Harmon Solar Podcast

Let's Talk Commercial Solar Deadlines

• Harmon Solar

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Commercial solar is on the clock.

Ralph and Ben sit down with Harmon Electric COO Dan King to explain how businesses can still lock in up to a 30% federal tax credit — but only if they act before the year-end safe harbor deadline.

We cover:
 • Why residential solar is basically sold out for this year’s tax credit, but commercial is not
 • How “safe harbor” works (5% down, documented equipment, contract)
 • Why waiting until January triggers new FIAC rules, higher prices, and limited supply
 • Real numbers: a $1M solar project can mean ~$300K in tax credit

If you’re a business owner thinking about solar, this is the window.


SPEAKER_00:

The solar energy market has become increasingly saturated, leading to widespread misinformation and a lack of transparency. Welcome to the Harmon Solar Podcast, offering a straightforward, honest perspective on going solar. Each episode dives into key topics to help you better understand the industry. Our goal is to educate and empower you to make informed decisions about solar energy. While solar may not be the right fit for everyone, we believe everyone should take the time to explore it. Our mission is to increase your knowledge, not your bills.

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to another edition of the Harman Solar Podcast. I'm Rob Fermano, VP of Sales and Marketing at Harman Solar, and with me, as always, my partner, Ben Walshlager. You guys know him as Mr. Everything. Ben?

SPEAKER_02:

It's good to be back.

SPEAKER_03:

It took you some time to get there.

SPEAKER_02:

I had to wait for my intro to be I thought there was more coming to it, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. It's always good to have you here, Ben. Um today we're gonna we're gonna get into some of the things that are happening. Um we're gonna talk real quickly about where we are residentially. You'll give us a stat.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

And then we're gonna get into a topic we haven't really touched on. We're gonna talk about some of the commercial stuff and where that's at because it's very different. Very different. Yeah. So we need to kind of get into that and what that means.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's all about tax credits and deadlines and you know, fear, the world lending type thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. So why don't you start with where are we residentially?

SPEAKER_02:

So residentially, we had we talked about this on a different different show. Um basically, if you're looking to get solar and get the tax credits for this year, you missed your opportunity. Well, that sucks. I'm sorry. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's just what it is. You've missed it with us. You missed it with us. Yes, it's it's just how it's just the reality of things. There's no guarantee of getting the tax credits.

SPEAKER_03:

We feel we have enough, we have the amount of business right now where we can get stuff installed by the end of the year, um, but we can't guarantee anything. Obviously, we don't guarantee anything anyways. Right. Um, but as far as with you and your tax guy figure out what you might need, we've come to a point where we're like, okay, done.

SPEAKER_02:

We're done. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So we're already out now selling for stuff for 2026. We've already talked about this in the previous podcast with leasing and other options going forward, so I don't want to touch on that, but we're good to go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Residentially. Residentially, but that doesn't mean commercial is the same, maybe because they have different rules. What? I know it's crazy. What do you mean? They have different rules, but we brought someone in to talk about those different rules.

SPEAKER_03:

An expert.

SPEAKER_02:

Somewhat. An expert. I gotta find my best behavior on the phone though.

SPEAKER_03:

And my boss. So today, joining us, we have the COO of Harmon Electric, which involves Harmon Solar, Harmon Electric, and all the different pieces of the business we have. We have Dan King. This is my first time on the show. This is your first time ever, and we've been doing this over two years. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

You're saving the best for towards the end. That's what it is. Yeah, Julie.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, got it. So, Dan, I know that we're you're heavily involved on the commercial side and all the changes that have gone on, all the rules that are like mind-boggling and give you a headache every day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that business owners need to realize is that it isn't too late. Uh so there are there are different rules. Um, and what that means is we can still the term is called safe harbor. We can still safe harbor commercial projects before the end of the year. So there's just some things that you have to do, okay, but you can do those by the end of the year. And if you follow all the rules, you will have four years to actually build the system and place it in service.

