CONCORD — When choosing a solar contractor, homeowners often focus on price, but given the unique nature of solar, there are far more important things to take into account. The first and foremost factor you should consider when hiring a solar contractor is stability. How long have they been in business? Do they know how to manage a company? Will they still be in business in 10 years? These are important questions because when you purchase a solar energy system, in a way, you’re also purchasing the installer.
Solar isn’t like construction. For example, if you’re having your kitchen remodeled, when the work is done, it’s done—you typically won’t need the contractor to return after the fact. In contrast, with solar, ongoing service is necessary for the life of the system. What’s more, you can’t just hire anyone to service your system—you’ll typically need the contractor who installed it. This is partly due to reasons of liability. Solar contractors generally won’t service or add onto another contractor’s work because if it fails, the liability will fall on them. For this reason, you want to be sure the solar contractor you hire is going to be there 10 or 20 years down the road to take care of your service needs.
Unfortunately, many solar companies end up being a flash in the pan, disappearing as quickly as they popped up. A lot of installers who start their own companies are proficient in installation, but they don’t really understand the business side of it. Additionally, as a contractor’s portfolio grows, so does the amount of service calls they receive. If contractors don’t know how to manage and grow their companies to keep up with these demands, they can find themselves out of business very quickly.
If this happens to the company you hire, you could be left in a tough spot. That’s why it’s crucial to look beyond price and assess the stability of the contractor’s business model and operations. That way, you’ll have greater assurance that they’ll be there for the duration of your system’s lifespan.

A Crucial Factor for Choosing a Solar Contractor

Discover essential tips for selecting the ideal solar contractor. Learn how to make an informed decision for your solar installation project.

A Crucial Factor for Choosing a Solar Contractor by Tim Netherton

By Tim Netherton of {BR} High Definition Solar

Solar Power and Rate Increase Resistance

The Benefits of Buying Local Produce

Video: Becoming Rate Increase-Resistant with Solar

everyone knows about the benefits of
switching to solar energy but there's
one advantage that you may not be aware
of today we're in Concord with diamond
certified expert contributor Chris the
pony of high-definition solar to learn
more one of the great things about going
solar is you're making yourself rate
increase resistant and you're hedging
against inflation utility companies are
going to continue to raise rates in the
future since the 70s rates have gone up
by an average of seven percent a lot of
energy forecasters and experts are
predicting whatever we're paying now the
rates are going to double the triple and
if you find yourself to be a high a high
pga or high utility user those effects
are going to compound even more one of
the great things about solar is you're
attacking the areas that are doing the
damage on your bill if I were to ask you
let's say in the 70s if you were able to
lock yourself in the gallon of gas at
fifty cents a gallon would have been a
wise decision if you've had a lifetime
contract the answer of course is yes
that would have saved you thousands and
thousands of dollars in terms of money
that would have been spent at the pump
otherwise you're doing the same exact
thing by going Solars you're saving
money on your utility bill Solar is
designed to produce a certain depending
on the size of the solar system it is
going to produce a certain amount of
energy and the best tip I could give is
make sure when you do go solar don't use
more energy than when you're using right
now a lot of mistakes are made where
just because we've gone solar now we can
start turning on all our electrical
devices to TV and now we're paying even
more money you don't want to go down
that road
be energy conscientious this will have
more of impact on your PG&E bill when
you do go silver to learn more from
local top-rated companies visit our
diamond certified expert reports at
experts Diamond Certified org

Video: Benefits of Eating Local Produce

Video: Hiring a Quality Solar Contractor

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[Applause]

the question you need to ask yourself is
can they run a business a lot of people
focus on just the installation but it is
so much more than that it's sourcing
permit it's applying for permits
applying with the utility company
hosting inspection with the building
department and so many other things that
go together a company like high
definition solar has control over all of
these aspects we are holistically
involved and deeply ingrained into every
single process so if you ever have a
question on your project calling in
you're talking to the person directly
handling that particular topic whether
it's permit utility application
installation or inspection or any other
question you may have
foreign

Video: Key Considerations for Going Solar

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there are two aspects of strongly
consider the first being the planning of
the project nothing can go well unless
the planning is done properly so we know
where every screw nut and bolt is going
the second is warranty for your system
these have very long lasting warranties
10 years or longer and you want to
ensure a company is going to be there to
service any issues you may have down the
line
some of the most important steps in
planning are ensuring we have a proper
diagram of the home there are companies
that use online or digital satellite
imaging we send technicians out to the
home to physically get on the home with
a tape measure to ensure everything is
correct down to the inch
in regard to the warranty it's important
to have a company there to service any
needs you may have for the full warranty
of that system these warranties can be
10 years or longer and you want to
ensure a company is going to be there to
take care of any issues that may
encounter from the first day all the way
to the 25th year
thank you

Tim Netherton: Good Energy

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