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Solar Roof, big price increase
- Thread starter nicholb
- Start date
Thanks for sharing this!
Yeah, I have a similar interpretation of what I've seen so far. Tesla is clearly doing something that is customer un-friendly, but arbitration to compel the original contract terms is not really an option for most people in this situation.
Breach? Probably not for most... Tesla's lawyers drafted their contracts to give Tesla maximum flexibility to make changes
Damages? Probably not for most... unless they can prove they invested money in anticipation of the Tesla Solar Roof or gave up on a suitable alternative from a competing vendor/bid that is no longer an option.
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One of the reasons I went with the solar roof was that the quote for this came in much higher!
My price went up 71% - Original price: $67,749, New price: $115,832! I don't understand how Tesla could randomly hike up the price. There was no design change and contract was signed in good faith. We had a signed agreement dated October 2020. Our design layout and permits were completed and we were just awaiting installation. There were no "unforeseen conditions at the installation location". Meanwhile we spent thousands clearing trees to reduce shade on our roof in preparation. What recourse do we have? Do we have any way to get them to honor the originally quoted price?
Just signed up because I had this hit too. Order placed late 2020, signed 1/21/21. Permits, inspection, etc complete. Even had an install date for the 12th... went from $42k to $65k. Also got told last week it was locked, we had contract etc. no increase.
Guess that changed Saturday... even created a Twitter to tweet at Elon.
Guess that changed Saturday... even created a Twitter to tweet at Elon.
As much as I would have liked to have gone with a solar roof and held out for a few years (our roof too new), we went the panel/PW route last year. Everyone in our neighborhood has solar panels, either for heating their pools and/or for generating electricty for their home, so ours fit right in with the neighborhood. I know of two neighbors who got PWs too. Anyway point I wanted to make is that I no longer regret adding the panels and we’ve been enjoying the power from the sun. We missed out on Summer generation last year in part due to covid shut-downs and so many installs in front of us. Change of product line and training new people probably too.
If solar tile roof ROI is too far out now with price increases, suspect the case for most and with money tight, I would seriously consider the panel route. Given cost of original agreement pricing you might still have budget for PWs or more of them for using the sun at night.
I’m very design minded in choosing products and aesthetics has always been important to me. I hate having to spend months looking at my neighbors butchered topped mature trees for example. I do find the skirts on the panels pleasing enough and love the design of our PWs and GW2 shiny white contempory cabinets. If nothing can happen with pricing, don’t screw yourself out of getting solar.
If solar tile roof ROI is too far out now with price increases, suspect the case for most and with money tight, I would seriously consider the panel route. Given cost of original agreement pricing you might still have budget for PWs or more of them for using the sun at night.
I’m very design minded in choosing products and aesthetics has always been important to me. I hate having to spend months looking at my neighbors butchered topped mature trees for example. I do find the skirts on the panels pleasing enough and love the design of our PWs and GW2 shiny white contempory cabinets. If nothing can happen with pricing, don’t screw yourself out of getting solar.
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Great point. Looks like I missed out on 2 PW's, but I can take that 20K and use it as part of the more solar I hope to be adding. Logically I believe I will get a better return with more panels than more PW's. But emotionally, ......
Following this quietly for a while, and its pretty shady and I am surprised. I think the projected cost to goodwill calculation went to the dark side.
Tesla energy pricing otherwise looks like they are made of money, when they buy the retrofit PV market with super cheap prices.
What cost to the customer goodwill by so many cancelled contracts, or strongarm price increases? Tesla could have absorbed it pretty easily I think, and those with the lower (current) price and contract would feel like they got a super smart deal when prices increased for everyone else going forward.
Tesla energy pricing otherwise looks like they are made of money, when they buy the retrofit PV market with super cheap prices.
What cost to the customer goodwill by so many cancelled contracts, or strongarm price increases? Tesla could have absorbed it pretty easily I think, and those with the lower (current) price and contract would feel like they got a super smart deal when prices increased for everyone else going forward.
Would your company cover these loses? I assume your companies costs have gone up and you have to pass them along? So easy to think a large company has deep pockets as does not have to worry about profits.
I’ve been surprised that something wouldn’t be done for those far along in the process (especially ready to schedule) but I’m thinking they’ve had so many orders across the country that maybe there wasn’t a good cut off point that woukd be fair. Really hard to say. I can’t see Zack looking at the numbers after sq ft costs went up and not saying we have to do something. I do think someone didn’t have a handle on the true costs to them and what figures were being used for new orders otherwise prices should have been climbing to match costs.