SPEAKER_03:

So if I'm a business right now and I want to still qualify for that tax credit, it's not too late. Nope. You can safe harbor, and we'll explain what that means in a second, my project, and I'll still qualify. So let's let's go into the detail. What exactly what is safe harboring? What is that?

SPEAKER_02:

I feel like we should start with vocabulary. There's safe harbor, domestic contact, fiok, and there's all these things. What is all this thing?

SPEAKER_01:

Have you guys talked about fiak? Not yet. You haven't. You're going to. Okay. So take it away. Uh so let's talk about safe harbor, first of all. So there are there are a couple of ways, and there's a couple different deadlines. So we actually have two deadlines. We have a deadline at the end of this year, and then we have a second deadline that has different kind of rules, uh, which uh comes, I believe, July 3rd. Didn't President Trump sign the bill on the fourth? On the fourth, yeah. So I think it'll be the midnight on the third would be the the deadline for the second uh part of this. So I'll talk about the first part. Okay. So to safe harbor a a project, there's two different ways that you can do it. And we're talking about for the deadline for the end of this year. Okay. You have to have a contract in place, uh, a non-refundable contract, like the deposit that you give has to be non-refundable. Um and if you purchase material that you can have in your possession before the end of the year, solar panels, inverters, racking, specific to solar, not like wire or conduit, that sort of thing. So really those three things are kind of the things that that make sense. If you have five percent of the contract value, let's just say you have a million dollar project, and we can procure fifty thousand dollars at a minimum of that material prior to the end of the year and have it paid for, that project would be considered safe harbored and those would apply. The other way that you can safe harbor a project is you can actually commence construction of a physical nature or a significant nature. I don't know the exact terminology, but if you have a project that really is starting before the end of the year, you can use that as a baseline for safe harboring the project as well.

SPEAKER_02:

And it has to be significant, can't just break ground.

SPEAKER_01:

There is um there is guidance that came out from Trump's executive order right after he signed that bill that talks about that. It goes into some pretty good detail about what doesn't qualify as start of construction. Um and yes, like grading, turning dirt, that sort of thing. Yeah, we'll just stick a shovel in the ground. No, that does that that and of course that's all open to interpretation by people's CPAs and everything else. So again, what we're talking what we're talking about here is what's Dan's view of all of this. So I'm not a CPA, I'm not a tax person, so let's just get that out of the way right after that. We say that a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

Like a lot. Right. Almost every episode.

SPEAKER_03:

So let's let's go back and summarize. So you said they have to procure certain equipment, five percent, just say five percent.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's it's five percent of the contract value. Value. So you have a contract in place for a million dollars, and you have to at least at a minimum be able to document and show that you've purchased and paid for fifty thousand dollars worth of solar panels, um, inverters, or racking. Those seem to be important components. Yeah, something like that. Typically, we're gonna we're gonna safe harbor either solar panels or our inverters.

SPEAKER_03:

So if a business comes to us as we explain that to them, then we're gonna basically get a let's say it's a million-dollar project, a fifty thousand dollar check from them, and then we're gonna give them an invoice for that fifty thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_01:

Basically, what we're doing for our customers right now is in our warehouse or a supplier's warehouse. Um, we're securing, like I said, modules, inverters. The nice thing about those two components is they have serial numbers. So you can record and document serial numbers and invoices, taking pictures, it's all of those things is what we're doing what we're doing for our customers right now to safe harbor these projects before the end of the year.

SPEAKER_03:

So I've safe harbored my project through Harman. I've done what you just explained. How long do I have now for you to actually make this happen and install it?

SPEAKER_01:

It's four years. So we would have until the end of what they 2029? 29. Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

We're gonna take four years, really.

