{"id":6358,"date":"2015-07-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.portal.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T22:50:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T22:50:47","slug":"the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

The quality of work put forth by your solar installer is the most important aspect of your solar installation. An inverter malfunction or dirty panels will be the least of your worries if your roof starts leaking or if you have poorly installed wiring. Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Quality of Work<\/strong> \u2013 Having the same solar system equipment does not mean that one installer\u2019s installation is equal to another. The manner in which the system is installed is extremely important on many levels. In fact, there have been cases found where one installation crew installed an identical system to another crew, within the same company, but produced 15% fewer kilowatt-hours. Large national installers are the biggest culprits of this offense due to the lack of quality assurance. Proper oversight, unfortunately, gets lost when customers turn into numbers and installers begin subcontracting. There are set certifications in place such as NABCEP to \u201craise [solar] industry standards and promote consumer confidence\u201d, however, most companies do not have this certification. In many cases, the owner or a high-level manager will receive an individual cert., but this education rarely trickles down to the guys in the boots. Poor quality of work ranges from the wrong type of footings, perforated wires, flashings that don\u2019t sit flush, roof holes, broken tiles, wire mismatch, to blatant circumstances of QA officers signing off on poorly installed systems to save costs on correcting mistakes. You can see a complete firsthand horror story here<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Workmanship Warranty<\/strong> \u2013 What your installer offers under their workmanship warranty policy should be an essential aspect in choosing your installer. Does it cover all equipment, labor, and roof leakage, or does it just cover flagrant malpractices? Is it for 10, 20, or 25 years? The industry standard in California is 10 years and the rest of the country is slowly following suit. However, some installers choose to extend it to make them stand apart. What you really need to look at though is the fine print. Some National Installers, including SolarCity, only warranty your roof for one year after installation if there\u2019s no preexisting roof warranty in place (otherwise they\u2019ll match the warranty). If you live in drought areas, by the time it actually rains your warranty may be expired.<\/li>\n
  3. Bankability<\/strong> \u2013 Basically this term refers to how likely a company will be around in the future. If your installer goes bankrupt, there goes your workmanship warranty and a point of contact to call if something goes wrong. Large established installers are considered more bankable than smaller ones. It is typically advised not to go with the guy-and-a-truck type installers for exactly this point \u2013 they are not likely to be around in 10 years. Regional installers mitigate the risk some, and you can layer your warranty protection by using equipment from quality manufacturers.<\/li>\n
  4. Dishonesty<\/strong> \u2013 As a homeowner who\u2019s looking into solar, will you have any clue if the installer tells you the system he\u2019s selling you will produce 7,000 kWhs for the year or 9,000 kWh? Probably not. Production estimates are an easy thing to exaggerate for an installer to make their system look better than another when there is actually nothing backing up the estimates. A lot of solar salesmen will do whatever it takes to get a sale. A roof in desperate need of repair, or placing panels in sub-optimal places will not stand in the way of making sure you sign on the dotted line.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All this leaves you with quite the mess. The big company might be bankable, but there\u2019s no way to tell if they\u2019ll do it right. If your salesman convinces you to go with a PPA or Lease model, you may get the guaranteed production but you\u2019ll end up paying close to double what you would have for purchase. The guy-and-a-truck type companies should not even be considered. Mid-size installers can be excellent \u2013 or terrible. So who\u2019s left? The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of very high-quality companies in the solar industry. Using a professional service that stakes its reputation on finding you the best installers might be something to consider.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The quality of work put forth by your solar installer is the most important aspect of your solar installation. An inverter malfunction or dirty panels will be the least…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important | Solar.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/roof_solar_installer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1274\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"849\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gordon Algermissen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHAlgermissen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gordon Algermissen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gordon Algermissen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/622904a8255ccda719fadc5dec519671\"},\"headline\":\"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\"},\"wordCount\":718,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Providers Near Me\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\",\"name\":\"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important | Solar.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Solar Panels for Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-panels-for-home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Solar Providers Near Me\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-providers-near-me\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"name\":\"Solar.com\",\"description\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"solar.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"solar.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/622904a8255ccda719fadc5dec519671\",\"name\":\"Gordon Algermissen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9c3e86caefc11f6a13accc9657e768d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9c3e86caefc11f6a13accc9657e768d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gordon Algermissen\"},\"description\":\"Gordon was a Business Development Manager at Pick My Solar. Gordon graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Environment, Economics, and Politics. In addition to solar, Gordon has interests in water conservation, land management, and environmental policy.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/gordonalgermissen\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHAlgermissen\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/gordon-algermissen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important | Solar.com","description":"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important","og_description":"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/","og_site_name":"Solar.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/","article_published_time":"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1274,"height":849,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/roof_solar_installer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gordon Algermissen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHAlgermissen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gordon Algermissen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/"},"author":{"name":"Gordon Algermissen","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/622904a8255ccda719fadc5dec519671"},"headline":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important","datePublished":"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/"},"wordCount":718,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Solar Providers Near Me"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/","name":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important | Solar.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-15T09:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-13T22:50:47+00:00","description":"Poor quality work can leave you with headaches for years to come. Here are the Top 4 reasons your installer selection is of vital importance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/the-top-4-reasons-selecting-the-right-solar-company-is-vital\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Solar Learning Center","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Solar Panels for Home","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-panels-for-home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Solar Providers Near Me","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-providers-near-me\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Why Choosing the Right Solar Installer is So Important"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","name":"Solar.com","description":"Solar Learning Center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization","name":"solar.com","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"solar.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/622904a8255ccda719fadc5dec519671","name":"Gordon Algermissen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9c3e86caefc11f6a13accc9657e768d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9c3e86caefc11f6a13accc9657e768d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gordon Algermissen"},"description":"Gordon was a Business Development Manager at Pick My Solar. Gordon graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Environment, Economics, and Politics. In addition to solar, Gordon has interests in water conservation, land management, and environmental policy.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/gordonalgermissen","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHAlgermissen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/gordon-algermissen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8939,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6358\/revisions\/8939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}