Ugly Solar

The Curious Case of the Chocolate Cake Close

Scott Gordon

Vice President, Sales Residential, HelioPower

In the Ugly Side of Solar series I’ve covered shoddy solar power installations, ugly installations, and shaded installations.  Part four covers something more insidious and is perhaps the ugliest side of all. Part four is about the growing trend of less than professional sales tactics in the solar power industry.

“Sales Tactics” details a disturbing recent trend, the employ of unprofessional, and what I would deem, unscrupulous, sales and business practices. You know the kind I mean. You’ve seen the results of this approach to business on the 10 o’clock news.  The headlines paint the stories:  the contractor who takes a huge deposit and doesn’t complete the work; and/or does a horrible job after a protracted and nightmarish experience, and/or charges the customer twice as much as a reputable contractor to perform the same job in the name of ‘superior service’ or some other excuse while performing a less than stellar installation.

Ugly Solar part four is an exposé of some of the oldest and most popular tricks in home selling tactics now being applied to solar. Before you say, “I’m too smart to fall for any of those tricks,” please read on.  Sadly I see and hear of people falling for these tricks every day as some new entrants into the industry bring them to the solar business. These tactics are used to endear and close deals at prices significantly higher than those offered in the competitive marketplace and to intimidate those who try to cancel later.

I will illustrate how these tricks work through a parable I call ‘The Curious Case of the Chocolate Cake Close.’

Once there was a pleasant retired couple who wished to go solar. It’s possible that they became interested in solar after receiving a direct mailer or perhaps speaking with a door-to-door canvasser. However it happened, they invited a solar contractor into their home. The salesman was pleasant. He took photos with their dog (Trick #1: Make friends with the family dog. If the dog trusts you, the deal’s as good as inked). The salesman pitched his pitch. He told the couple he had already contacted the utility and received their utility information and therefore the system he was proposing would suit their needs perfectly (Trick #2: Without a signed third party authorization form, no one except the customer can access his utility information, but most folks are unaware of this and will think you have an ‘in’ at the utility). The salesman completed his exciting solar pitch and then pressed for the sale. Unfortunately for the salesman, the couple wanted some more time to think about it, so he created more time. He stuck around for the next five hours endearing himself to them (Trick #3: If you refuse to leave on your own, customers will often acquiesce and sign a contract just to get you out of their house. Stay ten hours if you have to).

Throughout the five hour courtship, the salesman made multiple phone calls to his manager. “Good news!” the salesman exclaimed, “If you let us put a sign in your yard my manager will knock $1,500 off your solar power system!” “Even more good news, if you sign today we can give you an additional discount!”(Trick #4: The more phony calls you make to your manager the better. It gives you the appearance of advocating on behalf of the customer. Trick #5: hyper-inflated pricing makes discounting easy!).  Feeling the deal (and his commission) slipping away, the salesman tried a Hail Mary. “What’s your favorite dessert?” he asked. “We love chocolate cake,” the couple replied. “Great! I’ll be right back,” the salesman announced, and much to the couple’s surprise, the salesman went to the store and bought a chocolate cake. “What a nice man,” the couple thought, “he sure is a thoughtful fellow.”

The salesman returned a short while later with a chocolate cake (Trick #6: never underestimate the endearment forged by breaking bread with someone). After enjoying some of the cake with the old couple, the salesman inked the deal and went on his way with a $1,000 deposit and a $2,500 postdated progress payment (Trick #7: the more skin someone has in the game, the less likely they are to cancel after they’ve come to their senses. Of course, as you may know, in California collection of this second payment at the time of contract signing is illegal. Don’t let that stop you though, just have your customer postdate the check to cover your tracks).

That would’ve been the end of the story in most cases (slick salesman gouges unwitting retirees), but this couple began to have buyer’s remorse after the transaction begin to sink in. Because they never received a second bid, they wondered if they had gotten a good deal on their solar electric system. After several weeks of wondering, pondering, and evaluating their decision to go solar with the chocolate cake salesman, they decided to get a second opinion. What they discovered shocked them.

