Of those surveyed, 90% had experienced a negative business impact due to Coronavirus with the remaining 10% citing a strong pipeline of existing jobs to sustain them during the crisis, or confidence that postponed jobs will be reactivated once it is over.
MCS certified installer Solarsense said that it had temporarily stepped away from residential and commercial installations for the safety of its employees and is now focusing on design and quotes.
Solarsense MD Stephen Barrett, said; “The impact of COVID-19 in the long term is likely to be minimal, although it depends how many companies can survive. Cash flow is a massive issue but long term I don’t know if it will have a huge effect.
“Obviously, customers will have less money and the businesses will have less money. It may well have the effect that more people think about having solar now, it’s made the world realise, well, that it is a finite world.”
MCS CEO Ian Rippin, added; “Coronavirus is impacting all of our lives and is a stressful and worrying time for many. Our helpdesk has proactively been contacting our installer community to see how they are coping, and so that we can take their concerns to the government to incite action.
“Looking ahead to the future, we need to maintain a level of optimism that we can get the renewable installation market back up and running. MCS will be prepared for the recovery approaches and will do all we can to help installers weather this and survive.”
MCS survey summary – top list of worries
- Financial impact/cash flow – 29%
- Market recovery – 13.4%
- Business survival – 10.3%
- Supply chain – 7.2%
- Employee welfare – 6.18%
- Confusion over Government advice – 5.15%
- The economy – 5.15%
- Health and safety – 5.15%