looking systems , and then I go all the way with one . Is that the way it is ?
Yeah , definitely . Well , you wouldn't add old panels to a new system because you don't get the rebate or anything like that , so there's no point . So you could have a new system on there .
But , as you said , it might look a little bit sort of bad having two different systems on there , one with tiny panels covered in bird crap and the other one nice flash , all black panels . So , yeah . So sometimes just better to start from scratch . Yeah , again , it comes down to the customer's needs .
If that system is working and they only want to top up to meet their obviously , with power prices going up , they go oh my bill has gone up this much . Can you give me a system that covers that extra ? And you go . Yeah , of course we can .
Nowadays . What are the customers like ? What are they looking for ? What are the questions they ask ?
Oh , you get all sorts . The majority of customers are fine , just looking for a way to save money . Obviously , with the climate sort of being as it is , the economy being as it is , a lot of people are just sort of how do I save money ? How do I stop the retailers taking 60 cents for a kilowatt of electricity , things like that .
So those are the majority of customers and , yeah , you're just trying to give them a good solution that that will last for them and give them the return on investment . You also get the customers who probably a lot smarter than you are and they're dive into their products and they're asking you all these crazy questions . And it's an asking .
I think the good one is the guys that want to manage the API keys with the home automation system and you just saying , oh god , all right , I'll do my best to help you out and I'm learning as I'm going through the process .
Right , that's the whole thing . Coming up with smart homes , isn't that ? I mean that the home itself will be a whole Energy epicenter , trying to use as much renewables and then reuse it again with security shutters and the security cameras and all the wonderful things that all run .
Why are the apps and all that . So I was gonna say one guy had had an app that he was just doing everything from his house with the app and he was watching his battery coming in and he was turning the light on there and Opening the roller door there and I was holy crap .
But most customers just want to keep a bill most customers just want to keep a bill but , as I said , I love those customers that come in because I'm learning so much . Often markets it's Pretty cool to see , like , how far technologies going , because I don't hear about these , all these things , I'm busy and then this guy tells you about a crap .
I mean the latest thing that just got released , and here I've got it already yeah , yesterday I got released and asked me about it . Now the key questions . At the moment , some soli installers now sell maybe three batteries out of 10 . In some regions it's a bit less . But what's the whole thing with batteries ?
A lot of people ask about them , but not as many getting them .
Yes and no , there's . There's definitely a lot of people asking about them now , but they always ask about and then go . I'm just not sure if it's worth it .
Yeah , and I guess what I try and tell people when they , when they say that , I say , look , the best thing is when they've already got a system installed by us , they've got consumption monitoring so they can say I'm using a lot of energy Between five and ten pm at night and you can look at it and use it all to work out exactly how much is it .
You're using 10 kilowatt hours of , so I've energy between this time but your soul is not covering because there's no son . So a battery would fit you right here . That's going to save you this peak period of 60 cents kilowatt hour and so that's going to save you 10 bucks every night having that battery , which over time adds up quite a lot .
So what about the luxury of having backup and actually having electricity in the house ? Many people went by battery . Is that the key motivator or they forgot about that advantage ?
No , so that's still like a primary driver , like , especially when we're selling things like Tezzas and stuff like that . That's so
¶ Battery Backup and Solar Panel Reliability
there's . This is again the two different customers . As a guy that just want to save money on their energy bill , don't care about anything else .
But then there's also that caveat that those guys , when they buy a battery they're like expect the blackout as well , and so there's a conversation there where , especially with certain battery products , you need to make sure they understand that they are getting blackout or they're not getting blackout , so they are batteries that don't give you blackout protection .
Of course . Yeah , there's plenty of just DC couple batteries that are just purely for saving power on your , or saving money on your energy bills , so they just take it out maybe when there's electricity cheap , maybe they get even from the grid and then when it's expensive they release it and that's the function of the battery .
But they don't have backup . So you've got to really ask when somebody selling your battery that they do have backup . You can't assume it .
