Review for Endries Solar & Electric LLC

Office location: 2601 S 19th St, Sheboygan WI, 53081

11/15/2021
David Nowacek Wauwatosa, WI

Rave review for Endries Solar

I don't write reviews often, but sometimes the experience is so outstanding that I feel obliged to do so. That has been the case with Endries Solar. The other reviews here are very positive, brief, and to the point. Great. But I'm going to share a longer review because our project was unusual and doing it with Endries Solar reveals a lot about the company, particularly its owner, Russel Endries. I met Russel at the annual renewable energy fair in Custer, WI. I had been planning a solar system to pair with a geothermal heating/cooling system. That meant my electrical load - unlike most people - would be highest in the winter. I stopped at the booth of one of the major solar installers. I described my project and some of the ideas I had. They looked at me like I was some kind of unusual insect. One of the guys said, "Well, not sure how to help you, but you should go talk to Russel Endries; he used to work for us as a project manager and he might be able to handle something unusual like this." Happily, the independent business Russel had started - Endries Solar - had a booth at the fair, too. So I stopped by to chat. Thus began a 3 year relationship with Endries Solar. Over that time, Russell came to my house several times to think through various design possibilities. I'm guessing that the unusual character of the project, coupled with my tendency to keep throwing out new design ideas would have left most contractors with noticeably less hair and less willing to continue. But Russel kept working with me until we settled on a system that involved a hand-tilting, ground-mounted structure that would allow me to make optimal use of bifacial panels and easily keep the panels clear in winter when I needed to keep power coming to run my geothermal system. This meant a system quite far off the ground (14 feet to be exact), requiring two seriously large structural poles (two 8-inch, 21-foot tubes, 500 lbs a piece). The tubes were installed by a sub-contractor with whom Russel had a lot of experience. Russel came for the installation, but not just to watch. He did a lot of the demanding physical labor. And the result of the work he and Mike (the subcontractor) did was remarkable; those two huge poles were placed to within 1/8th of an inch of the same height, which was way closer than the tolerance the system required. I was impressed. The rest of the installation was relatively straight forward, and Russel's crew (both on site and in the office) was very efficient getting the physical labor done and all the paperwork. For our project there was even more than the usual paperwork. In addition to the typical Focus on Energy and local utility paperwork, we also had to go through a formal engineering review by the city engineer. Russel's office staff made all of this run smoothly and quickly. In the end, all I can say is that our experience with Endries Solar was exceptional, which is saying a lot given how many curve balls we threw at Russel. He hit them all. It was a pleasure working with him from start to finish. So if you have a regular old roof installation or something a bit more challenging in mind, know that Russel has the experience and patience to get you there. Don't hesitate to hire these guys. Thanks, Russel.