Training Days For Solar Panel Cleaning

[Solar Steve]

Having a well designed website wont get you 6 monthly commercials either. I cant see how it would? Myabe if it was well place is search engines yes apart from that.... Good luck with it though

Cheers Marc. My spc website seems to be doing the trick. I am beginning to get more than I can handle. That's why I want to start farming it out, but only to guys who I know will do a good job and know what they are doing. I know you are all out there, I just want to meet you all to make sure we are singing from the same song sheet.

 

[Smurf]

Do you discount for oap's like me? /emoticons/biggrin.png

Come for the day and I will show you how! Lol!

 

[Solar Steve]

Yes, and because you are blue.

 

[Smurf]

Thanks Steve... /emoticons/wink.png

So when you get an website enquiry that you want to farm out please do explain in detail how this will work?

 

[Smurf]

Well steve I'm sure it's not just me that would like to know....

 

[Steve_C]

I'm getting lots of enquires about this so i'm interested as the last quote i did was for 16 panels at £3.00 panel. As i finished the guy said his performance meter (which monitors the output ) went up 15% after cleaning. He was happy I was happy as i just earned £44.00 for literally 10 Min's work.

 

[Solar Steve]

Thanks Steve... /emoticons/wink.png

So when you get an website enquiry that you want to farm out please do explain in detail how this will work?

Been at a wedding smurf, sorry for the delay.

The basic idea is to build up a UK wide network of professionals, we know there is one cowboy out there for every professional. As and when the UK-wide contracts become available, (as they are...) between us, we can take them on. Who wants nationals getting them all? I know I don't!

How do I, if I get such a contract distinguish the difference between a cowboy and professional? You can't always do this over the net. To get any job, you need to go for a job interview. The company need to find out who are the real deal. They ask about past history and experience, how they see their career developing in the future and what they will bring to the company. They interview many and hand pick those most suited to the job, those who have the same business ethic, those who are not slap-dash but willing to work hard and who are meticulous.

in this case, i need to do the same. i need to find those willing to invest in their business, meet an individual in person, find out their experience, find out how committed they are to buy into what has the potential for huge sums of money, and finally sift through them all to find the most suitable professionals. A great way to bring unity to what I am trying to achieve is a training day where we can sift out the cowboys and be left with the pros. I need to TRUST the guy 200 miles from where I live if I am cutting him in on a 22,000 panel array (because that is what I landed last week) because I don't have the time and resources to go checking if he knows what he is doing and is doing a good enough job.

I can only farm these contracts out to people I trust, it is all about trust. I trust them to do the panels, they trust me to pay them. I trust very few people just because they sound articulate on an Internet forum. Meeting 50 businessmen in one room, from all over the UK to talk about the whys and where fors of solar panel cleaning and bring unity of thought, unity of technique but most of all, unity of prices can only be a good thing. It will not be Solar Steve's way or the highway, but finding something that's suits all. However, I do think I am in a good position to help because I have researched the history of solar panel cleaning in other countries for the last 2 years and am confident I have an idea how the industry will go in the UK.

Steve C above earned £44 in ten mins for cleaning 16 panels! How many of us can do that?! But can he charge £3.00 per panel on a 22,000 panel site? No. WE are the men in a new industry in this country, so we have an excellent opportunity to set some sort of a level on prices, but only if we work together to keep the nationals out. It can be done because it has been done in other countries.

I hope my answer has been detailed enough. . I look forward to all of of your thoughts.

 

[Solar Steve]

I'm getting lots of enquires about this so i'm interested as the last quote i did was for 16 panels at £3.00 panel. As i finished the guy said his performance meter (which monitors the output ) went up 15% after cleaning. He was happy I was happy as i just earned £44.00 for literally 10 Min's work.

Excellent Steve. Nice one! 15% is a good return.

 

[Steve_C]

Definitely interested in this please if you need to contact me please do [email protected]

Regards Steve

 

[Smurf]

Thanks but that did not really answer my question Steve as was more interested in the remuneration side of things.

At the end of the day sub contractors are only interested in one thing what's in it for them (expenditure & gross profit) regardless of how much work you may offer them. If you don't offer the right remuneration package then I think you will struggle to find reliable professionals to work for you.

I’m very weary of nationals as had quite a few phone me up over the years as they take on contracts then can’t find anyone reliable to do the work as the pay is so poor.

 

[Smurf]

Steve-c is it wise to post your e-mail address on here? Spambots love to rip open e-mail address like yours from websites & forums.