Yeah , absolutely , if , if , yeah , if you're buying a battery and you're not sure , ask the question , because a lot of batteries don't come with that as a default option , so you need to make sure that that's being done if that's your primary driver and I mean , if the battery is very cheap , then maybe in those cases they don't have that , but the sales guy
doesn't even tell the end customer and the only finds out during the blackout that he didn't get . Yeah , you'd be pretty pissed if you go into a blackout or you hear the energy company sends you the text . So we're doing work in the street and go sweet , I've got a battery , I'm all good . And then all the power goes out here .
You're not going to be happy , the wife's not going to be happy about all the food in the fridge that she thought you would say for .
So what's the price difference between ?
a battery that would have a backup and not a backup . So really it's not that much difference depending on what products you use .
Obviously there are a lot of smaller batteries out there where it's just not even an option , but then a lot of them is just like an extra , extra box that you buy on it , which may be anywhere from 500 to a thousand two thousand bucks for that difference , but it depends on the battery product you're buying .
Every company is now diving into their own ecosystem of products , so you've really got to know that when you're buying a product that it's going to help you with that future ecosystem as well . And would you say that most customers that do go into a battery actually are interested ?
in the backup or they don't care .
I think most want the backup . It's pretty cool , isn't it , to be able to put your aircon on and watch Netflix while your neighbors are sitting over there with their candles out , like that's .
I mean , if you buy in a battery , you want , you want the blackout like , and considering , like I said , it's , it's anywhere from 500 to 2000 max , but even then 2000 is pretty rare that for that sort of thing it's a small price to pay to be sort of sipping lattes while everyone's sitting there in the cold .
No , you should invite your friends over in your neighbors for a barbecue . We could stand at the window . No , no , no , no .
Okay , got that . When it comes to panels , it's a black box on the roof and they all the same .
There's definitely differences in panels and differences in manufacturers . There's been a lot of panel companies come and go Throughout for Australia , so you really want to stick with like that . They do all look the same , really . There's different colors and things like that , but it's it's less about the looks of panels and more about the companies behind them .
You want to make sure you get in companies that will honor their Warranties all the warranties now a 25 , 30 years plus but how many of the panel manufacturers have been around for 25 , 30 years ?
So yeah , that there's definitely Things to watch out for panels and not just buying the cheapest one , because that's that's where you may run into problem in the future , when they just pump out However many gigawatts of panels and get them off the off the shelves and then go bust and then you can't claim any warranties anyway .
So so what product do you pick ? So we like some powers and trainers . So they're both . So some powers first that they've been in the solar panel game longer than anyone else currently in the market . So they've been through the all the ups and downs of the industry there . I think they've been around for 35 , nearly 40 years now in the in the solar game .
So Just a very reliable panel and always been very good with their , their warranties , sports and things like that that's a US product , is it that's an American ?
company .
¶ Solar Panel Installation and System Design
Okay , and what about the inverter solution ? I mean , there is the micro inverter , there's a string inverter . Do you do both ? And what's the diff ?
We do do both . Look , I personally would recommend a micro inverter solution for the panel of a monitoring for the lack of downtime if anything was to go wrong . Things like that , it's just . It's just such a great solution . Ease of install things like that . String inverters can be good if you use quality products .
But then you have a centralized point of failure If anything was to ever go wrong with that product . You got no solar at all for the duration of time that's out .
So obviously , luckily , if you got it installed by us , we have a strong after sales team so we'd be there within a week to get that product back up and running and get it diagnosed and get it going .
But if you have with a company like cheap company , that you went with the cheapest price and you inverted dies , you could be without for weeks , months if you can't get a hold of them when you're trying to get a hold of another company , things like that .
So you often get calls from cheaper systems that have failed and ask you to go and fix it .
It's half half the cause I get in the office is people saying I can't get in contact with my my install , blah , blah , blah . Can you come and help me ? And that's that's where we send our support team out there to go and sort of fix these ones . But yes , it's .
It's sort of a tricky road for them at that point because if it's a crap system and installed poorly , then we're going to be hesitant to put our name to rectify that .
Mike is sometimes is beyond repair .