SPEAKER_01:

No. Okay. Depends on the project, I guess, right? I mean, we do have a we we're it we are developing a decent backlog where I think that we're probably pretty full through next year.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so uh any projects that we sell, you know, between now and the end of the year might get pushed into 2027.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Um But again, uh you know, the customer should look at that from the perspective of their their securing that 30% incentive that is going away. 30%, I mean you're talking on that million-dollar project, you're talking about$300,000. I mean, it's a lot of money. Commercial's a different ballgame.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, right. And that's an important piece, too, because you think, you know, residentially, you sign a contract, you can have your system up, you know, in a few months.

SPEAKER_03:

In 77 days. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, there you go. You got the stats on that. Commercial, it's not like that. There's a lot of red tape that you have to go through. So I think that's why these rules are in place, because once the bill is signed, you know, July of this year, it's not like, hey, you're gonna have your system installed commercially this year.

SPEAKER_01:

I would say that from contract execution to finishing a project commercially, I would say nine to twelve months is probably average. That's about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So yeah. So saying that we're not gonna start it or get it going until twenty-seven, that's just a little bit over the average.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. So you commercial customers don't expect it to get installed by the end of the year. It doesn't have to be installed by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_03:

No. So that would be the safe Harvard version of the commercial projects.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell for the deadline of 1231, 2020. So this is if I do this by the end of this year. So how we can help customers, commercial customers that may be watching this podcast, um, I have uh procured or will have in my possession in the right time frame, um, I think I've got two or three megawatts worth of solar panels that we're gonna be using for some projects, say Farbringo projects that Harmon is gonna do for future sales. But if a con if a business owner comes to us between now and the end of the year, um, I do have the ability to make that happen and get a contract in place and do all the right things so that we can put you in the queue at some point down the road and you can still get your tax credit. So we have the modules available to do that. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

So three megawatts, just perspective-wise, an average commercial project is maybe 250, 300K on average. We have I know we do a megawatt, so we do small so I mean if you looked at it as an average of 250, so that's what, 12 projects, maybe.

SPEAKER_01:

Let me let me make the math a little simpler. Okay. At 300 kilowatts, if we're talking about$3 a watt, let's get back to that$900,000, close to a million dollar project. All you would need is that$45,000 worth of the solar panels. Right. Just that. Yeah. So I that two and a half megawatts of solar panels turns into at only 5%.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a lot of much because you only need a five percent.

SPEAKER_01:

See now that's a better way to look at it.

SPEAKER_03:

Because you're like, yeah, right. They only need five percent of the room.

SPEAKER_01:

So what we would do there is we would take that, we would take a piece of that for this customer, set them aside, like I said, we're doing in the warehouse or a supplier's warehouse. Um, and then we order the additional solar panels that fulfill the rest of that project after the fact. Those don't matter, it's just the five percent that matters. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

So we've proactively safe harbored a lot of projects.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm yeah, I I think I'm gonna have when we're when it's all said and done, it depends on how many people new customers come between now and the end of the year. Because I only have so many solar panels that are coming that will be here in the time frame. Um, what we don't have actual contracts in place for, I'm creating um projects, if you will, that will be able to hopefully place customers in down the road. Creating slots for creating slots for people down the road as well.

SPEAKER_03:

And those panels actually have to be in our possession by the 31st.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there's a different there's another rule there that we don't need to go into a whole lot of detail, but I can actually push this envelope to the end of the year, towards the end of the year, pay, pre-pay, cut a PO, prepay for these. Let's just say I place the order on December 30th.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

I have 105 days. There's another rule that says I have 105 days that I could take I have to have possession of that material within that 105 days. Okay. So if the supplier is taking 60 days or 90 days, I mean that's pushing it. Because if I place that order and I don't get it in my possession in 105 days, then it wouldn't count.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um there are I've heard stories that you know people have taken the serial numbers off of the modules on the boat on the way from overseas and said that they're in my possession. I mean, there's creative ways. There's creative ways to hopefully you know do that. But I don't think we'll need that. I think I have I have what I need coming that um if it's a majority, some of it's gonna be here before the end of the year, and others I think it's gonna come in like January. So that 105-day rule will still apply for that too.

