Sharing Your experience with Peterson Dean

[solar4me]

Does anyone here dealt with or had their system installed by Peterson Dean? Would you share your experience?
Thanks

[inetdog]

No personal experience, and have heard advertising for them only in the roofing market.

[solarix]

I've heard they got into the solar market to sell roofing. They won't install solar on your roof unless you replace the roof at the same time.

[Nape]

I've heard they got into the solar market to sell roofing. They won't install solar on your roof unless you replace the roof at the same time.

Which often times is the prudent thing to do depending on roof type and age. Other than that a solid roofing company that can do a solar system and be SOLID in BOTH is worth a few $ in a complete system.

[J.P.M.]

I've heard they got into the solar market to sell roofing. They won't install solar on your roof unless you replace the roof at the same time.

That outfit just put an 8 kW array in my HOA and didn't do anything to the roof except crack 2 concrete tiles which they replaced with spares the owner had.

This is not an endorsement. Maybe they're bad actors. It's my first experience with them.

Relative to that outfit and the roof on this job: The system hasn't fired up yet, but the contract was one of the cleaner one's I've seen, the system matched the drawings and the BOM's, they stuck to the starting date, and the job appears clean. FWIW, I talked to the proj. leader about not removing the tiles under the array(s) which I do with every job as keeping the roof material uniform - under the arrays or not - is an HOA requirement, and he seemed surprised I would ask what sounded to him like a strange question. At least on that job, it doesn't seem as though they were anxious to do roof work.

Add: To be clear, having a roof inspected/serviced as required before a solar install is something I've been railing about since before coming to this forum., but I'm not sure it's a good idea to have the solar vendor sub the work out to what will be the cheapest bidder. A roof is one of the last places I'd skimp on. Besides, solar vendors do not make good roofers and vice versa - which BTW is another good reason to get your roof serviced at solar install. If a leak occurs under the array, do you want a roofer removing a solar array and the attempting what amounts to a reinstall. The dollar temptation at that time may be tempting. Just sayin'.

[iamadoorknob]

When I was looking for solar quotes, I put in all my information on Petersondean's website, and it immediately spit out a quote at me for a system that was 1/4th smaller than what I asked for, at a much higher price. Out of the 6 quotes I got, theirs was the highest per watt by a wide margin. I thought maybe a bigger system would yield a better price per watt, but I never received a call from them and I wasn't about to go chasing them down after that.

[solar4me]

The reason I posted the questions was because they have a sweet spots configurations on their website now, and it was about $3.98/w. Accordingly those are SolarWorld 275W panel but not sure what type of inverter were used

[Alisobob]

I tried to use P/D.... I really did.

They are a roofing company, but refused to give be a quote to do my roof along with the solar install.

They would not upgrade my panels, from the 255 watt they had in stock , to the 270's I wanted.

They thump their chest about "All American Made Parts" , in their system.... which isnt true.

It seemed impossible to get things like "attic run conduit" put it writing.

It seems they do one type of install, and if you try to deviate for it.... your screwed.

I pulled the plug after going round, and round, and round..... with them.

The installed I did find was OUTSTANDING!

The day they finished, I got the P/D refund check in the mail.

I had them pose with it, and sent it to Jim Petersens personal email address.... to show them I was serious about installing solar, and wasent making them jump through hoops, just for the sake of it.

[silversaver]

I tried to use P/D.... I really did.

They are a roofing company, but refused to give be a quote to do my roof along with the solar install.

They would not upgrade my panels, from the 255 watt they had in stock , to the 270's I wanted.

They thump their chest about "All American Made Parts" , in their system.... which isnt true.

It seemed impossible to get things like "attic run conduit" put it writing.

It seems they do one type of install, and if you try to deviate for it.... your screwed.

I pulled the plug after going round, and round, and round..... with them.

The installed I did find was OUTSTANDING!

The day they finished, I got the P/D refund check in the mail.

I had them pose with it, and sent it to Jim Petersens personal email address.... to show them I was serious about installing solar, and wasent making them jump through hoops, just for the sake of it.

Some solar companies have their own rules. For example, my installer only use Kyocera or SP panels with SMA/Powerone/SP inverters. They do not offer micro inverters or Solaredge. They explain to me and I understand why. They are in business more than 10 yrs. They want to use the products that they believed will last without trouble on their end or customer's. I respect that.

Some installer offer customer 25yrs parts and labor warranty on Enphase system + 3 yrs maintance of cleaning panels, which is really nice but 25yr labor warranty? time will tell. I have 2 friends signed up with the company and I do hope they keep their promise.

[Riverside Solar]

Did you said the price was $3.98/watt?

Surprised that nobody commented on how high this likely is.

[iamadoorknob]

They are a roofing company, but refused to give be a quote to do my roof along with the solar install.

They would not upgrade my panels, from the 255 watt they had in stock , to the 270's I wanted.

I would imagine they might run into trouble doing a joint - quote for roof AND solar, as some people might try to get a federal tax rebate for the roof. Think about it; if they did both in one quote, they could say "roof is $10,000 and solar is $20,000 but if you buy our solar system with premium conduits for $29,999 we'll throw the roof in for $1" There is probably some sort of regulation there to prevent abuse of the federal tax rebate.

On the panels thing, they probably have an agreement for a certain type/brand of panel and get that type/brand for cheaper. It's how they create a competitive advantage.

[insaneoctane]

PD did my install. They did not even suggest any roof work on my fairly dated roof. The installation and clean up was excellent with attention to detail meeting my high standards. The project manager I was assigned was terrible, but he was fired mid-job. Working with their engineering staff was long, but I don't know how much of that was due to PM... The price I got was fair, work quality was excellent, the project manager was bad and ultimately cost my install 1 to 2 additional months.

[solar4me]

PD did my install. They did not even suggest any roof work on my fairly dated roof. The installation and clean up was excellent with attention to detail meeting my high standards. The project manager I was assigned was terrible, but he was fired mid-job. Working with their engineering staff was long, but I don't know how much of that was due to PM... The price I got was fair, work quality was excellent, the project manager was bad and ultimately cost my install 1 to 2 additional months.

What type of panel and inverters did they used for your systems? appreciate if you can share them with us here.

[sensij]

I would imagine they might run into trouble doing a joint - quote for roof AND solar, as some people might try to get a federal tax rebate for the roof. Think about it; if they did both in one quote, they could say "roof is $10,000 and solar is $20,000 but if you buy our solar system with premium conduits for $29,999 we'll throw the roof in for $1" There is probably some sort of regulation there to prevent abuse of the federal tax rebate.

There is no specific regulation against it. There is at least one company in San Diego that sells PV + roofing under one contract (Sales pitch on their website: "Free roof with solar"). Consult with a tax professional for advice.

[iamadoorknob]

There is no specific regulation against it. There is at least one company in San Diego that sells PV + roofing under one contract (Sales pitch on their website: "Free roof with solar"). Consult with a tax professional for advice.

If people could get away with that, every roofer would become a "solar company" and stick one tiny calculator-sized solar panel on your roof and get you a 30% back on the roof for it. While they're at it, why not throw in a whole house attached to those panels?