There's definitely systems that are beyond repair , but it's it's not necessarily that's beyond repair . I think all systems could be repaired . It's just if it's been installed poorly . There may be a lot of work to do to get that system up to code and up to scratch .
So that we feel comfortable saying that we've repaired it because we , if you touch it , then from the electrical cord , you actually take responsibility . So if you only fix what the problem is , but there's lots of other slightly illegal ways of how they cut corners , then you suddenly got your responsibility .
That's right with it , with the last person on site there . So even if we were just to fix one plug or something like that , and then there's all these other problems with the how the rails been installed or other plugs , or it's not been earthed properly , things like that , then we're liable for those things .
So we need to make sure that when we fix the system , we fix it and we know exactly what's going on with that system .
But that means if it was installed poorly and cheaply , then sometimes you got to look at it and go it's too much run .
Yeah we can't fix this , that's right Well hopefully somebody learns a lesson , then that's the main reason they go for a quality company .
So we've got the inverter , we've got the panels . You say go quality . What about the rails underneath ? Nobody can see them . Who cares ?
Oh , I think rails need to be quality as well . Definitely , like we're in Newcastle , which very nice beach town , there's a lot of nice properties by the beach . If you have sort of poor railing things like that , the salt's just gonna eat it up , things like that . So you gotta make sure that you're going with a quality framing provider .
Another reason is we use a company called Schlatter for all our framing . They have a 25 year product warranty , which goes nicely with a 25 year panel warranty . So we know when we put that system up the whole system's gonna last 25 years , not just the panels . And then maybe the framing breaks after 10 years and you have to replace that with the same panels .
It just doesn't make sense . And Schlatter's German , isn't it ? Schlatter's German ? Yeah , I like him .
Okay , so you've been really in solar for about a decade , but one day get earlier , we were sitting at one and a half kilowatt systems . What are you installing nowadays ?
Oh , I think the average system size is anywhere from seven to 13.2 on the roof . Yeah , it's definitely a lot bigger than it used to be . We still install some smaller ones a lot of add-ons , things like that but generally new systems are going up , but homes are bigger and consume a lot more electricity .
The feeding tariffs are nothing now , so you need to make sure that you're using your solar .
Let's say I've decided I wanna get two EVs . I've got a normal house with lots of utilization of electricity . Do you get situations where the roof isn't actually big enough to support the system ?
Oh , definitely , yeah , there's loads of you could put solar on all aspects of the roof , but there's only the northeast . West is gonna be where you're gonna get your most sort of generation from there You're getting sort of efficiency losses and things like that , just based on where we are in the world .
So , yeah , you could definitely not have a large enough roof for solar , absolutely .
And what do you do in those cases ? Try and put a more efficient panel on , or something .
Yes , you could use a more efficient panel , or sometimes you may even go a smaller panel that you could fit more of them on there . So like , obviously panels are getting bigger and bigger , the panel technology is not really changing , the cell technology is not really changing , they're just making the panels larger .
So in that case you may be able to go to a slightly smaller panel , an older 400 watt instead of a 440 watt , and you might be able to actually fit an extra two panels on there . So each customer is gonna be different and that's why we have a sort of quite a dynamic design process in-house .
So you're saying , you're doing like a bespoke solution or what . What does that mean ?
Absolutely bespoke solution for every customer . So if someone comes to see us for a quote , they're gonna get a quote tailored to their needs . So reviewing their electricity bills , asking about their electricity consumption , things like that we don't just sort of slap a package deal on and away you go , this is what you get .
And what about if they got like 11 , 12 year olds who now become teenagers ? Do you take that already into consumption calculations , going forward where they're going , or ?
Well , I mean , I know personally . When I was a teenager I used to sit at home and play video games all day with the air con cranking when I was in Darwin . So I can imagine if you've got teenagers coming , you need a plan for that additional energy use .
Okay , and you'll provide that to you in your calculations .
Not necessarily , like we don't look at it that much , but we will look at this is a solution that's gonna be on there for the next 25 years .
Is this gonna be a large enough system for you as you grow , when you get , say , for example , you electrify the rest of your home , you get your big hot water tank and all your heat pump or your EVs , things like that ?
