Cutting Out The Fat Middleman (Qmerit) From Easy Powershare Installs

[electric-mike]

I just got my bid for Qmerit to install a Powershare Home Backup Bundle (Universal Wall Connector and Powershare unit) to take advantage of the Cybertruck's Powershare capability.

I already have a Wall Connector that was installed in 2017 for my Model 3 Performance, and it was installed without much difficulty or expense just feet from my electrical panel.

As many others have observed, the bid provided by Qmerit was obviously inflated and much, much more expensive than the going rate for electrical work like this. They bid the total job at over $4,000, and nearly $700 of that was to simply replace the current Wall Connector with the Universal Wall Connector-- even though the wiring and even the mounts are already in place.

I have two questions:

1. A guy I know at one of the service centers who's always been candid in the past told me Tesla might soon be allowing electricians outside of Qmerit's syndicate to do installs. Has anyone been able to successfully install-- and activate for use-- a Powershare unit installed by an electrician not part of Qmerit's syndicate?
2. I can tell that Qmerit is inflating the costs of electrical work, but I can't tell by how much (e.g. a percentage). Does anyone have any inside information on what the added padding is being applied by Qmerit? Or, alternatively, has anyone been able to have a bid done by Qmerit and by an electrician outside of Qmerit to be able to do an apples-to-apples comparison? It looks to me like they are adding at least 20-25% to the cost of of the actual hourly electrical work, but maybe someone here with knowledge can chime in and explain that the Powershare unit itself is really complicated and takes several hours to install.

Thanks in advance.

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[Car Charger Specialists]

Mike, we’ve installed around 50 PowerShare units, with the average cost at $3250. We choose to handle the process independently in order to provide an personable and seamless installation experience. Located in Atlanta, GA.

Also, the existing Wall Connector will need to be swapped for a Universal, as there is a 12VDC power/comm circuit that will need to be installed from the UTWC to the Gateway.

Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks,

Lee

 

[mongo]

They bid the total job at over $4,000, and nearly $700 of that was to simply replace the current Wall Connector with the Universal Wall Connector-- even though the wiring and even the mounts are already in place.

UWC has a different mount than Gen 2.
Powershare also need a four wire communication power cable.

 

[Jager]

The Qmerit fiasco is a combination of automatic markup by Qmerit (for their role in "overseeing" everything) and various degrees of incompetence/not understanding by the various subcontractors Qmerit licenses to do the actual work. Those subs also markup the work.

My back-of-the-napkin guesstimate is that Powershare installations through the current process are generally 2-3 times what a qualified local electrician would do the work for.

The whole thing is an embarrassment for Tesla.

 

[Pops]

I wish I had seen this picture before my install. Mine was installed outside and I ended up rebuilding my entire WiFi LAN just so it could get WiFi. That last brick wall was had to get past. I wonder why they put mine outside. ?‍

 

[Balthezor]

Mike, we’ve installed around 50 PowerShare units, with the average cost at $3250. We choose to handle the process independently in order to provide an personable and seamless installation experience. Located in Atlanta, GA.

Also, the existing Wall Connector will need to be swapped for a Universal, as there is a 12VDC power/comm circuit that will need to be installed from the UTWC to the Gateway.

Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks,

Lee

Lee, I have a wired wall connector already in a conduit. Unfortunately no communication wire. What is the communication wire I need and where can I buy it. I'm debating hiring a local electrician to fish that communication wire thru the existing conduit before the QMERIT installer overcharges me on it.

Thanks.

 

[mcorf]

I have no proof so don't quote me, but I was told by one of the electricians that came over to give me a quote that Tesla gets a $700 kickback from every install QMerit schedules..

 

[electric-mike]

Mike, we’ve installed around 50 PowerShare units, with the average cost at $3250. We choose to handle the process independently in order to provide an personable and seamless installation experience. Located in Atlanta, GA.

Also, the existing Wall Connector will need to be swapped for a Universal, as there is a 12VDC power/comm circuit that will need to be installed from the UTWC to the Gateway.

Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks,

Lee

Hey Lee, thanks for the response.

Do you do any work through Qmerit or did you ever? I'd be interested to know what they are padding jobs with in terms of cost?

Is your work authorized through Tesla, or did you find a loophole by which Tesla will allow delivery and activation of the Powershare unit?

Based on your average of $3,250, the quote I received of $4,273.75 doesn't seem like highway robbery (although I still think it's 20-25% above market rates).

I'm in the Portland metro area so won't be able to use you guys, but thanks again for the reply.

 

[eswimm]

Mike, we’ve installed around 50 PowerShare units, with the average cost at $3250. We choose to handle the process independently in order to provide an personable and seamless installation experience. Located in Atlanta, GA.

Also, the existing Wall Connector will need to be swapped for a Universal, as there is a 12VDC power/comm circuit that will need to be installed from the UTWC to the Gateway.

Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks,

Lee

My electrician and I are going to need to have a talk, I didn't realize that could be mounted between the studs. That's a really clean install.

I'm currently waiting for my 3rd gateway to be delivered, the previous 2 were smashed in transit.

 

[Car Charger Specialists]

Lee, I have a wired wall connector already in a conduit. Unfortunately no communication wire. What is the communication wire I need and where can I buy it. I'm debating hiring a local electrician to fish that communication wire thru the existing conduit before the QMERIT installer overcharges me on it.

Thanks.

It needs to be a 300V rated 4 conductor wire. We use 16/4 FPLP Solid Fire Alarm Cable. The solid wiring makes termination in the Wall Connector much easier than if you were to use stranded wire(Which is much more common/available).

If you have 3/4" conduit running to your WC it shouldn't be difficult to pull.

 

[Car Charger Specialists]

Hey Lee, thanks for the response.

Do you do any work through Qmerit or did you ever? I'd be interested to know what they are padding jobs with in terms of cost?

Is your work authorized through Tesla, or did you find a loophole by which Tesla will allow delivery and activation of the Powershare unit?

Based on your average of $3,250, the quote I received of $4,273.75 doesn't seem like highway robbery (although I still think it's 20-25% above market rates).

I'm in the Portland metro area so won't be able to use you guys, but thanks again for the reply.

Mike, there is a bit of backstory to the PowerShare journey to first consider.

We are a Tesla Energy Partner installer, which means we are vetted/trained through Tesla to install their Energy Product Suite. (Wall Connector, Powerwall, Backup Gateway, etc.) We had been working with Tesla on preparation of the Home Backup/CT rollout since October of last year, which was to be managed internally through Tesla. In Jan/Feb of this year Tesla began sending the Partner installers (who were Home Backup certified) lists of CT customers that were awaiting delivery of their truck. We would then contact the customers, explain the system/process, and schedule/perform the installation. Everything was going great in this process until May when Tesla fired the entire charging team...

Tesla had to find a way to source this work quickly, and Qmerit stepped in as an existing platform with a robust network of installers. By partnering with Qmerit, Tesla could absolve their duties/overhead of implementing the Home Backup rollout. Please keep in mind that that labor burden that Tesla was bearing shifted to Qmerit, and comes at a cost to the consumer.

We are a Qmerit "Installer" which is different than a Qmerit "Partner". To clarify, the "Partner" installers receive 80-95% of the job referrals while the "Installers" get the leftovers. (If that is even accurate! We've only been sent 3 charger ONLY referrals in the last 12 months LOL) We inquired about becoming a "Partner" Installer and let's just say that we couldn't come to agreement on the terms of their contract... Qmerit is excellent at leveraging their market share to get paid by ALL parties involved in their installation pipeline. I wish I could say more, but this is a public forum and Qmerit's legal department would likely come after us.

Losing access to the PowerShare pipeline was a heavy blow to our company, as we now have to advertise our service to get ahead of the Qmerit referral process. But, at the end of the day business is business and we'll be okay!

As for the Qmerit markup... Keep in mind that there are fee's involved on top of what the installer's price would be normally. AND the installation partners know that they have a captive audience that likely won't or don't know they can shop around for a lower cost installer.