SPEAKER_03:

So that's safe harboring, and that has to be done by the end of the year. So now what happens? So that well, first off, so if you're a business, it makes sense to where you now have an incentive to say I really should get this done by the end of the year, because this is the most simple, safe way without any changes that should happen that we know you're gonna qualify. So now do you want to talk about the other deadline? Right. So if we get past the 31st as a business, the rules do change. So let's talk about I know Fiat, that great term fiok, whatever, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01:

It's fun to say it rolls off the tongue. Fiat. Yeah, what is FIAC? Fiat stands for Foreign Entity of Concern. So baked into the big, beautiful bill and the the this second window, if you will. Um starting January 1st to July 3rd next year, uh, you can still safe harbor projects the same two ways start of construction or the five percent. Now you have a new the new animal that throws that gets thrown into the mix, which is the fiak compliance. So what FI Fiat is, and it's primarily four and four countries or nations uh that make this up, uh which is uh China, uh Russia, North Korea, and Iran, I believe, are the four. And there may be others, but I think those are the primary four. I don't know again, I don't know if there's a actual list of what that what that is. But what that what that does is it's material that comes from those countries or influence money, parent companies, sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02:

So involvement.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, pretty much. So there's a table that's out there, and I believe starting in 2026, you have to be you have to be able to be f uh fiat compliant with I don't like a forty percent of the material that you're using. So uh what that means is and it's still kind of cloudy. I mean, every day that goes by I think that there are there are more there's more guidance and understanding about what all this means. But high level, you have a manufacturing company here in the United States. If it's owned four levels uh here by a Chinese company, that that has an effect on the fiat compliance of that of that product that's coming out of that. If that company is manufacturing something that's uh made in, you know, taking a component that's made here in the United States, clearly made by a non-fiok company, that's helpful, but they could then take a piece from uh apart from China and put it into that solar panel, and now that that has an effect on how much compliance that product has. It's super complicated, but that's why I'm saying it's way easier to not have to deal with that complex part of this and get it done before the end of the year. Okay, let's assume that we can make fiak compliance. And what that would mean is we would now have to buy something different from a solar panel perspective, make sure that it has compliancy, the inverters, and I'm not actually aware of too many commercial inverters that actually meet fiat compliance. So you get into a whole uh if we're gonna build solar parking canopies, you need to probably make sure that you're sourcing domestic steel to build those solar parking canopies. All of those things I just said to meet those compliances, guess what that does to the price?

SPEAKER_02:

Goes up. Yeah, because a lot a lot of companies, and especially in this industry, they're like made in America, we're an American company. Like, okay, but you're an American company made in America, but who owns you and who owns them and gets it?

SPEAKER_01:

It's assembled in the market. Right. And that they that the little gray area.

SPEAKER_03:

So if you're Hanhua or you're JA, for instance, and you're making that stuff in China, or your your parent company is in China, but you have a plant in the US, it's still gonna count against that.

SPEAKER_01:

It could be yes, yeah. It's very, like I said, it's very complicated. I think all the manufacturers are they're sifting through all of it, and every day, like I said, that goes by, we're getting new tables and a better understanding of what meets this compliance. Ultimately, what's gonna happen is it's gonna be the onus is gonna be on the manufacturers and suppliers to provide us a certificate or documentation proof that says this is our fiat compliance percentages or whatever. Just like remember when we years back when we had the um the uh uh built in America or whatever, yeah, we had some sort of a certificate that the manufacturer said that this this meets this whatever target or compliance that you need to have. So, with all of that being said, all the same stuff that I talked about before applies to the the safe harboring of projects from January 1st to July 3rd. You just now have this new thing thrown in that you got to meet the fiat compliance as well.

