Frustration in finding contractor to install hybrid heat pump water heater

My 20 year-old gas water heater was failing. Had to re-light pilot several times a day even after replacing thermocouple.

Decided to ditch the methane appliance and switch to a high-efficiency electric unit that would take advantage of our rooftop solar panels. The new configuration required installation in a different basement location...literally 24 inches from existing exposed cpvc hot and cold water pipes. A 30 amp 240 volt service is 16 inches above the new location.

I was astonished to find that no contractor would take on the project! I tried six different plumbing and big box businesses (over a period of three weeks)...all of them turned down the business. Some had restricted plumbing licenses that did not allow them to re-configure existing pipe locations. Others said they would not install a heat pump water heater because "they didn't think they were reliable". I have found no references to poor reliability ANYWHERE on the web. None of them seemed to know or care about what I was talking about.

Finally, I reluctantly went to the big orange box, where the product I wanted was half the price I had seen elsewhere from the folks who wouldn't install it. It was drop shipped to my basement garage two days later. It took me about four hours to decommission the old water heater and install the new one. I am an older man that really did not want to take on this as a DIY project, but it became the only available option. I am thankful that my high school years at a local technical school provided the basic electrical and plumbing skills to complete the job.

I fear that many of the infrastructure upgrades needed to realize a carbon-free future are being sabotaged by an entrenched workforce that is suspicious of green technology. I also fear it is fallout from the pernicious "culture war" mentality.