I hope all of this helps!

-Lee

 

[Balthezor]

It needs to be a 300V rated 4 conductor wire. We use 16/4 FPLP Solid Fire Alarm Cable. The solid wiring makes termination in the Wall Connector much easier than if you were to use stranded wire(Which is much more common/available).

If you have 3/4" conduit running to your WC it shouldn't be difficult to pull.

Thank you!

Know anyone that sells 200 ft of this? I only see 1000ft rolls.

 

[electric-mike]

Mike, there is a bit of backstory to the PowerShare journey to first consider.

We are a Tesla Energy Partner installer, which means we are vetted/trained through Tesla to install their Energy Product Suite. (Wall Connector, Powerwall, Backup Gateway, etc.) We had been working with Tesla on preparation of the Home Backup/CT rollout since October of last year, which was to be managed internally through Tesla. In Jan/Feb of this year Tesla began sending the Partner installers (who were Home Backup certified) lists of CT customers that were awaiting delivery of their truck. We would then contact the customers, explain the system/process, and schedule/perform the installation. Everything was going great in this process until May when Tesla fired the entire charging team...

Tesla had to find a way to source this work quickly, and Qmerit stepped in as an existing platform with a robust network of installers. By partnering with Qmerit, Tesla could absolve their duties/overhead of implementing the Home Backup rollout. Please keep in mind that that labor burden that Tesla was bearing shifted to Qmerit, and comes at a cost to the consumer.

We are a Qmerit "Installer" which is different than a Qmerit "Partner". To clarify, the "Partner" installers receive 80-95% of the job referrals while the "Installers" get the leftovers. (If that is even accurate! We've only been sent 3 charger ONLY referrals in the last 12 months LOL) We inquired about becoming a "Partner" Installer and let's just say that we couldn't come to agreement on the terms of their contract... Qmerit is excellent at leveraging their market share to get paid by ALL parties involved in their installation pipeline. I wish I could say more, but this is a public forum and Qmerit's legal department would likely come after us.

Losing access to the PowerShare pipeline was a heavy blow to our company, as we now have to advertise our service to get ahead of the Qmerit referral process. But, at the end of the day business is business and we'll be okay!

As for the Qmerit markup... Keep in mind that there are fee's involved on top of what the installer's price would be normally. AND the installation partners know that they have a captive audience that likely won't or don't know they can shop around for a lower cost installer.

I hope all of this helps!

-Lee

Very interesting! Thank you.

 

[Bipster]

Don’t disagree with any of the comments about mark-up or captive suppliers, but wanted to share my experience. Went through the whole Qmerit, local certified supplier thing. Looks to me that Qmerit is the gateway to the local installer and after you give them all your info, they pick a local certified installer to contact you. Then, Qmerit has to review and approve their quote prior to it being sent to you. So, it’s control and oversight. Maybe needed in this situation, maybe not?? So, I knew that the a good chunk of the $$ was going to be for pulling all the circuits you want the PowerShere to control to a separate breaker box.. I call it an installation for dummies (excuse me for that comment). So, I told local installer that I didn’t want a separate panel and I would manage what got used and what didn’t through my main panel in the event of a power failure. The quote came back at $6,400, which I had heard most of the quotes were coming back at. So, I went over it with a fine tooth comb and it looked like they were putting in an intermediate panel. Called them and challenged them and they agreed, modified the quote, sent back to Qmerit, and it came back at $4,265, which means that with my $4000 credit, I’m only out $265; Sharing this story just for others to be aware 1) the option of not having a separate panel (buit you will have to kill or not use things like large A/C’s, etc.) and they might quote the intermediate panel as a default., so beware.

 

[ChargeNdave]

Smart Charge America (not affiliated w/ qmerit) is a long time Tesla Certified installer that has installed PowerShare at more than 100+ homes all over the country. Tesla used Smart Charge America for the early pilot testing of PowerShare. You can use Smart Charge America for your install as there is no one forcing anyone to use qmerit.
https://smartchargeamerica.com/install/tesla-powershare/

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