{"id":92806,"date":"2025-06-28T08:35:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T23:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=92806"},"modified":"2025-06-27T17:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:05:16","slug":"phase-shift-the-rebate-rush-is-no-time-to-exploit-installers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/phase-shift-the-rebate-rush-is-no-time-to-exploit-installers\/","title":{"rendered":"Phase Shift: The Rebate Rush Is No Time To Exploit Installers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoLast week, I got 30\u202fkWh of batteries, 14\u202fkW of solar, an EV charger and a few new power points installed at my commercial property. The job took five days. The owner of the solar business and his apprentice turned up every day and absolutely worked their guts out: in the cold, on ladders, heads down, doing careful, beautiful, and at times dangerous work.<\/p>\n

I was in awe of the effort, precision, and professionalism required to do this work well – especially right now, with installers flat out trying to keep up with the surge in demand driven by the July 1 start date of the federal battery rebate.<\/p>\n

Which is why I find it so galling to see people on Facebook arguing solar installers shouldn’t make more than 15% profit. Or to read a disgraceful blog post that argues installers shouldn’t profit more from bigger batteries, suggesting if they’re already onsite installing a stackable battery, they should throw in extra battery modules at cost<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Honestly? These comments could only come from people who’ve never run a business with staff and stock and vehicles and insurance and cashflow and a dozen competing priorities to juggle. And many don’t even appear to understand the difference between gross and net profit.<\/p>\n

Running a small business in the trades is hard yakka.<\/p>\n

Margins aren’t some dirty secret. They’re how you stay in business when demand drops. They’re how you hire good staff, pay them properly, and back your work with proper support when something goes wrong. They’re what pay for the utes, the diesel the test gear, the insurance, the training, the IT, the admin person who makes sure your STCs and rebates are correctly lodged.<\/p>\n

And if you’re a solar installer, they’re what pays for years of warranty support. Ten to twenty-five years of being on call to diagnose, replace, and troubleshoot hardware – some of which might not even be supported by the manufacturer by then.<\/p>\n

Selling Battery Modules At Cost Is Nonsense<\/h2>\n
\"Batteries

30 kWh of iStore batteries<\/a> in the process of being installed at my commercial property.<\/p><\/div>\n

So no – asking a good installer to sell you extra battery modules at cost just because they’re already there is nonsense.<\/p>\n

Yes, the installer is there. But:<\/p>\n