Brightstar Solar

Out of every installer I talked to, Brightstar offered the best cost per kW, per kWH, and per panel. I shopped around at 7 installers. Brightstar was the only one without high pressure sales tactics. They didn't call me on the phone constantly or try to bully me into installing their preferred products. Jon gave me recommendations, but ultimately let me choose what kinds of panels and inverters I wanted. The other companies have a lot of gimmicks and flashy guarantees to distract you and take advantage of what little you might know about solar systems - I never felt like I could trust them. Jon will just talk to you in facts and common sense. The install went smoothly and looks great. I'm completely satisfied with the result.

Brightstar worked closely with me to install the maximum number of panels, 36 we could put on my roof. We selected panels without the silver traces and black surround so the would be relatively unobtrusive. I have some shading from trees across the road but still make 10M watt/hrs/year. Since installation we had one of the 36 optimizers and an inverter fail - both replaced quickly under warranty and at no cost to me! Last week (March 21) I saw some intermittent inverter shut down that Brightstar were able to determine that the cause was utility voltage was out of specification. I also measured it as 130v that could be dangerous to electrical equipment in the 100s of homes on that circuit. The utility quickly verified this and replace their failed regulator. Good work Brightstar!

~12kW system with a 10k inverter and 32x Solaria 370W panels. I had site visits from EIGHT different solar installers before downselecting to Brightstar for several key reasons. I could go on for many pages, but I'll try to summarize in my "top five" below: 1) "Owner/operator" small business model. Jon is on-site for installs & inspections, and Mona (his better half) handles permitting, design, and all sorts of behind-the-scenes legwork. They communicate seamlessly and rapidly, and respond professionally to individualized requests. You'll feel like you are their ONLY customer. Solar installs in Concord, MA are a red-tape nightmare if you're even remotely considering doing it yourself. The town's website outlines TWENTY-SIX separate steps that take place from design, permitting, installation, final inspection etc.......... 90% of it was completely transparent to me. Brightstar handled it ALL and we never missed a beat in the install timeline. 2) KNOWLEDGEABLE, yet understandable. There are a lot of technical nuances behind panel choices, layouts, inverter sizing, service tie-in, etc... they'll take all the time that's necessary to make you comfortable in your own level of understanding, and they'll get down to the details OR give you the "so what" Readers' Digest version... whichever you prefer. They are expert "translators"! 3) COST. They offered both LG and US-made Solaria panels and gave me a competitive quote. Cost per kW was second-best out of eight (by a small margin) but the better-looking panels and exceptional service are what ultimately pushed me to decide on Brightstar. Considering this was a $35k install (before rebates, thank goodness!), the <$1k difference was lost in the noise and it quickly became clear that I made the right choice. 4) QUALITY. The Solaria panels are GORGEOUS and POWERFUL. The installers and electricians that Brightstar uses are top-notch. I was closely observing their work and never saw them cut a single corner or take any shortcuts. They all worked as though they were installing this system in their own homes. 5) CUSTOMIZATION: I have a masters degree in engineering and I do nearly EVERYTHING on my homes myself, so to say I'm a "demanding" client when I have to bring someone else in to do work for me is an understatement. Jon and I had a lot of back-and-forth to refine material selection, array layout, inverter selection, wiring runs, and more... I am WAY more work to deal with than the average customer, but Jon never lost patience or tried to wave me off and say "don't worry about it, we'll take care of it." I felt like my voice was heard and my input valued at every step of the way.

They installed our 15kwdc system with no disruption to our life. Jon and Mona are conscientious installers who really care about the industry and promoting clean energy through thorough workmanship.

Jon and Mona are professionals and we are very happy we selected them for our Solar Installation. They spent a lot of time with us upfront explaining the process end-to-end and answering literally dozens of questions I had an were sensitive to our needs regarding aesthetics. Their proposal and plans were very detailed and on-point with what how the install eventually went. They also answered my questions post-install to make sure I was comfortable with how SREC-II and Aggregator would work etc.. I would recommend them for your residential solar install.

I interviewed 6 companies and entertained their respective estimates. In a nutshell, there was Brightstar and then everyone else was a very distant runner up. Jon and Mona were ALWAYS accessible, extremely professional, patient, and understanding. Their crews were extension of their values and exemplified care and concern for our property. There are many options for residential solar, however there is only one voice...BRIGHTSTAR.

