ᐅ Costs of Photovoltaic Systems with Energy Storage

Prices are currently rising a bit, materials are becoming significantly more expensive and harder to obtain. Nevertheless, the offer seems quite high to me.

Possibly a defensive offer. The books seem to be more than full everywhere.

A different question: Is it common practice to pay the local installation company for the materials in advance? In my case, this amounts to 65% of the total cost and honestly does not make me very enthusiastic…

I can’t say whether this is common practice. However, in 2020, we received an offer, placed an order, and payment was made after completion of the work in September 2020. At that time, we agreed that, because it was unclear how the feed-in tariff would develop in the future, we had a special right of withdrawal if it was discontinued by the time the project was implemented. This was contractually agreed. In return, we waived a 3% discount.

My gut feeling is, why should you pay upfront for the materials? No one does that for cables and outlets, etc., for electrical work or ceramic tiles for the bathroom either.

This sounds questionable to me.

Only companies with liquidity problems do something like that, which is a very bad sign in these times.

The legislator stipulates in Section 641 of the Building Code that payment is due after the completion of the work or, in the case of partial acceptance, subsequently.

Reasons why someone might want to deviate from this...

If a contractor insists on this, it could be because
a) they are experiencing cash flow problems; they can only purchase materials in cash and no longer on account from the building supplier
b) they want to bind you to the contract and intend to carry out the work significantly later than they (verbally) promised

I would advise against this approach if there is a choice.