Today we’d like to introduce you to Beau Dingler.
Beau, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
A couple of my friends and I started an energy efficient window film distribution company right out of college with the hopes of making enough money to get us started in the renewable energy industry. When Louisiana’s solar industry started to take off in 2009-2010 due to a generous state tax credit, we saw an opportunity to provide distribution to the growing number of installers.
We started in 2010 and had a couple of really great years in Louisiana before the tax credit was abruptly eliminated. Sales in Louisiana dropped 80-90% in 2015, and several installers went out of business. It took us a couple of years to regroup, but we branched out of Louisiana into Texas, and now have 3 branches in Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely been tough keeping up with a new and growing industry. Throw in the politics of the renewable tax credits and it’s a virtual minefield for business owners. Every state is different when it comes to tax credits and also net metering (selling back the energy that your solar array creates at the same rate that you buy your energy).
In Texas, there are city-wide credits like in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas opening the door to even more potential homeowners to provide their own power, but they can also be damaging to businesses if they are abruptly eliminated with no step-down.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Ecopro Solar Supply – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are a small solar equipment distribution company with locations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Houston, San Antonio and most recently Dallas.
We pride ourselves on our customer service, going above and beyond other distributors. We deliver the right material every time and often the same day. We’ve got a great team of solar enthusiast who are always excited and willing to learn about new products.
We started the company in Louisiana when there was a 50 percent state tax credit. The tax credit ended abruptly and well before it was scheduled to expire forcing local Louisiana installers to either re-locate, re-structure or close, which is unfortunately what most installers ended up doing. The fact that Ecopro was able to survive at all is probably what I’m most proud of. We basically had to start over in Texas and are currently in the process of opening our third Texas location in Dallas.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
Hindsight is always 20/20, and part of being in business is learning from mistakes, but if there was one thing I would do differently, I would have been more conservative when it comes to customer credit limits and credit terms.
We lost a small fortune by extending too much credit to the wrong businesses that didn’t pay their bills.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5750 N Sam Houston Pkwy E
Suite 212 Houston, Texas 77032 - Website: www.ecoprosolar.com
- Phone: 877-841-2345
- Email: sales@ecoprosolar.com
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/EcoproSolarSupply/
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