Jon and Mona were excellent to deal with. They presented us with a very detailed plan for our home. They were on time and always keep our General Contractor in the loop. They work well with other contractors and their work is neat and through. If you are looking at solar, you should definately give them an opportunity.

Jon & Mona were wonderful to deal with - they communicated everything clearly and completely and they take great pride in their work. I love that they are a small, family owned business, who do the work themselves and hire their own employees, rather than contract out the various aspects of the job. They set the bar very high for themselves when they laid out their proposal to us and they absolutely met the bar. I am very happy with the solar panel manufacturing company they used for our solar panels and would recommend them as well. Jon and Mona have a complete understanding of the solar panel installation process, beginning with federal, state and local requirements and ending with working with the local utility companies and the SREC aggregators. They left nothing to chance and allowed us to rely entirely on their expertise and support from the first step in the proces to the last step and continuing today. I could not recommend BrightStar Solar any more highly.

Jon and Mona from BrightStar were awesome to work with. I would recommend them to anyone who was doing a Solar installation. Top-notch and professional people. Once again, BrightStar was very good to work with. Very trusting and professional folks.

Very professional, knowledgeable and able to work effectively with other contractors to get the system installed, configured and enabled.

John and Mona of Brightstar are very friendly and great to deal with. They offered a very detailed and lowest price quote up front and have answered my every question before, during, and even after the install was completed. I highly recommend them to everyone that asks me about solar.

Brightstar made the process seemless. Their prices were in line with the other vendors. There customer service skills were the determining factor for me. Any procedural delays were promptly communicated. They were easy to get hold of for questions. They were almost always accessible by phone and email. If i left a message, it was returned very quickly. The workers were great, clean, no mess. If the monitoring system is down, they let know. At tax time, the information was promptly and clearly provided. The system works and looks great. The State and Federal incentives influenced my decision, given the price of the system.

Excellent work!

Jon and Mona were professional/knowledgable and a joy to work with and have work on our home PV system. Installation was neatly done and job site remained clean throughout the process. They did a fantastic job in every aspect of the presentation, installation and turn-up process. Couldn`t have asked for a better experience from a contractor. They did all the paperwork and we just went through each document together and then signed off on them. Very happy with the process that BrightStar Solar provided us. The perfect Solar contractor.....wish all my other contractors over the years had been this nice to work with and this good.

Jon and Mona were extremely professional, knowledgeable and delightful to work with. We are very pleased with our installation and hoping for lots of sun.

Bright Star Solar is an exceptional company to do business with, nothing but professionalism and integrity...we are totally satisfied with the quality and outstanding relationship they`ve provided from beginning to end of project.

Here`s a write-up on Brightstar that I wrote for Yelp: Brightstar Solar installed a 4.2 kwh Yingli system on my home in Quincy earlier this year and it is working great! I could not have been happier with the experience, assistance, information, and installation that Brighstar offered. The highlights: - Brightstar is owner operated by John and Mona Reese, both of whom are extremely helpful, friendly, committed to solar, and knowledgeable about the entire solar industry. There are a number of very concrete reasons why Brightstar is a great company, but the trust and knowledge that Mona and Jon bring to the table is what truly sets the company apart, and when you`re buying a $ 20,000 system ($ 10,000 out of your own pocket after tax credits), you want a trustworthy, knowledgeable company. - Mona was able to answer questions regarding tax breaks and financing that no other solar company could (I tried!). She walked me through and helped me with every piece of paperwork along the way, as well as answering my many questions regarding potential tax breaks, financing programs, and much more! - Jon crafts a solar system to fit your needs using products from a wide range of manufacturers perfectly tailored for the system - as opposed to rolling out a cookie cutter system regardless of your system size or budget. I contacted 5 other local solar installers, received detailed quotes from three of them, and no one`s system was more thoughtfully designed or offered as much customizability as Brightstar`s. Brightstar was willing to install any type of panel that I wanted and walked me through the advantages and disadvantages of several brands and models, including presenting full quotes with prices and optimized support equipment (inverters, etc.) and projections on power generation. By the end of the process, I felt 100% confident that I was getting the best system for my needs, whereas my confidence was note nearly that high with the other installers despite significant research on my part. (Personally, I don`t think the other installers` confidences were particularly high because they were not able to answer a significant number of my more detailed/technical questions.) In the end, I went with a 4.2 kwh Yingli system with a Solectria Power Inverter. The other finalist system was an american made system by Helios, but was a bit more expensive, so Yingli it was. - Brighstar`s team of installers and electricians were all friendly, respectful of our home, and accessible to answer questions. - Because Brightstar shepherded me through the paperwork process, our system was built quickly. - My system has now been operating for over a month and is well ahead (~20%) of the power generation estimates that Brightstar provided in their initial quote. ($ $ $ !) Bottom-line: This is a company with trustworthy, knowledgeable people who do high quality work that is tailored to your needs. Even better, because the system is well-crafted, it`s cheaper and more profitable in both the short- and long-term. Please feel free to email me through Yelp or ask Brightstar to provide my contact information (Dan on Pine Street in Quincy). I would be happy to share more about what I learned from doing a lot of research on solar system and the finances of a solar system as well as further expounding the virtues of brightstar.

