Nobody Wanted My Solar Job. So I Did It Myself.
Three companies. Two never replied. One told me the job was too small. All I wanted was someone to fix a couple of brackets to a fence and lift two panels into position. Not wire anything. Not touch the consumer unit. Just mount the panels.
My EcoFlow inverter had arrived, I had the panels, and I could not find anyone remotely interested in helping. So I put them on the lawn, pointed them roughly south, and within an hour the app was showing live generation. By the end of the first few days they had produced over 10 kWh. About £2.77 at current rates, from a system that cost a fraction of what a traditional solar installation would have set me back.
If you have been quoted thousands for rooftop solar and walked away, or if you are in the same position I was, this is worth reading.
What traditional solar actually costs in 2026
The average MCS-registered residential solar installation in the UK costs £8,677 in 2026, based on the latest MCS Dashboard data. A 3kW system starts around £5,500. The standard 4kW recommendation for a three-bedroom house typically lands between £6,500 and £8,500. Add a battery and you are looking at £10,000 to £14,000.
Of that total, about 45% is hardware, 30% is labour, and the rest is scaffolding, DNO paperwork, MCS certification, and admin. Labour alone runs to around £300 per installer per day, and most jobs use two people.
Payback on a traditional system is typically quoted at 6 to 10 years, though a more honest figure once you account for real usage patterns, what gets exported versus self-consumed, and whether electricity prices hold steady is closer to 10 to 15. That is not a reason not to do it. But it is a long time to wait.
What a plug-in system costs
A two-panel 800W plug-in setup, panels and microinverter, costs between £400 and £700 depending on where you buy and what you choose. I went with the EcoFlow STREAM. Panels from City Plumbing in the 450 to 500W range typically come in at £80 to £130 each.
The one bit that does need a qualified person is the electrical connection from the microinverter to the house. A CPS-registered electrician fitting a fused spur on a dedicated circuit adds £250 to £450. No scaffolding. No MCS certification. The G98 notification to your DNO is a free online form you fill in yourself.
Total installed cost for a properly done 800W system: around £700 to £1,100. Against the £7,500 average for a traditional install, that is roughly one tenth of the outlay.
The payback numbers
A well-positioned 800W system facing south in central England generates around 550 to 650 kWh a year. At the current Ofgem rate of 27.69p per kWh, that is worth £152 to £180 in reduced bills annually, assuming you are using most of what you generate rather than exporting it unused.
On a £900 installed system saving £165 a year, payback is about five and a half years. On a traditional £7,500 system saving £600 a year, it is around twelve and a half. The plug-in system gets there more than twice as fast.
If electricity prices keep rising, both figures improve. But they improve more for the cheaper system, where the upfront investment is already small. After payback, the remaining panel life, typically 25 years on a decent product, is free electricity. Five years back means twenty years free. Twelve years back means thirteen.
Why installers are not interested in small jobs
The solar installation industry is set up for large jobs. A two-panel fence mount has the same admin, the same scheduling headache, and the same travel cost as a full rooftop system, but a fraction of the revenue. Most MCS-certified companies will not touch it.
This is not a new problem. It is part of why the German plug-in solar market grew so fast. Homeowners got fed up waiting for callbacks and started doing it themselves. Germany now has over a million of these systems running. The UK is a few years behind on the same trajectory.
For the physical side, mounting brackets, fixing to a fence post, connecting MC4 cables to the microinverter, basic DIY is all you need. It is not skilled work. The electrical connection to the house is the only part that requires a qualified person, and that is the only part I would not do myself.
The trick to finding someone willing is to stop searching for solar installers and start searching for local electricians. Independent sparks who do not need to sell you panels and scaffolding to make the job worth their while. Post on local Facebook groups, search Checkatrade for electricians specifically, and be clear in the first message that the job is a single fused spur on a dedicated circuit. Most will say yes. The big solar companies will not.
What I learned from having the panels on the lawn
Running the panels on the lawn before permanent mounting was more useful than I expected. I could see how output varied at different times of day, check for shading issues before committing to a mounting spot, and make sure the app was reading correctly before anything was fixed in place.
Even a rough 30-degree tilt, propped with a garden chair, made a noticeable difference compared to panels lying flat. The inverter stayed cool in the shade of the fence. The app connected within minutes. Nothing about the setup was complicated or required anything beyond reading the quick-start guide.
The panels will be on the fence permanently as soon as I find the right person to fit the brackets. Until then they are generating electricity on the lawn, and the payback timer has already started.
Is this worth doing?
If you have a south-facing fence, wall, flat garage roof, or outbuilding, and can spend under £1,000 all in, the numbers are hard to argue with. You do not need a company that is interested in your job. You need a drill, a decent kit, and one local electrician who will do a single fused spur.
If you rent, things are also moving. BS 7671 Amendment 4, which came into force in April 2026, created the legal framework for plug-in solar in UK domestic properties. Once the BSI product standard publishes in July, self-connection via a standard 13A socket may not require an electrician at all for certified kits.
The technology works. The regulations have caught up. The only thing still dragging its feet is the installation industry. And that is increasingly a problem you can work around.
If you have been through this yourself, or found a good way to get a small solar job done, I would genuinely like to hear about it in the comments. The more of us sharing what works, the easier this gets for everyone.
Further reading
If you want to work out the numbers for your specific setup, the savings calculator will give you a realistic annual figure based on your location and orientation. The getting started guide covers everything from choosing panels to positioning. For the regulatory side, the rules and regulations page covers G98, BS 7671, and what the BSI standard means in practice.
I am running the EcoFlow STREAM on my own setup. The EcoFlow STREAM FAQ covers the system in detail including MPPT limits, inverter placement, and battery options. And if a fence is not your best mounting option, the shed and garage guide is worth a read.