09/10/2021
Dave
Hanvover, MA
I was referred to Boston Solar by my t-shirt. We had been seriously considering solar and had a few interviews with companies and I just didn’t have a good feeling from them. Then I noticed that Boston Solar was a sponsor for a 5K race I ran in my small home town and figured if they cared enough to sponsor our tiny charity race then I should do some research and give them a call. The reviews were good and we set up a meeting with their solar consultant. We met over Zoom due to the pandemic and it was fantastic. I hope they continue the Zoom option because it was a lot more low pressure than the in person meetings. Rick was our consultant and it didn’t feel like a sales pitch at all. It was all about problem solving. He had a plot of our house ready to go and put together a rough outline of how everything would look, went over the cost, the ROI, the incentives, and so on. Everything that we went over in terms of cost and array size lined up with the research that we had done on Project Sunroof and meeting with other companies so that was reassuring. We knew we wanted solar but we wanted to find the right company to do the work. I think the tipping point for us was the fact that Boston Solar does everything in house, they have no subcontractors and everyone you work with is employed directly by Boston Solar. Many of the other companies use subcontractors and I was concerned I might have the “lowest bidder” putting holes through my roof. Once we signed the contract we were assigned a coordinator Olivia who guided us through the process and who answered our emails and questions often within the hour. The installation took 2 days with supports/conduit being run on day 1 and the panels installed on day 2. I spoke with the foreman and the electrician and they were really knowledgeable and answered my questions about future projects. We may want to add an electric car charger and are panels someday in the future. They also worked with us to make a change to the plan as once they were on site they saw a better way to run the equipment than originally planned. I also appreciated how Boston Solar treated their team. The installation was in the summer and it was a hot day on a hotter roof and I noted that they were cycling people out, giving breaks, and drinking lots of water. It’s the right thing to do for people’s health and beneficial to the homeowner, if you are tired you are more likely to make mistakes. The day after installation we had torrential rains which was a good test as we observed zero leaks to the roof. The project passed inspection without issue, national grid swapped out meter, and we just turned the system on and are producing power. We are really happy with our decision to install a solar array. It will save us a significant amount of money long term while helping our community by taking demand off the grid and generating renewable energy. Definitely check out Boston Solar if you are considering it for your home.