Like you need a plan for these things from day one rather than trying to add to it later because you wanna get it done once and get it done right .
So , with other words , if I tell you that I'm thinking of getting an EV , then you're gonna possibly add a couple extra panels to my system design , is it ?
Oh , if there's room on the roof , then yeah , like your electricity bill will show your history . If you then tell us I'm getting an electric car , that's gonna add to your energy consumption , so we need to make sure that we're meeting that .
Do you ever get customers who maybe don't really believe in solar and wonder all about it and or maybe critical or something like that .
Yes , we definitely do . We get some customers that have probably been burned in the past by other companies that maybe have just sold them the cheap , nasty solution and sort of run away and now they've been left with a system that doesn't work and things like that .
So that's where we come in and sometimes it's quite difficult to get them to believe in the process again and give them the right way of doing solar and give them the right attitude that they're happy with the solution going forward .
But generally with those customers , once we've installed and they've gone through the process , they're normally quite happy and we normally get some really good referrals and things like that from those customers .
Is that a big part of your ?
business I think that's probably nearly half of our business is word of mouth . Obviously , hcb haven't been in the game for as long as they have in the Hunter region that we've got so many systems out there that people will be ringing up and basically just oh , I've got your number from so and so and this . You did a really good job there .
I like the panels you put on that place and that's where a lot of our work comes from .
So what's your Google star review ?
Google star we're 5.9 , but yeah , that's pretty hard . Yeah , 4.9 , 150 reviews , something we're trying to chase a bit more of . We don't have a process in place yet to ask people , so trying to get that going .
So you want to go from 4.9 to 4.99 , do you ?
4.99 . We're probably already 4.99 if we go into it .
Excellent . So you're talking always about quality product that you prefer quality product in your solar systems . What's the definition of a quality product ?
So a quality product again comes back to things like that the company's behind the product . So , as we know , there's so many companies that have come and gone from Australia . You want to not just the installation company like HCB , to be quality and deliver quality work . You also need the products to be backed by sort of a long warranty , things like that .
They're strong Australian based tech support , things like that . They're all things that can be easily overlooked , but when you do have an issue with a product that doesn't have those things , you're wishing that you had that sort of quality tech support , quality warranty service , all that sort of thing .
So we won't actually sell products that don't meet those criteria . So if they don't have an Australian based tech support , if they don't have a strong warranty support , things like that , we won't sell them because it'll make our life difficult if there is ever any problems . So it's a liability for our business .
And what accreditation or qualifications do your installation teams have ?
So our electricians are CEC accredited for solar and battery . Basically , you can't install solar and battery if you're not accredited .
Any other training you guys do to kind of keep them really on top of what's going on .
So then they need to have the working from heights definitely Like . That's obviously number one . Everyone's running around the roof . If they're not trained to be on a roof , then , yeah , they can't be up there .
But do you kind of go to any special training that some of the manufacturers put together or things ?
like that . So part of having the CEC accreditation is you need to keep up your continuous professional development , and so all the installers on site to maintain their accreditation .
They need to do additional training every year to stay on top of that , and so a lot of that training comes from the manufacturers webinars and things like that releases on new products installation guidelines so that's where they actually get their points every year to be able to stay accredited .
Now let's say , can you explain to me a little bit the installation process ? So I go to you , I get a quote , I like the quote . I say go ahead . What happens next ?
So from the minute you sign the quote , we'll be in contact with you to let you know that . Yep , thank you so much for going with HCP .
¶ Solar Installation Process and Customer Service
We're going to put you through the design process now and begin ordering materials . It's normally a four to six week process for us . We just have a bit of a backlog .
So we aim for within four to six weeks from the time you sign the quote you'll have your system on your roof , and during those four to six weeks is when we have our in-house design team design the system , make sure it's going to work to the exact specifications provided by the salesman .
We'll be in touch with you if there's any changes that need to be made .
That need to be made , but it's very rare that there are any changes at all that are required and then , once we have the design sorted , the grid connection applications approved from Osgrid or Essential , whichever region we're working in at the time then we'll be giving you a call to say hey , we're coming in a couple of weeks to put the system on your roof .