SPEAKER_03:

So my key takeaway from that is there's two things. Number one is it gets more confusing after the first. And that's subject to change, in my opinion, based on how the government decides they want to play the game. It it could get better or it could get worse. Could get better or worse. And secondarily, it's gonna cost more.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

So pricing will go up and confusion will increase.

SPEAKER_01:

So here's the here's the other piece of that that I think um that uh makes it harder for me to feel like projects can get safe harbored next year. The fiat compliant materials, as we've just talked about, are hard to get. Yeah, they're limited. So what happens when you have that? You've got six months to get projects safe harbored. Everybody's trying to safe harbor a limited amount of product. What happens? The price goes up for sure, but the availability, so you've got to have it in your possession. I can place an order, for example, uh Silfab. We'll use that as a module manufacturer that I believe would meet fiat compliance. If I place an order for a SILFAB module right now, I'll be lucky to get it by the end of next year. So it doesn't do me any good. Right, right. Because I don't have it in my possession in that time frame. In other words, even if I place the order that at last day, July 3rd, 105 days from there, that would be pushing it. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

Because there's another safe harboring rule for January 1, right?

SPEAKER_01:

By July 3rd, you have to have No, July 3rd is no different. That's the same as the death. At the end of July, uh after July 3rd, if you haven't safe harbored the project, now you're in the same position that the residential customers are right now. There's nothing. There's nothing now. Unless something changes between now and then. I don't think this current administration is going to make a change like that, but who knows when we get it, you know, if it ends up rotating the other direction again at the end of this time frame, the you know, maybe that changes, but that's three years down the road.

SPEAKER_03:

So wait, if you wait till January 1st, it's gonna cost you more money, it gets more complicated, and there's a good chance there's not gonna be able to find you're gonna find that supply. Right because the demand gets too high. Yes. And you're already experiencing that with some manufacturers that are saying we won't see stuff till end of next year.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And we're telling you all this, you know, because it's important for if you are kind of shopping around. I'm sure other solar companies probably have no idea what what they're doing, what's going on. Some don't. Some do as we've experienced. But you know, it you kind of get that peace of mind of you know, when you are getting a commercial quote from Harmon, like, we've done our research, we know what we're doing. This is if you're looking to get the tax credits, here are your options. We're not going to put you in a bad situation. We've done we've done our homework.

SPEAKER_03:

Painfully.

SPEAKER_02:

And we're still doing our homework.

SPEAKER_03:

And what about how does domestic content plan this or does it?

SPEAKER_01:

It could. Yeah. There's an extra 10% for domestic content. Um so the customer can get an extra 10% on the tax credit. Yes. If if you meet those requirements as well. So again, domestic steel would certainly be something you'd have to do. Um if you're doing solar parking canopies, you would want to make sure that your uh solar module meets the domestic content requirements. Again, it's another table like the Fiat table and the inverter as well. So uh you would have to, between all of the components of the project, you would have to meet a certain criteria to get that 10% extra kicker. Um so there it's possible uh if you're procuring the right equipment. But the caveat there is too, if you are buying material components that meet domestic content, they're at a higher price point than the non-domesticent components. So I've found when I've looked at that in many cases, the amount of extra money that you pay doesn't really offset the extra 10% that you get. That doesn't work. Meaning that if you're gonna go spend more money on domestic steel, you're gonna spend 10 or 15% more on the solar panel, you're gonna spend more money on the inverter, et cetera, et cetera. And on that million-dollar project, you know, you that's a hundred thousand dollars. Are you spending a hundred thousand is that project now become one point one million dollars or spending more than a discount you have? You just washed it out. I think there's some times where it makes sense and other times not, but again, the domestic content, everybody wants that extra 10%. So those are in our are very short supply as well. I we've seen that on the residential side, you know that. I mean, oh yeah, the Q-Tron module.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, Dan Dan's the one who he gets all of our equipment for us, and we're like we just bang our heads against the wall trying to find that equipment. It's just not available.