I think the number of orders a company has determines at some point how much you can afford to eat while trying to be fair to all those customers and where you have to draw the line. Stores do loss leaders but at some point fiscal responsibility has to come into play.
I think the number of orders a company has determines at some point how much you can afford to eat while trying to be fair to all those customers and where you have to draw the line. Stores do loss leaders but at some point fiscal responsibility has to come into play.
It is a real shame. As a customer in the planning phase for awhile now, Its obvious the whole department is completely overwhelmed. In that sense the potential loss may be more than just the money, but all the manpower that’s needed to deal with new hires, etc. Hiring new people is probably tricky right now with COVID, unemployment benefits, etc. (please don’t make this a political discussion!)
Though the costs may go up, the company I work for are 100% fixed price contracts. We almost never issue change orders over our own lack of design accuracy or increased costs.
Those times it has happened are related to pre-defined items like service upgrade PGE costs for transformer upgrades or underground work. We have in a few cases given a customer a complete service swap because we couldn't do what we promised. We have in other cases paid the higher price for similar equipment, because we needed to have what we promised.
This causes higher overhead, but the customer costs are fixed unless the customer changes the conditions. Even when minor changes like a skylight or vent appears in the way of the modules between permit and installation we often just take care of it under the fixed price contract.
One thing Vines would know is this, what is the cost of a crew of 8 for three weeks to a month?
What is sad is not only the goodwill, but, not to be too negative about it, but it may be an experiment that failed.
The experiment being that truly, a solar roof is really only the cost of a regular roof plus a certain number of solar tiles, plus the solar electrical wiring. That's how it was priced, and it was still expensive.
I watched one guy finish a 1500 sq foot roof across the street with regular shingles in one day last week.
(personal opinion post inc, not moderator content. Most regulars here know that when I post as a mod I say so directly but there are several new members posting in this thread and I get the impression its traveling wider than just those posting here)
Each impacted customer has to do what they think is best. I am not impacted by this personally as I was not in the middle of purchasing a solar roof. I personally am not one who is in the mind to make someone perform work for me who doesnt want to, and I have also completely stopped doing business with companies over waaaaaay less money than is being bandied about in this thread.
If this were me, I would probably have:
1. Contacted tesla to make sure there wasnt some mistake on price grandfathering (people have done this already)
2. Contacted a lawyer from my legal plan to ensure I was not missing out on some damages or something
3. Asked tesla for a refund, moved to replacing my roof + panels from ANY other company beside Tesla, regardless of whatever price Tesla was charging for panels.
For me, if I was impacted by this situation, buying from Tesla (anything) would likely be a non starter going forward.
I likely wouldnt rail and complain about it much either, just "take my ball (money) and go home (elsewhere)".
This is said as someone who currently has tesla solar on my roof, a tesla vehicle in my garage, and tesla powerwalls mounted to my house.
Tesla must have decided they couldnt absorb the cost because the fallout from this from a PR standpoint is pretty bad. I like to think I am a fairly reasonable person, and this situation (and the way customers appear to be being treated during this situation) gives me great pause about buying anything else "Tesla" related.
Vines are you guys installing solar roof tiles though? New product and new problems to work through. Solar panels get placed in roofs fairly easily and I assume rather routine these days and inverters and even PWs. I see solar roof tiles being a whole new ballgame of unknowns with each house having to be custom fit from peaks and valleys and ridges to gutters. I’d guess even traditional roofers brought in to work and train teams have had their challenges.
I look at it differently. I want Tesla to be around in the future, compared to many other solar companies. If they made a BIG mistake, seems best thing to do is what they are doing, saying they screwed up and will give folks their money back. Better than a trickle effect on do some folks get "special" treatment compared to others. But wasting so much energy attacking on social media is just such a waste of time. And more than that, if one is ever looking for a new job, the first thing they do is look at folks social media accounts. Would one want to hire a person who goes nuts on social media?
IMO, that is borderline nuts for a resi roof to require a crew of 8 to be on site full time for 15 days (3 weeks w/out weekends) and no OT. Like... what...
I was using a $40 burdened labor hour calc for a commercial Bay Area project. This would cover wages, benefits, other personnel overhead. This is moderate skill stuff... not like your Tesla Power Ranger or licensed electricians.
$40 x 8 hours x 15 days x 8 personnel is $38,400.
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