The second salesman arrived with little fanfare and no chocolate cake. He performed his site evaluation and presented his solar power system proposal to the couple. The system was larger (by almost 1,000 watts); included an electrical service upgrade; and was $29,000 cheaper. Let me say that again, the system was $29,000 cheaper. For many people, that’s a year’s salary.

They’d been had! How could that sweet salesman with his delicious chocolate cake do this to them? They trusted him. Their dog trusted him. At this point, the old woman began to cry. She and her husband were so upset that they immediately canceled their contract with the first salesman and signed up for the far cheaper system with the second salesman.

Almost immediately, the first salesman began calling them at home in earnest saying, “I’ll see you in court! You’re on the hook for a 20% restocking fee! Do you really want to lose $8,000? You’re in for a nasty lawsuit now!” (Trick #8: there’s nothing like the threat of a lawsuit to get folks to see things your way). After rebuffing the chocolate cake salesman by phone multiple times, the couple thought they were free and clear, but they were wrong! Mr. Chocolate Cake himself came a knock, knock, knockin’ at their front door not 30 minutes later (Trick #9: if the threat of a lawsuit doesn’t work by phone, try it in person). The couple, visibly shaken and physically shaking, asked the second salesman, who was still at the house, to confront chocolate cake guy who suddenly wasn’t so sweet anymore. After an unpleasant and highly charged exchange, chocolate cake guy was sent packin’. Salesman number two, believing he had done a good thing by saving these retirees $29,000 on a 25% bigger solar panel system went on his way with contract in hand. Plus, he had the added privilege of singlehandedly dispatching the evil sales guy face-to-face, toe-to-toe.

Unfortunately though, no good deed goes unpunished as they say. Within 36 hours, the old couple canceled their contract with the second salesman. Why? The threats of lawsuits had intensified over the ensuing (pun intended) hours. Additionally, the first company offered to match the second company’s price. That’s right. Miraculously, Company A found $29,000 of ‘extra money’ in the job after the couple received a second bid and attempted to cancel (Trick #10: If all else fails, match the competitor’s price and offer to drop the lawsuit if the customer agrees to cease all communication with Company B).

Company B, now well aware of the underhanded sales techniques being plied on the couple, calls the couple one last time to try to talk sense to them. “After what you’ve been through: price gouging; slimy sales tactics; and threat of lawsuit would you recommend Company A to your friends, neighbors, or family?”

“No we wouldn’t,” the couple answers.

“If you wouldn’t recommend them,” salesman B continues, “why would you still proceed with them while you still have a chance to get out in one piece?”

“We wouldn’t,” the couple replies, “But we’ve never been to court before, and we’re afraid of being sued.”

“Their legal case seems frivolous to me,” says salesman B, “Don’t let them strong arm you into doing something you don’t want to do. Is this someone you really want to do business with?”

With one last futile effort, the couple cancels with Company A, but this time the cancelation lasts only 18 hours, as chocolate cake guy arrived in person the very next morning to defend the deal with his volatile combo of price reductions and lawsuits (Trick #11: Intimidation is a wonderful customer motivator).

I wish I could say that this parable was only that, but it’s a true story based on actual events. In fact, further research on Company A uncovered a consistent pattern of price gouging and abuse. Prices averaging $13/DC watt are the norm for these slick operators. Since the average price of solar in California has fallen below $7/DC watt, Company A’s systems are overpriced by an average of 55%. In the retirees’ example, the difference was $29,000. That’s some expensive chocolate cake!