SPEAKER_01:

It gets harder and harder every day. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Well, we're struggling even on the residential side for the leases next year, which are gonna still allow people to um you know monetize that tax credit. Uh we think I'm pretty sure the Hyundai module that we have is gonna be to fiat compliance.

SPEAKER_03:

People are saying yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll give credit where credit is due. Don't get too big headed though.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But he you called it. I did. I said this is a good time. Junior July, yeah. Yeah. We said this would happen. Supplies would be you know, it would be very hard to get modules and equipment and prices would go up. Prices gonna go up.

SPEAKER_01:

And we're at that point now. Here we are. Yep. I I I agree 100%. We're gonna see a short-term uptick in cost. And then it I think after after the safe harbor boon is over, which will be July of next year, when there's no more ability to do that and everybody's made their play, um, then as the dust settles, I would I would envision prices to maybe start coming down. Sure.

SPEAKER_03:

I think they'd have to at that point. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because you now are now you have to make up this 30% tax credit.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. So I mean you're even talking about a customer, a few customers that we currently kind of have that didn't really understand all this. They thought a different way. And you kind of went in and said your spiel and made them think the right well, we think but we assume is the right way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think I think everybody when they understand kind of the the lay of the land, right? Every you can't disagree that the five percent safe harbor before the end of this year is the best play. Right. Because it just takes out all the uncertainty. It is the best play by far by far. But they may have um all I did was lay out, just like we talked about here, I laid out everything the same to them, and they're gonna consult with their tax people and their construction people because they were walking into it. The first thing that they both, you know, the both meetings that I've had, basically they're like, Well, all we got to do is go put a shovel in the ground. We just gotta start construction. I'm like, okay, if that's what you think, but here's what I see in all of this. And I gave them all that documentation.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, let me ask you this because a lot of these commercial projects is just a completely new build. It's not just an existing right, right. How does that play if they are starting construction, like doing the underground? Does that does that still count? It could. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It could. So again, that that's where it's up to them, to the owner, to document and prove down the road to the government. It's their the onus is gonna be on the person that's applying for the tax credit, right? So that was my conversation with them. Is hey, I'm I'm just gonna tell you my thoughts. Here's how I perceive this to be, here's I think our best path forward. And if you guys feel like you can meet the start of construction or fiat compliance for next year and you want to push it to next year, great. That that's up to you. But it just it seems like for such a small dollar amount to give to get the material in hand. And I think on I think on two out of the three of the projects that I've been talking to this one uh company about, um, we can meet the fiat compliant fiak, we can meet the safe harbor compliance this year by securing just the inverters. We can meet the five percent. Uh SMA inverters are about two months out, so we would fall within the 105-day rule that we talked about. Just make sure that we have all our I's dotted and T's crossed with the contract with the invoices, make sure that we paid for them and we just have them in our possession in the right time frame.

SPEAKER_03:

There we go. And I think that what I was bringing up a good point. The point is we talk all the time in the residential side about you know, trusting who you're working with and all that kind of stuff. This is so even much more important today on the commercial side because if you're all the stuff that you just heard blows your mind a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's simple, but it's not.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Right? And there's a lot of companies out there, I guarantee you, that haven't done the research. No, maybe trying to figure it out, maybe not. They just figured out we'll just go ahead and go forward.

SPEAKER_01:

I can't tell you how many webinars I've been on. Right. Over the last three or four months. And these tax credits aren't small for commercials. There's a lot of money. We're just talking about that example. It's$300,000 on a million-dollar project. Let me let me let me just throw one more piece that I forgot to mention in there. So within that um that guidance that came out after that executive order that gives a lot of this this stuff. This only applies, all the stuff that I just talked about only applies for projects that are one and a half megawatts and smaller. Oh. So size restriction. What happens over? Uh you fall under, you don't get to do the safe harbor. There's different rules. I haven't looked at that because I don't know. I knew that I wasn't going to be playing in that arena. Right. I mean, we do, we've done projects bigger than one and a half, right? But everything that I see on our horizon that I see being getting safe harbored is all falling underneath that 1.5. And if you had like a 1.7, just make it a 1.5 so that you fall underneath that guidance. So didn't realize that. Yeah. So that's an important thing. So most projects, most commercial projects that we do are going to fall underneath that. So really that was Trump's way of not letting the utility scale people get too far out too out of hand.

