{"id":6338,"date":"2016-01-06T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.portal.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/"},"modified":"2023-01-24T20:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T20:10:23","slug":"three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things to Avoid When Installing Your Solar Panel System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Solar.com<\/a>, we have a lot of experience in the solar panel industry. Every day we help people to install panels on their homes, and we often get quite a bit of feedback from these customers. Sometimes they tell us about how awesome the installation process was, and other times they tell us about what went wrong. If you\u2019re planning to install your own system, make sure to read this article first!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Hiring an Inexperienced Installer<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While the price of solar panels has been\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/io9.com\/solar-powers-epic-price-drop-visualized-510448484\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dropping like a rock<\/a> in the last ten years, the price of the installation itself has only seen a mild decrease. That\u2019s because many of the costs associated with installation, like labor and non-solar materials, have not gone down in price. Because of this, some homeowners may be tempted to reach out and hire the cheapest solar panel installer that they can find. From what we\u2019ve seen, this is often a poor choice<\/p>\n<p>Solar panels are a major investment, and you don\u2019t want to make the mistake of letting an amateur install them. There are simply too many things that can go wrong. For instance, before panels are installed a detailed analysis of your roof needs to be completed. That will tell the installer where the best spot is on your roof, what the best angle is, and if there are any obstructions like a tree or shadow from a barn that would prevent the panels from getting sunlight. If you hire someone who doesn\u2019t know what they&#8217;re doing, you may end up losing more money from long term potential generation then you saved on the installation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. Buying the Most Expensive Panels Possible<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Earlier, we talked about who the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-three-solar-manufacturers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">best manufacturers of solar<\/a> panels are. First on our list was SunPower, which makes the most efficient silicon cell solar panel on the market. Many homeowners may be tempted to install this panel, as it would seem to offer their home the most benefit. However, in most situations, this may not actually be the best idea.<\/p>\n<p>SunPower\u2019s panels are very efficient, but they\u2019re also the most expensive. If you have a normal sized roof and can generate enough energy from panels with average efficiency, in most cases this will be a better financial decision. The math simply doesn\u2019t work out, when you compare the high cost of installing the most efficient solar panels, versus the potential savings that they\u2019ll offer you. We usually advise customers that the only time it\u2019s necessary to install the most efficient panels is if they have only limited roof space, or if money is no question and they simply want the greenest system possible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related reading:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-panels-for-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How To Choose Solar Panels for Your Home<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Not Getting a Wide Range of Quotes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Solar power has taken off in popularity in the last ten years, and now 0.79% of the world\u2019s energy is generated from the sun. It\u2019s especially popular in places like California, which not only receives lots of Sunshine but also has lots of different <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-rebates-incentives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">financial incentives available<\/a> for would be solar panel owners. With this growing popularity has come a large increase in the number of firms who are installing solar panels. Unfortunately, we see too many people fail to take advantage of this.<\/p>\n<p>Homeowners may hear about a solar installer from their friend or neighbor and use him, without getting quotes from other firms. Or they may look online and choose the solar panel installer with the coolest website. While it\u2019s probably safe to say that you\u2019ll get your system installed, you may actually end up spending thousands more than you need to.<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom line<\/h2>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Solar.com<\/a>, we\u2019re here to help you get the best possible quote on your solar system. On average, we save homeowners enough on their solar panel installation costs to buy a used car! Contact us and we\u2019ll get you the best quote from a wide range of installers, ensuring that your system is installed on time and on budget. Don\u2019t wait, go green today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1em;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.motherearthnews.com\/green-homes\/solar-mistakes-zb01210zrob.aspx\">http:\/\/www.motherearthnews.com\/green-homes\/solar-mistakes-zb01210zrob.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1em;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/constructionpv.ie\/5-tips-about-choosing-installers-for-solar-panels\/\">http:\/\/constructionpv.ie\/5-tips-about-choosing-installers-for-solar-panels\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1em;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/io9.com\/solar-powers-epic-price-drop-visualized-510448484\">http:\/\/io9.com\/solar-powers-epic-price-drop-visualized-510448484<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Solar.com, we have a lot of experience in the solar panel industry. Every day we help people to install panels on their homes, and we often get quite a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.5 (Yoast SEO v19.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Three Things to Avoid When Installing Your Solar Panel System | Solar.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about the three common mistakes that we hear about. If you\u2019re planning to install your own system, make sure to read this article first!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Things to Avoid When Installing Your Solar Panel System\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about the three common mistakes that we hear about. If you\u2019re planning to install your own system, make sure to read this article first!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-06T11:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T20:10:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/three_things_v2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1014\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gordon Algermissen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHAlgermissen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gordon Algermissen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gordon Algermissen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/622904a8255ccda719fadc5dec519671\"},\"headline\":\"Three Things to Avoid When Installing Your Solar Panel System\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-06T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-24T20:10:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\"},\"wordCount\":715,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Panel Installation Process\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/three-things-to-avoid-when-installing-your-solar-panel-system\/\",\"name\":\"Three Things to Avoid When Installing Your Solar Panel System | Solar.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-06T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-24T20:10:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn about the three common mistakes that we hear about. 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