One of the few contractors I have worked with to me extra efforts to make sure that the process and status were continually communicated. They always let me know when things would be done and when they would be onsite, and met their commitments. They made sure that the system was installed exactly as I wanted it, whether it was panel placement on the roof or routing of the conduit from the roof to the basement. Overall, they did everything they promised, when they promised to do it.

Brighstar Solar is a very professional and knowledgeable company. They installed 18 solar panels over our standing-seam metal roof (which looks very clean and sharp!). We chose Brighstar Solar out of three bids based on price, their clear and comprehensive proposal, and their experience working with officials in our town. Since incentives can differ depending on the state you live in and your utility provider, it helps to hire the firm that is most able to handle the necessary paperwork in addition to their technical expertise. Brighstar Solar exceeded our expectations in every way.

The company owners were personally engaged in the project and truely cared about my satisfaction.

Of the four companies who gave us estimates for the work, Jon and Mona Reese were the most thorough with explanations of how the system worked, all the paperwork involved, and information about rebates, taxes, and the SREC process. We are very pleased with their work and would highly recommend them.

Brightstar worked with me to ensure my expectations were met. In some cases the design was changed and in others my expectations needed adjustment. When we were finished, I think I had the best possible product. Their desire to communicate far exceded other installers I interviewed.

Great folks. The process could not have been easier. A very positive experience, and I would use or recommend Brightstar with no hesitation.

I cannot imagine a better or more knowledgeable installer than BrightStar. The owners are professional and enthusiastic! This is a local company offering personal and personalized service.

Jon and Mona Reese and Brightstar, their company, were a joy to work with. They made the science and technology and the government incentives understandable. They were totally professional in all particulars.

This is an outstanding, professional, well-run company. They did what they promised, on time and on budget. I have the highest regard for their service and support.

We were extremely happy with Brightstar Solar. I`d almost buy another house to have them install solar panels for us again.

Great experience and we`re very pleased.

Jon and Mona were a pleasure to work with. Besides being well versed in photovoltaic technology, Jon has an excellent background in finance. He presented a balanced case for a PV system in terms of investment and payback, and was able to answer all questions both technical and financial. The bulk of the project was completed in two days. The only obstacle was obtaining the net meter, which took four months and was my town`s responsibility. I don`t know what could be done to secure this hardware well ahead of completion, and I`m not sure if the contractor could play more of a role in those towns where there isn`t a lot of experience.

John, and Mona were excellent to deal with!!!! They were professional, friendly, they took the time to answer all questions in a way that we could understand. All of Brightstar`s staff was punctual,courteous,friendly, and kept the work area clean. Our experience was such a positive one that we would gladly recommend them to everyone and would not hesitate to do so.

Jon and Mona from Brightstar Solar are fantastic. They are very dedicated to their customers and to the concept of renewable energy.

Jon and Mona were fantastic. I would happily recommend them to anyone.

Brightstar Solar service was exceptional. The price we paid for the panels was higher than the other bids we received but the exceptional service made this by far the better value. The paper and adminstrative work was all done by Brightstar. All doucmentation was timily and complete. We receveid on-going status updates throughout the project installation. An overall exceptional experience. Outstanding service. Very pleased with the performance of the solar panels.

Jon and Mona are joy to work with. They went out of their way in customizing our PV system needs which included a revenue grade utility net metering capability by Locus Energy smartmeter. Having this meter has greatly simplified the SREC reporting responsibility as all the reporting is done without any human intervention and is fully automated. Installing PV is a new experience and both Jon and Mona have gone way beyond the call of the duty in helping us explain all the intricacies very patiently. We would highly recommend that they be your top priority PV installers! Cheers! One happy customer!! Ever since the PV was installed we have paid no bills! We should note that the system has outperformed the initial projected output by at least 5% so far! Great job over all...