You're happy to go . And is it a one day , or how long does it take , most systems being stored in one day ? Obviously , as I said , systems are getting larger and larger and big 10 kilowatt system and a battery could take a day and a half . So that'll all be outlined in that phone call to you . Initially to go hey , this is a larger system .
Do you have a day and a half spare for our team to be on site ?
I always hate when I have tradesmen and they leave all the crap behind the boxes and the cables and then I become their cleaning lady .
Absolutely not . That would never happen on H2B site . So we would take all that rubbish with us . We'll be wiping down the . I mean it's kind of annoying that all the nicest looking battery products and inverters are white , because it leaves fingerprints everywhere .
So our guys have packs of sugars open the car ready to wipe it all down when they're finished , because there's nothing worse than fingerprints on a nice white inverter . So we take care of all of that . So it's a sparkling result . Sparkling , that's what we want .
Customer support . I've spoken on that previously and all that . I think it's a little bit underrated because some people don't realise that things can go wrong with solar . So if I have a system from you , it stopped after two years for whatever reason . What happens next ?
So if , for any reason , you had any problem with the system in store bars , you get straight on the phone to us . You'll be put through to our service team and our service team will have someone out there as soon as possible , generally within a couple of days to get onto that and get that going for you again .
But what happens if the manufacturer says , oh , I haven't got a spare part here at the moment , it's still stuffed . What do you do then ? Are you do jump proactive or bad luck ?
So no , so a lot of the time we actually have stock in the warehouse and so if a manufacturer doesn't have a part , we will negotiate with the manufacturer that we use our own stock and get that product working again for the customer , and we'll just be without the stock until the manufacturer sends it to us . That's not a problem for us .
You got any example which really happened in real life where somebody could have been very cranky but you actually made them happy .
Yeah , we've had it happen a few times with . We used to sell a lot of a certain inverter brand and we still have a lot of stock of that brand and we don't actually sell too much of it anymore . But we did have a one recently where basically , the inverter had failed .
There was a delay on this stock arriving into Australia and we had the stock in and we negotiated a deal with the company where we send the technician out the next day and actually put the inverter on the wall , got it working and we waited like two , three months for the new one to come in .
But yeah , it didn't bother us and the customer was Customer stoked . They had it up and running again . They didn't even know about the delays , so like there's no need to trouble them with , oh , this isn't coming , this isn't coming , we just got it done . They didn't think anything wiser of it .
So you were the duck , just sailing smoothly across the water and underneath you were paddling like this yeah , paddling like mad and trying to get it going . That's the best . I mean . Nowadays , really getting good service and good and good tradesmen is really a problem , isn't it ? What about you getting good staff ? Is that a problem nowadays ?
It's difficult when you're trying to expand , but we've got a really good team at the moment . The team is absolutely solid . The guys all know what they're doing . Like all our guys have been with us for a few years now . So we do have a new , first year new green guy , so we've got to train him up to the standards .
But the electricians have all been with us for a few years now and they're all just very good quality .
Now sometimes you get a very eager sales guy who sells a system for a certain price and then when the crew comes to install they actually realize maybe the switchboard has asbestos in it or you can't actually fit as many panels as he thought because there's a skylight there and whatever . What do you do in those cases ?
So , as I touched on before , we have such a stringent in-house design team that the majority of these issues are picked up well before the team are there , four weeks before the team are there , and so if there's any sort of discrepancies that we're maybe not sure about , I generally like me personally will go to the site and check these things out well before
the installation . So , yeah , it's very rare we miss things . On the odd occasion that we do miss things , then , as I said earlier as well , that the guys are so well trained that they can pick these things up and let us know straight away . They'll immediately look for an alternate location for a panel , things like that .
¶ Future of Solar and Smart Homes
The other benefit of using a system like Nphase , for example with microinverters , is it's quite a flexible system . If there is a spot that you can't change it . It's not like a string inverter where they all have to be facing the same orientation . You can mix and match and you can actually come up with new solutions quite quickly .