 

[Solar Steve]

Hi smurf. There are 2 ways depending on the circumstances.. When there is a job in your area, you tell me if you are interested, available and how much you want for doing the job. I can make the margin. Or, I can pass on each lead to the contractor in the area for a nominal flat fee, regardless of the size of the job, and regardless of if you get it or not, and then you make all of the money every clean from then on. Does that answer your question?

 

[Smurf]

Yes thanks Steve but no thanks as I would rather work for myself than sub for someone else or pay for leads generated from another website other than my own.

 


With respect I think personally your business model needs quite a lot of work if you intend to make a go of it as you have not really thought it through properly going by your recent posts. For that reason I'm out /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Smurf]

Just of a matter of interest the two lads on dragons den that got funding from Duncan Bannatyne seems to has gone bust so maybe best that you don't go by their business model either /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Solar Steve]

Nay sweat mate. I know there are something's good about the business model because it already works in industries very similar to this. Plus i am generating interest via private messages rather than this main thread. There are other dragons still very interested and some who have come aboard....

 

[Solar Steve]

Out of interest smurf, what would make this a viable option for you? What puts you off most, doing someone else's work, are you more focused on windows without reaching into other areas or is it about the money?

 

[Smurf]

Q. what puts you off most, doing someone else's work?

A. probably the same reasons why you started working for yourself.

Q, are you more focused on windows without reaching into other areas?

A. I already offer a wide range of cleaning services like you.

Q. is it about the money?

A. money would be a factor to consider what work I would take on.

To be honest I don't purport to be an expert in the field of solar panel cleaning like you I guess but I don't want to take on extra work if it pays less either compared to what I can earn on my own. If you can tell me categorically that I would be better off working for you Steve then make me an offer I would not be able to refuse (PM me). /emoticons/wink.png

Out of interest smurf, what would make this a viable option for you? What puts you off most, doing someone else's work, are you more focused on windows without reaching into other areas or is it about the money?

 

[Solar Steve]

Just to let you know an update on this. Having spoke to some training accreditors today, it seems I can do internal accreditation which means I can organise, carry out and certify for other people with this type of training accreditation. While not being 'officially' recognised by legal bodies, it can be recognised by people within a trade and with customers. There are thousands of such training programmes across the UK in a whole sphere of job industries that have proved to be very successful and helpful within their respective industries

I can also pursue external accreditation, which costs more but gets it 'officially' recognised with the backing of a training accreditor. this however, still does not match a city & guilds in terms of officialdom. This is an option for people looking to pursue a career entailing job interviews etc. assuming we are all running our own companies, we don't need this type of accreditation as we will not be applying for our own jobs.

Having said that, external accreditation is still an option that I am looking into.

To get a city & guilds in this would be close to impossible at this stage for an abundance of reasons.

So, accreditation, even an internal accreditation, is still accreditation. The accreditation I am CONSIDERING offering in conjunction with a solar installer, drawing on this company's knowledge also, is cheapest, but still legal and helpful to the one attending the training course.

How much money is it worth to get an 'official' accreditation is now the question I suppose? Is it worth £90.00 to go on a day course offering comprehensive solar cleaning and business advice with an internal accreditation? Or would you prefer a £300.00 day course with the same info to get a certificate backed by a third party training accreditor, but is still not recognised as a 'qualification'?

I don't know, you tell me...

If you say neither, I really can't believe that you think you would learn absolutely nothing from a whole day on the subject. Surely you would learn how to add this service to what you do now, or enhance your current service?

 

[Andy Leett]

I'm in, makes sense to me.

 

[rcproperty]

no matter how you put it an accreditation still doesnt mean anything. all it means is that you have hit a standard set by a person, and that knowlege of that person might not be right or worng.

going back a few posts, you said that the only safe way is to trun solar panels off. solar panels can't be turn off as they are always producing electric at the panel, the switches inside the house only stops the power to the house etc.

the pesron doing the training needs to be trained and know everything about solar panels to make sure they give the right information.

 

[Solar Steve]

I am afraid you are wrong RC, panels can be turned off. I have checked. I am not misinformed.

I will not be carrying out ANY training without being up to speed, knowledgeable and factual. Do you really think that I as a window cleaner will go into something like this gung-ho without an expert by my side? I will not be doing this alone but with experts in the field of production and installation of solar panels. This is a joint venture. They know what I don't, I know what they don't. Working together, we will know all we need to know.

One of the main determining factors in this training day working, is not how much we know, but whether it is profitable. I am a businessman and that is the bottom line. That's why I wanted to find out the level of interest and there is interest. It may not be public on this forum, but there is interest.