Solar SME Reviews

Our Project Manager, Mr. H was so perseverant and patient, working through several snags & solved every problem with no complaint. He was so supportive when both myself and spouse came down with bad cases of Covid last year, checking in on us daily and sending prayers/inspirational messages! I felt like we built a good working relationship; and I would *definitely* work with him again on another project. Problems: the contract went over by 4 months, costing us the 26% Federal tax credit last year (now it's down to 22%). When Mr. H was sick, no one took over his workload, contributing to delays. Southeastern Freight Lines couldn't deliver the panels b/c semi trucks can't be driven on local roads, so a moving company had to pick them up. Southeastern didn't give them the steel rails & they had to make 2 trips! Somehow we were shorted rails in this process - good thing the Roofers had extras! The panels and hardware sat on our covered porch for a month before anyone could install them. The first draw check was lost in the mail for a month. Permits weren't put in at the same time for both the local electric co-op and county Building department, taking an extra month to finish. Because panels weren't ordered until permitting was completed, the Silfab panels became unobtainable, causing a design rework that meant County and Co-op re-approval & delays. Overall, we have our solar panels and they're working as promised, though the installation in two days was a whirlwind of activity all at once (after months of delays). The Roofing crew was courteous, professional, had working knowledge of the product; and cleaned up after themselves; but due to scheduling, couldn't stick around for the County inspector to come out (good thing nothing serious was wrong - it would have been 2 weeks for them to come back for repairs/corrections). Our Project Manager was excellent; but didn't have the support he needed to get the project done within the contracted time period; but honored the original contract price. Hopefully the system will perform as expected, giving us nearly a full offset of electricity used, important as this was a massive investment of time, energy, and money - a real slog, actually! My final thoughts are that, considering all the delays and problems, while I'm glad to have gone through Solar SME (Energy Sage recommended), I'd find a closer company next time. In my opinion, - given all the problems- Solar SME might be overextended for Northwestern Virginia, too far away from headquarters in Texas. I'm concerned about future servicing, due to distance alone. And there's no saying Mr. H will be there forever to help us. I really wish I could have used his *real* name, though - it felt disrespectful to *have* to use the pseudonym given.

Overall experience has not been good. Already 2 insight appointments have not happened when scheduled