So Okay , so if you pick the wrong phase on the switchboard and the three phases more expensive and you gave me a fixed price , what do you do then ?
I think we'd have to wear that If something like that has come up and salesman missed it and I've missed it and the guys go to site and they go oh , it's the common one is the salesman thinking it's three phase when it's actually two phase . That's probably the most common thing you see .
In that case there we will quickly swap all the stock out that we need , but there won't be an additional charge to the customer because that's our mistake .
We've missed that and we'll wear it and does the customer possibly find out about it , or you just basically just get on with it .
No . So there's obviously a discussion with the customer if they're expecting a three phase thing like that . I mean the customer doesn't . Most of them don't really understand the difference between single and three phase .
But if there's any changes to a job , the customer will be informed and we'll give them a call and we'll let them know that the system is slightly different to the quote in terms of performance . They're still going to get the same amount of panels . They're still going to get the same amount of inverters or microinverters or an inverter . We'll make it work .
It fits the quote that we're given Excellent .
Most people nowadays go solar because of the financial consideration . But I don't know if you've got kids or so , but I mean the whole climate change thing does seem to be real because it is getting hotter in summers and stuff like that . How much is the whole environmental aspect playing a role in solar and people installing it ?
There's definitely a massive factor in it . One of the biggest things for me is I'm a massive believer and we need to do more to sort of stop climate change , and solar and battery is probably one of the easiest ways we personally can do that . If we can install it on a house , we can help with that .
A lot more customers are starting to think about that now as well . These are the customers that will go for the quality straight off the bat , because they don't want to have a system that gets pulled off in five , 10 years to go to landfill .
They're already thinking about that as well , which is another reason why we prioritize quality , because then that system is not going to contribute to a problem that is growing .
I hear about this stuff called smart home . I don't think I'm smart enough to understand what smart home means . What is it all about ?
I think you're smart enough , Marcus . You're German , German engineering , all that .
No , I get easily confused at my age . So what's a smart ?
home . Smart home is just basically sort of you can like . Obviously . You've got apps for everything nowadays . There's now going to be an app for your home . In the future , You're going to control everything through your smartphone . You're not going to have switches in your house one day , probably . There's just going to be everything on your phone .
You'll turn everything off , everything on timers .
So if I lost my phone , I wouldn't bloody be able to turn the light off , is it ?
Well , I mean in the future . It'll probably be embedded in your body somewhere . You won't have to worry about losing it .
But I mean , what does it all mean for solar and the renewables and you guys installing stuff ?
So in the current market , all the different sort of solar brands and inverter suppliers , they're all marching down this path to creating their own ecosystem of smart home devices your EV charger , your hot water controllers , your load controllers , all that sort of stuff and they're all pushing down and trying to just .
I think they're all going for the future market potential of every customer they sell to . So when they create a product , you're not just buying solar now .
You're buying something that can be added a battery to later that works specifically with that brand , and then an EV charger that works with that brand , and then a controller and all things to make your day to day life easier and make your products work better together and save you more money ultimately .
But if all these different manufacturers go off with all their different little infrastructures and they'll work with each other , but don't work across . Then we're in the old VHS versus speeder game . Is that what's happening , or are they getting onto a kind of common language ?
No , I think there was a period where there was a common language and there was a lot of sort of interoperability , but now it seems like a lot of the brands are moving away from that and they're just going out on their own . They just want to develop their own products and
¶ Long-Term Considerations for Choosing Solar
go with that . So it's really important to do your research now before you sort of go down a product path , because you may be sort of limited to your choices later on .
Right , okay , got that . I'll pick a solar system . I'll pick a medium one , and then I want a battery . I'll pick another company for that , and then I'll go oh , smart home's coming . Who could do that for me ? Is that the best way to go forward ?
Probably not . Just as I was saying before , because of these ecosystems , things like that . You really want to sort of pick a company that you're going to work with for the next sort of five , 10 , 15 years , as more products come out that allow more cool things to be able to be done in your home .
You want to work with a company that's across those things and ready to provide them . So you may only need a solar system now . You should be thinking about a battery already . So when you're buying the solar system , you have an idea in mind , right ? I want a battery in this many years that's going to complement my needs .
