Reviews by Carlos Herrera

PetersenDean (out of business)

We selected Petersen Dean after meeting with 4 other companies. It took a while to learn why Petersen Dean was the best option but do take advantage of the sales presentations to educate yourself.

One of my lessons learned is that no two solar system proposals will be alike and so I needed a formula to standardize the proposed solar system cost. I needed something like a price per pound. What I came up with was ... Price per Target kW = (Proposed Cost - Tax Credits - Coupons) * (Target kW / Proposed kW). In my case, i targeted a 7.15 kW system because I got proposals from 7.15 kW - 10.08 kW. Using the 7.15 kW as a standard, I was able to eliminate 2 that were just too expensive as the standardized prices varied from $18k to $26k.

The other three proposals varied in standardized prices from $18k to $20k but the financing ranged from 3% to 7%. Although the most expensive of the three, Petersen Dean sealed the deal with the best financing terms that no one else could meet.

Regarding the system components, Petersen Dean offered the best with SolarWorld and Enphase. I learned that most solar panels and accompanying components have really low failure rates. Yet I felt that I'd rather have a veteran roofing and solar company like Petersen Dean at my side when something did eventually fail instead of a newer Solar company that contracts to local installers. Also, I learned that Solar companies sometimes contract Petersen Dean to be their local installer.

Overall, my only gripe is that installing solar took 6 months from the sales visit on 9/9 to permission to operate on 3/4. But most of the waiting was due to the holidays and my HOA. Once we got the HOA written approval, it took only 1 month from financing on 2/5 to submit for permit on 2/9 to permit on 2/13 to installation on 2/23 to inspection on 2/29 and finally permission to operate on 3/4.

Finally, I'd like to say that everyone working for Petersen Dean has been very professional, very responsive, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.... read more

Type: Residential Electric

Reviewed: 08/20/2016