Phase Shift: Can You Trust a Solar Installer Who Works From Home?

Every now and then, someone pops up on Facebook with a gripe:

“SolarQuotes lets installers in their network who work from home!!! 🤬”

Apparently, not having a warehouse means you’re not a ‘real’ business. Or worse, a fly-by-night operator waiting to disappear the moment the inverter fails.

I get the concern. For a while, we rejected any installer without commercial premises. If you didn’t have a warehouse, you didn’t make the cut.

But over time, we realised our approach was too simplistic.

Lean And Local

Some of the best local solar installers – who take pride in their work, provide real after-sales support, and build strong reputations – start out working from home (usually after years on the tools for someone else).

And some choose to stay working out of their garage. Not because they’re dodgy, but because they’re focused on their long game: a sustainable, small local business with low overheads.

Small-scale residential solar is about good system design, understanding the standards, tidy installs, clear communication, and helping when something goes wrong. None of that requires a warehouse, not when your local solar distributor already has one.

In fact, starting from home can make an installer more financially resilient in the early years. Leaner overheads can free up margin—to invest in better gear, take the time to do things properly, and weather slow months—all important in a volatile industry like solar.

We’ve seen it again and again: sole traders who start small, do things right, and grow into brilliant, medium-sized traditional solar businesses with a warehouse, admin team, and in-house installers.

That makes me happier than almost anything else in this business.

The SolarQuotes team regularly have work-from-home days mixed with time in the office, including resident fact-checking guru Ronald Brakels, pictured above (Ronald is the hairy one).

No Compromise On Standards

Of course, we still vet every installer thoroughly, and we still welcome great medium- to large-sized companies.

And our standards haven’t dropped, they’ve got stricter. We care about installation quality, responsiveness, customer service, licensing, and how they treat people. Whether they work from a garage or a warehouse, the bar is high.

The SolarQuotes model doesn’t pick a winner. When we can, we’ll get you quotes from smaller and mid-sized businesses. And from larger ones, when they do things right. You can compare quotes, check reviews, and choose what works for you.¹

What matters isn’t where a business operates from. It’s whether they show up, do the job well, and stand by their work.

That’s what we look for.

And that’s what Facebook commenters should care about too.

For more on the vetting process SolarQuotes uses to choose which installers we recommend, read our explainer.