I can't afford it right now , but I need to design the solar system in a way that's ready for that battery to be added on . And then that's the same with . In the future you'll probably buy an EV . That's the way the world's going , so you'll want a company that can provide an EV that fits into that solution as well . Ev charger sorry .
Yeah , so in other words , the company that I pick now , I'm actually going to have like multiple dates with that company , isn't it ? It's not just the one night stand .
Oh well , if we impress you enough on the first night , then I hope you keep coming back . So that's what we want to try and do , and so we want to work with you for a long time .
All right , maybe I shouldn't have used that term , sorry darling . All right . How do you handle customer complaints ?
Um , do you get any ? We do get some . I mean , we're not perfect . There's definitely always opportunities for learning from customer complaints , and that's primarily how I see them .
If a customer is complaining and it's completely warranted , they're not just some grumpy person having a bad day then yeah , that's an opportunity for us to learn and improve as a business in how we handle that customer and get them back on our good side or we get back on their good side , but then how we can take that forward into making sure that we don't
have that same issue crop up . So I look at it as an opportunity to improve .
So give me a sample where somebody maybe wasn't that happy and what you did about it .
So we actually had a good one not too long ago where we're putting in a hot water controller for a guy and essentially that it'd been sort of a .
There was a few different people involved in the quoting process and sort of I was actually the one that went out to go and do it just because we were very busy at the time , and so I jumped back on the tools and did the whole job and I realized that it was missing a part to actually make it work . And through the process the customer got quite annoyed .
They'd been waiting for this product and things like that and I ended up sort of giving them the product for free and then revisiting how we quote things as well , so making sure that we've only got one person sort of dealing with that customer and things like that , because once you start to add multiple people in that are having different conversations , things like
that , then the customer's hearing this from one customer . He thinks he's told someone , but then there might not be communication within the office itself . So , yeah , that was how we learned from that one .
Okay and happy customer he is now .
Yeah , he's given me quite a few referrals since . So he's yeah , we're good mates . Now he calls me , but he wants a week to ask me questions , so it's good , Okay great .
I'd love to put soul on my house but I got this stupid tree from next door which is shading part of my roof of part of the day . Is it worth getting solar ?
Yes and no . If it's only shading part of your roof , then we can design a system that'll work around that . You're still going to get benefits from the solar during the parts of the day where it's not shaded .
You'd probably look more towards a microinverter solution or an optimized solution so that even if there's partial shade on some of the panels that rest them still perform again .
That comes back to the bespoke design process where we'll look at it and we'll go look , there's a bit of shading here , we can see it and we'll talk to the customer about it and let them know . But ultimately , if you're still getting sun on there , you're still going to benefit from solar . What products ?
do you use Feel free to mention a couple of brands the inverters , the panels that you specifically recommend , why you think they're good ones . What's the good gear I can get out of HCB solar ?
So we use a wide variety of brands and products Like . Personally , if it was up to me , I'd put premium Maxion Sunpower panels and NFA's microinverters on every house . But obviously the way the world is at the moment , people can't afford these high end premium solutions .
So we offer other products as well , so that we can cater to all customers and provide a comprehensive quality solution but still meet their budget requirements . So we have Sunpower panels as our premium panel . We've brought in the trainers as well , because they're a quality panel too .
They've been in the Australian game for a while , but they are on the cheaper side , so it can help bring the system price down quite a lot by going to that cheaper panel . For inverters , we primarily use NFA's microinverters for all the benefits I've mentioned before .
The AC voltage on the roof is a lot safer , they're modular , they're expandable , it's quite easy to install . But then we also use products like Phonius and SMA . We use SolarEdge .
Here and there in between we have quite a large fleet of SolarEdge people that we still deal with , and part of that ecosystem again is we're still adding on to their systems from five , ten years ago . What about the racking ? The racking ? We only use Slater , as previously mentioned , it's just a strong manufacturer .
They've been around for a while , german , so I know you like them , but they're no . So they come with a 25 year guarantee . So that's primarily why we use it , because both our panels that we use have 25 year warranty .