So how do you protect yourself from being suckered, then threatened and abused when you call the conman on his con? Follow basic common sense principles:

1. Always get a second bid. Always, always, always!
2. If you live in California check the solar company out the same way I did, in CSI’s public database: http://www.californiasolarstatistics.ca.gov/application/search/
   You can see how many installations a company’s done, in which cities, what types of equipment they sell, and even the prices they’re charging, plus a whole lot more!
3. If you’re paying more than $7/DC watt, chances are you’ve been had, although some exceptions apply to ground mounted systems, reroofs, service upgrades, or specialized custom installation work. In any case, start asking some hard questions when the price exceeds this level.
4. Remember, in California you have three business days to cancel a contract if you get cold feet later. If you sign on Friday, you have until the following Wednesday at midnight.
5. If a contractor collects more than $1,000 at contract signing, report them to the California State Licensing Board: www.cslb.ca.gov
6. If a contractor threatens you with a lawsuit and you’ve done nothing but cancel your contract prior to work commencing, don’t capitulate — call a lawyer!
7. If a contractor suddenly drops his price by tens of thousands of dollars to keep your business, can this guy really be trusted to do quality work? Can he be trusted at all?
8. If a salesman offers you chocolate cake, offer him the door.

If there is a silver lining here, it’s that the couple saved a pile of money in the end by engaging Company B. Whether they’ll end up getting what they paid for we may never know. I’m sure the chocolate cake salesman still has a couple more tricks up his sleeve. What’s your favorite dessert?

You can reach Scott Gordon directly at SGordon@HelioPower.com

By Scott Gordon, HelioPower

If you read Part I of the Ugly Side of Solar series, you learned that proper design, product selection, and installation make all the difference in the aesthetics of your solar system and can mean the difference between a good looking system that’s the envy of your friends and neighbors and one that discourages those same people from ever considering solar for their own homes.

In the second part of the series, I discussed the ugly side of solar from an installation perspective. While many systems look fine on the surface, underneath they are ticking time bombs of rust, roof leaks, ground faults, and corrosion. In part II, I also covered the ugly side of picking the wrong solar contractor and gave you pointers to help you avoid getting ripped off. In Part III, I will cover shading: the most deleterious of solar production killers.

While most folks agree that shaded solar panels produce less power than unshaded ones, many consumers grossly underestimate just how big an impact shading has on the annual production of a solar system. The photo above shows a particularly egregious example of solar shading. As you will soon learn, this customer would have been much better off NOT buying the five panels installed on the upper left roof. Why? Read on…

The vast majority of solar systems (95% +) installed today are designed with ‘String Inverters’. The SMA SunnyBoy inverter is an example of a string inverter you may have heard of. String inverters rely on solar modules to be connected in series (aka ‘strings’) to achieve the minimum power output the inverter needs in order to turn on and operate efficiently. Without going into a tremendous amount of detail on the subject (which is outside the scope of this article), know that whatever happens to one panel in the series affects every panel in the series. An analogy that may help you make sense of this phenomenon is one involving a battery powered toy car. If your toy car takes eight AA batteries, and you put eight brand new batteries in it, it’ll run fast and furious. This is because the batteries are fully charged (i.e. unshaded). Take one of those brand new batteries out and replace it with a half charged battery and that same toy car will run more slowly (i.e. a half shaded solar panel). Replace a brand new battery with a dead one, and the car may not work at all or run very slowly (i.e. a fully shaded panel or panels). With this information, please examine the photo below:

The shading in this photo is akin to having two dead and two half dead batteries in your toy car. Sure, the rest of the array looks fine, but the array as a whole could be operating at as little as half capacity. To illustrate this further, please consider the following examples:

As you can see, it doesn’t take much shading for a panel’s production to plummet to zero. Shading of just one cell (bottom right), cuts the whole module’s production by one half! This drop in production affects the entire string thereby robbing the solar power system of hundreds or potentially thousands of kilowatt hours per year. Over the 25+ year expected lifespan of the system, this adds up to some serious cash. In this scenario, you are in fact buying very expensive solar panels that are providing you with very little benefit.

So how do we solve this problem? One way is to chop or top trees. Sometimes, as is the case with palms, the tree needs to be removed altogether. Other times, as is the case with a tall chimney, we lose an entire section of roof. We employ shading analysis tools to help us find an unshaded or less shading spot on the roof. Here is what the output of a typical shading analysis tool looks like:

The data presented in this tool (Wiley ASSET) aids an integrator in proper panel placement and gives us insight into the objects doing the most significant shading. In the analysis above, it’s a neighboring house and neighboring trees causing all of the problems. Fortunately, we were able to find a place on the roof where these shading issues are mitigated, but removal of the house and the neighbor’s palms are obviously not an option. Overall, we can expect 92% performance from this system.

