36 FEBRUARY 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
HVAC/ HYDRONICS
For dealers, a gross margin on sales of
the units should be somewhere around
25% to 30%, the partners said, again
stressing that variables, including what a
local market will bear, can influence that
margin.
As to whether prospective customers
will be largely residential or commercial,
Steiner said that would likely depend on
a fuel oil dealers' existing customer base.
Affordable Fuels' customer base is 85%
residential and 15% commercial, Steiner
noted, "but there are other dealers that
have more commercial customers. The
return on investment is actually more
aggressive for commercial than residen-
tial," he added.
Leveraging "good, warm relation-
ships with your customers," is key,
Steiner said. "If you have a customer
base of five thousand, you can pick your
top 5% and have a meaningful conver-
sation" with them, he suggested.
As a fuel oil dealer selling the solar
systems, Steiner said, his goal is to inte-
grate with customers' existing equip-
ment. "There's a tremendous benefit to
the return on investment if I can utilize
some of their current equipment."
He said of Rayviance, "we stand
alone without government tax credits."
He rated that a plus, observing that
subsidies can go away "if an administra-
tion changes, or a focus changes in an
administration." He added, "If there are
tax credits or other subsidies available
we'd certainly help our customers get
those credits. But it's great to be able to
walk in and say this system pays for itself
without help from the government."
Steiner estimated that the return on
investment for a homeowner "is look-
ing to be five to seven years and com-
mercially we're looking at three to five
years."
The units, constructed with type 304
stainless steel, Pyrex and copper, are
designed for a 25-year service life and
"not a lot" of maintenance, Steiner said.
For more information, visit the Ray-
viance website at rayviance.com.
A 28-foot trailer serves as a mobile showroom for
demonstrating the solar technology.
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