So if I'm in the Hunter in Newcastle , why should I use HCB Solar ?
Well , I mean , as we've discussed previously , there's plenty of choices out there for Solar , for battery , things like that . But ultimately you want to pick a company that's going to be around for a very long time . They're going to give you a quality system . In a perfect world , you would buy your solar system and not have to worry about it ever again .
But it isn't a perfect world . You want to be able to have someone you can call that's going to be there for the life of that system , and so when we sell you a system , it's going to last 25 plus years . You want to be able to call at any point in those 25 plus years and go hey , there's something not quite right .
Or hey , I want to add on to the ESER or anything , and we'll be there .
So if I have a problem on a Saturday , I notice my solar stopped and I leave a voicemail message on HCB Solar's phone . When are you guys going to ring me back ?
Just like the Monday morning . But if it's urgent it'll go through to either myself or Logan and we'll be able to get there . For example , if you've got a power outage , I know Logan will like to pick up the phone and help you out . Do you have you seen ?
any issues with cheap stuff , where actually the isolator was burned or the panel was burned and there were really serious risks for people because they went cheap .
Yeah , absolutely Obviously there's . I think back a few years ago there was the really cheap isolators that were fighting around and basically they used to get installed without weather shields , things like that which would protect them from the sun .
Obviously it's just a plastic box and the Australian sun plastic and sun don't really mix well together , so the plastic cracks , water gets in there , it's DC voltage just starts arcing . You can't turn solar panels off when the sun's out , so yeah , it just creates a fire straight away .
Right , and so my advice is don't go too cheap , is it ?
Don't go cheap . Yeah , get a system that's going to be installed correctly . Obviously , DC isolators are actually being done away with now they're not a requirement anymore . So if you've got a good installer , they probably won't do that . They'll probably go with the disconnection points , which is plugs under the panel .
But even if they are still using a DC isolator , then you've gone with a quality installer . It will be installed correctly with weather shield to protect it .
Now you manage teams , don't you ? Yeah , that needs a bit of leadership .
Yeah .
How do you handle that ?
It's an everyday learning process . So obviously I've been managing a team directly for , I mean , since probably 2019 , I've been in the field managing teams . Probably easier when you're in the field managing teams because you're there and you can oversee everything and see exactly what's happening .
It's been a massive learning opportunity , the last sort of six , seven , eight months learning how to manage from the office and try and sort of impart wisdom over the phone . That's probably the hardest thing and not being able to just show people how to do things .
But , as I said earlier , I've got a really good team of guys that really get stuck in and want to learn as well . So , yeah , Does ?
a happier team means better outcome for the customer .
Of course , if the team's not happy , they're not going to do good work because they're going to be running around the site and engine them open and not caring about the job . They're just going to want to get it done and go home and they don't want to do a good job . Because why do they care ?
And so how are you making sure they are happy ?
Well , one thing the boys get bacon eggs every Friday , so that helps keep them happy . But no , on a serious note , we have monthly toolboxes where we discuss any concerns and things like that . We bring up any opportunities for improvement .
We listen to the guys and see what they have to say and we've got a very good relationship with the guys where they can come to me with anything . So try to always be there for them and then that reflects into better outcome for the customer .
Absolutely Like you said , if it's a happy team , it's going to be a happy customer because the team are going to want to do a good job .
I drive sometimes around and I see some houses and the solar panels made them really look ugly . Can solar panels be sexy ?
Yeah , yeah , definitely . So we offer all black panels and we offer all black rail . We offer black weather shields for isolated on the roof . We try and make it look super sexy so that when you're driving around you look at it and you go that is a nice solution . So absolutely , we can .
So I can ring HCB solar and say I want sexy solar , is it ?
rings HCB solar . So you want sexy solar and we'll drum it right up Sexy solar package .
Okay , no worries , I want that on a special .
Yeah , I'll put it together .
¶ Energy Solutions
Anthony , I must say , lots of learning for me here today and if I'd been in Hunter I would definitely pick HCB solar .
Awesome , can't wait to have you See you , marcus , see ya .
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