Local or Out of Town Contractor

Out of Town Contractors

Choosing a contractor to build your new solar system is always a tough decision.  Out of town contractors typically offer the following:

a.  Being "larger" than most of the local companies.
b.  A longer tract record of customer service as well as more installs.
c.  Higher online presence with social media and consumer advocacy groups.

All of these things can help consumers to believe that these out of town businesses offer a better as well as safer option in going solar.

On first appearances, they may seem larger and more financially secure than their local counterparts.

Things to consider are:

a.  Where is their home base location.  You may be surprised to see them a minimum of 4 hours away and sometimes out of state.

b.  Do they use their own crews or do they subcontract their installations?  An easy way to find out is to ask if the building permit is in that companies name or the subcontractors name.

c.  What are the warranties for labor.  This would include not only their workmanship but also any labor paid for by manufacturers to repair or replace their products.

Will they put in writing on their contract that they will "honor" the labor reimbursement rate from the manufacturers for a period of 10 years? Ten years is a long time to guarantee labor for any product line.  Also, most systems are paid for two times over by the end of ten years.

d.  What we have realized in the Fresno market is the average time a large "non local" solar company remains in the marketplace is 3 years.  Notable losses to the solar residents of Fresno include

Solar City, Akeena, Peterson Dean, REC, Vivent, Virango, Solar Universe and the list goes on.

e.  Nova West Solar is approaching its 18th year in business consecutively!  We do not work on other solar contractors jobs that have been abandoned by those contractors due to exclusions in our liability insurance policy.  

A lot of consumers have been pleased with their out of town contractor and solar system.  Other customers have realized that getting service and warranty work covered is not always so easy.