Reviews by ddixon

SunCommon

Our interest in solar began with a few of the big leasing companies. We got close to signing up with one of them after they sent me all the info a woo'd us with no upfront costs. Contracts were drawn up, but there were things that just didn’t sit well with the deal. The fact that I would have to sign a 20 year lease with this company and convince any future buyers of my house to pick up that lease was definitely not attractive. Plus the amount we were to pay them per kw and the amount they were taking in the federal tax credit just didn’t add up when I did the math for what we would be paying to them over 20 years.

A rep from Hudson Solar came to a solar awareness night at our local library. I attended the session and was enlightened about the prospect of owning, rather than leasing. After seeing all the positives that come from owner financing we decided to work with Hudson Solar to install our solar system.

I was put in touch with sales rep, Chris Patak, who was great at explaining our options for financing, system size, support, roi, etc. He setup an engineer to come out who did a thorough site inspection of our house and yard to allow them to draw up plans for the system. Based on that report, Chris showed us a few options for our system, looking to maximize output to cover our yearly electric output. No pressure was applied through any of this process. Once we were satisfied, we signed off on the system and waited for the cold winter to loosen its grip so we could start the installation.

We had an inside team come out and setup the monitoring components of the system, and then another crew came to do the outside work and attic work. Both teams were meticulous in the work they performed. Dan and Tim, the outside techs, were courteous, professional and their work was neat. Most of the install days were cold but they showed up promptly and worked through some bad conditions. I offered them hot drinks many times, but all they really wanted was access to a bathroom.

I could tell that they were taking care to make sure things were done correctly and without haste. They took their time with the mounts on the roof, insuring a waterproof connection to each rafter. The wiring work and rack work were done neatly as well.

On the last day of the job, when the panels were to be installed, I took a look at the panels that were staged in my garage and noticed a 2 inch silver marking on one of the panels. It looked almost like a scratch but I wasn’t quite sure. Dan followed up with the install manager, Wes Naprstek, and he directed them to replace the panel. They had another tech drive a replacement panel down to our house that same day. The distance to our location from the office was over an hour and a half. That was impressive.

Wes came out after the install and inspected the system and gave me and my wife a thorough overview of the system. The next day he returned with the electric inspector who signed off on the system. He turned it on and we were delighted to see the rapid pace that the meter was running backward.

All the players at Hudson Solar were always responsive to my questions throughout the whole process. They made the process smooth and handled all the paperwork for permitting for what was needed for our town.

They went above and beyond just the normal client/customer relationship. An example of this, was when I went to Chris and let him now that I was a volunteer firefighter and was hoping to get a lecture setup for our department on Solar safety for firefighting. Due to the popularity of solar systems in the community (either leased or owned), there are concerns that firefighters need to be aware of if we encounter these systems on a house that we may be responding to in an emergency situation. Without hesitation Chris agreed that it was important topic and worked with another engineer, Gary Bassett, to setup an extremely informative solar awareness talk for one of our drills. There were over 30 firefighters that benefited greatly from the information that he presented that evening.

Overall, Hudson Solar has been a pleasure to work with. No pressure through any of the process and they were there to answer all our questions. Would highly recommend them for a solar install. 5 stars for all phases of the job from design, implementation, financing and customer service.

So far the production looks great, and time will tell just how well the system functions, but so far so good.

Looking forward to sunny days.... read more

Type: Residential Electric

Reviewed: 04/07/2015