SPEAKER_02:

Solar farms, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I love Trump, right?

SPEAKER_03:

He just got to go there and he knew what he was doing. So I I think we've laid it out pretty well. Yeah. I mean, if you want to go solar, if you're a commercial business and you're thinking about going solar, you need to do it now. You need to push the push the button now. You don't need to wait because you're gonna wait is gonna be confusion, wait is gonna be expense and things that maybe will change, not change. I don't know. We know we're set for the next two and a half months, two months. We know what the rules are, we know what we can do, we can help you right now. Um, and you need to do it now. I mean, we I we hate saying that. We've been talking about we're never that pushy company until we have to be pushy, and right now we have no choice.

SPEAKER_02:

We did the same thing on the residential side. Right. And here we are residentially, like no guarantee getting tax credits now.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Same thing with commercial. We're gonna get to, you know, end of the year, next year, and go, well, there's no guarantee now because you waited too long.

SPEAKER_03:

What what other is there any other message you'd want to give business owners that we haven't touched on?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I I think I think our company is is positioned pretty well with um our team to be able to have a client reach out to us, engage with us, and as long as the client isn't slowing the process down, um we could probably we could probably have all the things that I talked about in place, assuming that you know again this I have enough solar panels left over to satisfy that safe harbor, or we look to use the inverters and place those orders at that time, get them within the 105 days. Um we could probably put stuff together and have this happen within less than two weeks, probably. Yeah. So I think by the middle of December would maybe we would start pushing up against not being able to get all of the ducks in a row to do it right. Because it has to be, you know, we have to be able to present to the client something that's real that we can build that makes sense to them and get a contract in place, get a deposit. You know, some companies it you know they can't just in 24 hours, you know, scratch a fifty thousand dollar check. Right. You know, it might take some time to go through different layers or whatever. So with all of that being said, I think we still have at least six weeks-ish to be able to help people get stuff done before the end of the year.

SPEAKER_03:

And I would say we're probably we have we have a very conservative view on how we do things, and we're not gonna tell you we can if we can't. If we feel we can do it, we're gonna go ahead and move forward. If we feel we can't, you'll be the first one to tell somebody you do it all the time. Makes me squeak sometimes. But you're right.

SPEAKER_01:

So you do sometimes the hardest thing to say is no. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's why we've been in business for 50 years, right? Because we can say no and we can do the right thing, and that's you and and Julie that drive that. So Harman's somebody you definitely want to work with, especially this commercial side with the way it is right now. It is so confusing. Um, at least I feel we know what we're doing, we know what we're talking about. I've seen all the pain you've gone through to figure this out and all the different seminars and webinars and things we've gotten from experts that couldn't figure it out at first. We were all freaking out, but I think we have a good hold on it now, finally. Yeah, so we know what we need to do. So anything else? Got nothing. Thanks for coming. Yeah, appreciate it. Yeah, I thought it was really good. Yeah, that'll be coming back all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

See you next week. We need we need to do an origin story.

SPEAKER_03:

We're gonna do that. That's we're gonna bring you and Julie on, we're gonna bring generations on. We want to do that definitely before the year's over so we can put it out there. Cool. Fifty years is a big deal. Yeah, hey, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00:

You've been listening to the Harman Solar Podcast with Ben and Ralph, bringing clarity to the intersection of solar power and smart home ownership. If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and also share the show with others navigating the solar journey. For questions and topic suggestions, call 800 281 3189 or visit harmonsolar.com. You can also connect with the team on social media. See you next episode.

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Ralph Romano

Host
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Ben Wollschlager

Co-host