Daniel Jarrett sheds some light on his success in solar PV installation

Daniel Jarrett is the founder and CEO of Queensland Solar & Lighting and has provided solar panel installation to residents in and around Brisbane since 2011, and running QLD Solar & Lighting since 2013.

Having worked at the forefront of the industry for over 10 years, Daniel has quite a lot of insight into what consumers really want from a solar PV system and what they need to look out for if and when they decide to make the investment.

Daniel was kind enough to answer a few questions we had of the solar power industry in Brisbane.

Daniel, what was your background prior to launching Queensland Solar & Lighting and how did you get involved in the solar industry?

When I was 20, I found myself bouncing between horrendous jobs. I saw a job advertised in the paper that said ‘make $1000+ a week – No experience necessary!’ I went to the interview and found out it was being a ‘door-to-door salesman’ for a local Electricity company. Ha, I knew it was too good to be true, but they paid a $400 week training wage so I stuck around and I really enjoyed it and soon became good at it.

3 years later that all ended when the ‘no knocking after 6pm’ rule came into effect I found another job advertised ‘salesman wanted – Retail energy experience encouraged’ – Not many people had looked at an electricity bill more than me so it was an easy progression.

What kind of customers use your service?

Tight-arses! Haha. Usually when they’ve come to my website it means they have been googling for solar power in Brisbane. They’ve already had a million quotes and prices but still they haven’t found a company that they feel confident to put solar on their roof. Somehow, they manage to convince themselves that Queensland Solar & Lighting is the business to assist them. I’m happy to say that I believe they have made a good choice too.

Can you outline some of the benefits of solar panels?

The main benefit for installing solar panels on your house is the fact that they save customers money. It is a fact. If you do not have a solar system on your roof, and you plan to be in your house around 3 years or more, do it. You are only going to end up paying that same amount of money to an electricity company.

How are your solar power panels different from other providers?

They’re not, I hope. I’d like to think that all that rubbish with the cheap solar companies parallel-importing cheap rubbish directly has stopped by now. Well actually a mob was caught just last year doing it actually! But not surprising really, as the solar industry seems to attract the worst in society it seems at times.

Solar panels these days are now bought from local solar wholesalers. Australian cities have no shortage of these suppliers. They exist in abundance!

Realistically, we can install any solar panel a customer requests that is in the Australian market. However, some wholesalers are just not pleasant to deal with. We’ve weeded out the good guys that give us a great service and are there for us when a warranty issue arises. It would be a headache to deal with every solar panel manufacturer out there.

What should customers watch out for when choosing solar panels?

Customers should watch out for solar companies who offer the cheapest price possible. You have to think for yourself – How can they offer the cheapest price possible? Obviously, because they’re using the cheapest installers, the cheapest solar panels, the cheapest solar inverters, the cheapest solar racking. Offering no after-sales service too, perhaps? Like deadest, installing a solar system for as cheap as you can get just seems so wrong, surely dangerous too. Like to get the cheapest price possible can only mean you are using the cheapest panels, inverter and new fresh out of school solar installers trying to get their experience up. Who really wants that?

Where do you see Queensland Solar & Lighting in the next few years?

Who knows, but sadly, given the competition, they make it easy for us. We might take back off to Thailand and do it all from there again. We did some of our best work from there, with no distractions, we always have had the customers’ a number 1 priority.

No one has a time machine, but if the last 7 years are anything to go by, we will still be trying to make sure every customer has a good experience and outcome with us.

Thank you Daniel for sharing your thoughts with us!
You can follow up with Daniel at www.queenslandsolarandlighting.com