Pricing a Solution

Each solution has a customer Price. The solution template selected when you create the solution determines the pricing method used (Gross Price Input or Cost Items). The pricing method for a solution cannot be changed once the solution is created.

To set a solution's price, regardless of method, select the Price chevron for the solution, and click the Edit button.

Gross Price Input Method

Using the Gross Solution Price method, SolarNexus allows you to either enter a total dollar price for each service included in your solution (or a price per Watt for PV system service).  These prices are all-inclusive (includes all materials, labor, indirect costs, and sales tax).  Just input your total dollar price or a price per Watt. The price may be adjusted using Discounts or Other markups. 

After saving, you can proceed to the the Analysis screen.  The remainder of the workflow is identical for the two cost input methods.

For more information about the Gross Price Input structure, see Solution Pricing - Gross Price Input Method

Using Cost Items / Creating a Detailed Cost Estimate

Although users may create pricing using a manually built-up set of cost items from scratch for each project, its far too time consuming to do this regularly. Using the Cost Items method of pricing solutions should be done by selecting a solution template that already has the appropriate cost items listed and set with default values.

Click on the Edit price button, you will see the Edit Solution Price form. At the top of the form, you can input:

• Sales Tax: SolarNexus only calculates sales tax when using the cost items pricing approach. The sales tax rate is only applied to cost items configured as being taxable.
• Shipping Costs: shipping of materials (if applicable)
• a permit fee amount (note, default permit amount will be pre-populated if defined in Admin > Authorities Having Jurisdiction)
• Discounts: SolarNexus will show you the maximum acceptable discount for your solution, based on the indirect cost configuration defined by your administrator. If commissions are included, discounts will proportionally decrease sales commission.
• Added Profit Margin: There are no limits to increasing a solution price. All increases are considered profit. If commissions are included, then any increases in profits will proportionally increasing commission.
• For further details about any of these components, see Solution Pricing - Cost Item Method.

Below the top section is the Cost Items where you should do a quick review of the selected conditions on variable cost items, and modify quantities as appropriate for the specific customer project you are quoting. On clicking Save, the solution's price will be updated based on the cost item definitions in the Company Catalog.

If you need to make changes to the cost items, expand the Cost Items section of the Price view screen. If you need to add a new cost item to the estimate, simply click the "Add Item" control at the top of the groups, or click the plus icon on a particular group.  You can add ad-hoc line items as needed.

TIP: If your estimate is developed over time, use the "Re-Calculate Costs" link to check for updates to pricing defined in your Company's Catalog. This will ensure that your estimate uses your company's most recent customer pricing.

Shared Cost Items

On the Price screen for a solution with multiple services and shared cost items, the shared cost items are shown in there own cost item group (a single instance) for editing, so that their quantity and any variations are common to each instance. See below for a partial example, showing one service with shared items followed by the shared cost item's group.

Related Articles:

Analyzing a Solution: SolarNexus provides an easy to use, yet very powerful set of features for analyzing the financial results of a defined solution for your customer. To access the screen for analyzing the energy and financial benefits of the proposed solution, click on the Analysis tab.

Sold Solution Revisions and Change Orders: SolarNexus provides features for managing changes to solution pricing after the sale using Change Orders.