Another way to address shading is to skip the string inverter altogether and design your system with micro inverters (Enphase is the most popular of this technology). Micro inverters treat each solar panel individually. Thus, shading that affects one panel is isolated to only that panel. This increases your overall system yield in highly shaded situations. To learn more about the pluses and minuses of micro inverters, please see Solar Professional’s excellent article on the topic by Ron Burden and Joe Schwartz. You may need to register for a free subscription to view the article, but it’ll be well worth your time.

Lastly, many folks wonder what happens if their neighbors or others plant trees that eventually grow into a shading problem. Many states, such as California and New Mexico, have ‘right to light’ laws that protect home and business owners who install solar panels. In brief, the law can be summed up as follows: if the solar is there first, solar wins, and the tree must be removed or topped, otherwise, if the tree is there first, the tree wins. If it’s your tree, you can take appropriate action, but if it’s your neighbor’s tree, you’ll need to work out a solution or you might be out of luck altogether. In fact, some states go as far as to state that neighbors can’t add a second story or build a home that will shade your solar power system. You’ll need to check your local state law to see how this applies to your particular circumstance.

In summary, make sure you are aware of any shading that may affect your solar system. If your solar installer brings any shading issues to your attention, take heed. They are bringing this to your attention for good reason. Shading will not only affect electrical production, but will also lower your state rebate amount. Likewise, if you are aware of shading issues and your solar installer doesn’t mention them, find yourself another solar installer. If you don’t you are likely to end up with an underperforming system, for the dollars you expended.

Please stay tuned for a bonus in this series, The Ugly Side of Solar Part IV, coming soon. As always, I wish you the best of luck in your solar power endeavors.

Editor's note:  For the full series in downloadable documents, click here.

By Scott Gordon

Vice President Sales, Residential, HelioPower

If you read the first part of this series, you were exposed to the aesthetically ugly side of solar – literally solar that looks unattractive up on the roof and detracts from a home’s curb appeal.  Such solar installations can have a negative impact on a community’s perception of solar technology.  After all, who wants to live in an ugly house?  Not many folks as far as I can tell.  Yet there is an uglier side; a side you can’t see.   It is an improperly installed system.    

Improperly installed systems can often look great up on the roof.  They may even encourage neighbors to not only go solar, but to use the very same company that performed the first shoddy install.  These badly installed systems may perform well for years before exposing their dark underbelly in the form of galvanic action (think rusting panel frames, rails, bolts, etc); leaky roofs, deck rot, short circuits, and even fires.  

In this article, I will cover many of the things that can happen if you choose an inexperienced contractor to install your solar project, how you can avoid signing up with the wrong company and online resources to allow you to gauge a company’s experience in the field.

First, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty of shoddy solar installations.  There are hundreds of little details that go into any solar installation.  These need to be well understood by the procurement manager buying the equipment, the warehouseman loading the truck, the project manager and finally the installation team.  For example, if the procurement manager decides to save money and buys substandard equipment (think non galvanized steel, cheap mastic, etc), then there will be repercussions down the road regardless of how well the installation team does its job.  On the other hand, the best materials in world won’t spare a roof from the ravages of an inexperienced installation crew.

This photo shows a lag bolt (that thing that holds the solar foot and thus the panel on one’s roof), from the underside – the attic/crawlspace.

This lag bolt very obviously misses the roof truss.  It was one of seven I found on a recent botched installation my company rebid and fixed for a distressed customer left high and dry by an unscrupulous contractor.  You may be asking yourself why this matters.  Few people understand the harsh conditions their roofs endure day in and day out, season to season, year after year.  Extreme heat, cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow, and other elements beat on your roof, and consequently, your solar system.  Solar racking systems, like those offered by ProSolar, are engineered to withstand wind gusts up to 120 mph.  That’s some serious live load!!  But the racking systems only work if they are properly installed.

