What is it about residential solar energy that attracts so many scams and fly-by-night operators?
It seems like a simple and reliable product, but I know so many people who are put off of residential solar because so many of the contractors are sketchy. What is it about the industry that attracts so many of those folks?
Large upfront costs and the customer won't notice problems right away because it is new tech and easy to explain small issues away in the short term. Or they can trick people into paying up front and running off without doing any work.
A perfect situation for someone who want to fleece people quickly and doesn't care about long term reputation.
The upfront cost is the big one. Most can't afford the $20-30k install, so that's when these creative financing schemes come into play where they match your lower end power bill to make you think you save money but end up taking the rewards of your net metering arrangement for themselves. You're better off finding a 3rd party loan from a credit union and then not having a power bill.
Probably the same reason the quack science "free energy" videos on YouTube get so many views.
But also, it's likely an evolution of the roofer scams from ye olden days.
My dude, you're talking about scams and using the BBB as a source?
Like Yelp, you can pay the BBB for a good rating & to hide negative reviews.
So if it's too scummy for the BBB, it must be really bad... or they weren't getting a high enough cut.
I used the BBB to force Hertz to give me a refund. They're not totally useless.
I actually used to work in a solar & heat pump company.
YES it does attract a huge amount of scummy people on both sides.
Some comments have already answered on the side of sales, but it also attracts a lot of shitty clients.
How? A lot of people get greedy with free energy and/or homesteading/offgird wackos. Usually they're unable to pay the "normal" price so they chase down such scammy companies because the number they have offered fits their budget.
IMHO definitely an industry to avoid working in.
A lot of people get greedy with free energy and/or homesteading/offgird wackos.
Solar is one of those really funny areas where extreme left and extreme right folks overlap sharing some of the same views. The extreme left are greenies with "carbon free power only! No to fossil fuels. No to nukes, even if we freeze or starve. Oh, and fuck cars" While the extreme right are the "my individual freedom means no government controlling my power and autonomy, and I love my F-150 like I love my son".
There are a few solar power forums and these two polar opposite groups interact regularly. Both groups work very hard to hold their tongues on their respective beliefs, but every now an then one of them can't help themselves and like the friends holding back the drunk friend at a bar fight, they drag each other back from the brink. There's some passive aggression on both sides with choices of user avatars clearly showing their extreme position. Sometimes signatures under posts do the same thing.
The most interesting is when a deep deep red guy is patiently explaining battery management or solar array optimization to an idealistic young blue person, and they're both getting along hating buying grid power from a giant government backed monopolistic corporate conglomerate.
It's rising in popularity, most of the companies are new, and most people don't know anything about it, and it requires large sums of money. It's the perfect field to play in for those types.
Idk where you are, but in my area the electric company is despised beyond belief. The scammers know this and pounce on it.
Same as heatpump door-to-door sellers, heat duct cleaning, etc, scammers who charge top $$$ and subcontract for a misery
It can delivery high returns, but over a long period of time. A long enough time that the scammers are long gone before the promised results or the problems created by shoddy work show up.
I say this as an advocate and personal consumer of rooftop solar. One of the hardest steps was simply choosing the company to go with for the purchase/install/service. I chose the local company that had been around for 25 years servicing my area. I passed up many lower priced quotes to do so buying premium equipment and expensive installation (compared to competitors). I'm happy with my purchase.
The prospective customers are people who can already afford a home.
So they're likely in the prime scam victim age range too
It's the money.
It's 'the newest hot' aka the thing most people know is a good thing, but know nothing beyond the basics. Sets up for people to easily rip you off, install sub-par products, perform shitty installation, overcharge with shitty interest rate loans, etc.
Take all of these, and you will get a place where a lot of scams can exist.