The installation sitting above this attic will be in serious jeopardy over time.  Wind (whether gusty or not) causes lift when it’s funneled under a solar array.  In most cases, this is a good thing.  The wind can help keep the solar array cool on a hot day, and thus result in higher energy yield.  However, if roof trusses are missed, the aggregate effect of this lift over time (especially from intensely gusty wind) is a gradual loosening of the feet holding the rails to the roof.  In some cases, the feet could detach from the roof altogether.  The most common result is roof leakage. If cheap components were used the result will often be rusty leakage (think of orange stains on your living room ceiling).

In this next example, roof leaks are inevitable.  This inexperienced crew was exceptionally bad at locating studs.  They left the roof littered with these unsightly holes as they poked around trying to locate rafters.  When we took the job over and removed the old feet, our crew discovered up to four penetrations per foot! The roof damage was so acute that we had to bring in a licensed roofer to repair it all.

Where the installers eventually decided to set their feet, they left the penetrations unflashed (we double flash everything) and messy.  Also notice the rusty bolt in the center of the rail.  While it may seem harmless enough now, galvanic action of dissimilar metals ensures that the corrosion will spread to the nut, the rail, and eventually the frames of your solar panels.  If the roof truss was missed underneath the attachment, you have the perfect recipe for rusty roof leaks.  Insist that your contractor uses only stainless, galvanized and extruded aluminum components for all roof attachments.

While avoiding roof leaks is of paramount concern, so is proper electrical etiquette.  Rather than use proper galvanized steel conduit for his electrical runs, the contractor used cheap flexible plastic and fastened it to a rusty lag bolt with a cheap indoor rated plastic tie wrap (which the sun will turn to dust in a matter of months). 

Obviously satisfied with the cheap tie wraps’ ability to hold things together on the roof, the inexperienced crew then used the same tie wraps to affix the electric conduit to the customer’s thermal pool system.  Notice also the exposed green ground wire running across the roof in clear violation of electrical code.  Exposure and corrosion virtually guarantee a future of annoying and system crippling ground faults.

While I could show you photos ad nauseum, I’ll wrap Part II with the scariest photo of all:

The system pictured here was so badly put together (from an electrical standpoint), that the fuse terminals continued to burn AFTER the fuse blew.  Fortunately, this problem was discovered before it caused a house fire, but it underscores the importance of choosing a qualified installer.

So, how can you check up on those clamoring for your solar business?  First, start with the standard protocol:

1.       Get at least three bids

2.       Check your state’s state licensing board and the Better Business Bureau for suspension and complaints

3.       If you live in California visit: http://www.californiasolarstatistics.ca.gov/application/search/

Select the solar contractor(s) you’re considering from the list and see how many and what types of systems they’ve installed.  If a contractor is not listed, precede NO FURTHER.  Cross them off of your list.  If a contractor has less than 10 installations, they may still be learning.  Ask yourself if you want them learning on your house.

4.       Ask for their solar certification credentials. NABCEP is the gold standard in the industry.  A NABCEP certified installer has years of experience and several difficult tests under his belt.

5.       Look at the other businesses they may be involved in.  Today scores of companies and individuals are flooding into the solar marketplace.  These include window companies, flooring companies and even food companies (it’s scary, but true).  Your best bet for a quality installation is to go with a company that specializes in solar (specifically photovoltaics, PV) and is dedicated industry specialist.  They will be the most knowledgeable and best overall value.

6.       Ask for references and to see local installations in your area

Well, that’s it for Part II.  Stay tuned for Part III where I’ll explore the final frontier of ugly solar, the true ‘dark side’:  Shade.

By Scott Gordon

Vice President Sales, Residential, HelioPower

Have you ever driven by a solar installation that was so ugly you wondered what the owners of the house were thinking when they decided to install their system?

Have you found stories on the internet about leaky roofs, fly-by-night solar companies or other tales of solar despair?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you’ve stumbled upon a little talked about topic in our happy industry:  the ugly side of solar.

Most solar installers shy away from the topic of ugly solar for fear of scaring off their potential customers.  After all, who wants to ruin their home’s curb appeal or wind up with a leaky roof?  The reason for this article is to arm consumers with the knowledge they need to avoid falling into either type of botched installation.

"Aesthetically Challenged" Solar Installation

First I’ll cover solar installations I would describe as “aesthetically challenged.”  The above photo is an extreme example of just how ugly solar can get.  As a person with nearly three years of solar sales and design experience, I can hardly wrap my brain around how the above installation was permitted in the first place.  I can only imagine how the neighbors feel when they drive by this house.  Unfortunately, I see ugly installs like this one far too often.

So, how do you avoid such a fate as you embark on your solar journey?  

Asking your installer for a roof plan BEFORE signing a contract is a great first step.  This will allow you to review and compare various plans from all bidders involved in order to see who’s come up with the best design for your roof.

For example, if you have a smallish roof, you may be limited to solar panels with high power density like those made by SunPower.  Panels with high power densities often obviate the need for tilt kits on the roof.  While you may not object to the ‘look’ of the tilt kits in the above photo, you need to consider the wind profile of the area in which you live.  Mounting solar panels on your roof so they resemble sails is never a good idea because sails are what they will become during high wind conditions (like tornados, hurricanes, Santa Ana winds, etc).  While there is little chance the panels will blow off your roof if properly attached, high gusty winds may loosen “sail mounted” panels over the course of several years resulting in roof leaks, deck rot, and other collateral damage.

HelioPower Installation of SunPower Solar Modules

If your best roof happens to be above your front door, you’ll want to get black framed panels, with a black backsheet, and back contacts (if you have the budget).  The second photo shows a recent HelioPower installation using SunPower 225 panels.

First notice how the panels look more like skylights than panels.  Notice how you don’t see any white diamonds or electrical contacts (black back sheet/back contact).  Notice how the solar array is contiguous and well organized on the roof. Such a roof layout takes planning. I tried four configurations before I found one I liked enough to present to this customer.  Think the folks in this neighborhood have a slightly different opinion about solar aesthetics than the previous example? You becha!!

What are some other ways you can be sure that your solar system will look as good as it performs? Again, make sure you get some roof plans.  

Once you’ve reviewed those, ask if there are any systems in your area you can drive by (this is far better than a phone reference).  Also ask to see photos of installed systems that will be similar to what the installer is proposing for your home.  Ask to see the same panels on the same roof type.  For example, if you’re interested in Evergreen panels for your Spanish tile roof, ask to see a photo of Evergreen panels on a Spanish tile roof.  A reputable installer with enough installations under his belt should be able to easily provide you with these and may already have examples you can reference on their website. If you've heard of the high efficiency of the Canadian Solar panels, then ask for installation photos showing these modules. There are many options. At HelioPower we offer all these panel options and more!

If tilt kits are required for one brand of panel, ask if they would be required if you instead bought high efficiency SunPower modules.  In solar, size matters, but in this case smaller is better.  High efficiency and smaller panels go hand in hand, but be prepared to pay a little extra for the efficiency.  It will be well worth it down the road when you have a sweet looking solar installation that doesn’t leak and is the envy of your neighborhood.

Finally, you may not have a good solar home.  That’s right, I said it.  Rare is the solar salesperson who will tell you that your home is not ideal for solar photovoltaics (electric), even if that is the case. You may not like it, but you need to listen.  Remember, these folks are mostly commissioned salespeople; they want to sell you a system.  That’s how they make their living. If one of the bidders declines to bid for this reason, put your feelings aside and consider strongly what he/she is telling you.  Fact is that the top photo is of a house that should NOT have solar panels on it. It’s not a good solar house.  Period.  Of course, the salesman that sold the job would disagree as his/her creativity with tilt kits suggests.  But facts are facts.  Which system would you rather have on your largest investment – A or B? HelioPower Energy Consultants are trained to provide you with the second option or no option at all.

While aesthetically ugly solar will scare off its fair share of customers, often times it’s what you can’t see that matters most of all.  In part two, I’ll get into the gory details of a truly botched solar installation.  It’s the type that keeps most home owners up at night.  Curious?  Stay tuned…