LA Solar Group Installs here?

[so_cal_burbs]

I want a quality vendor to do the install. Am not looking for cheapest price per watt. However right now LA Solar Group is the cheapest per watt. I've searched the forum and seen some comments about them being pushy and potentially ugly installs with conduit running across the roof. I will call and ask about those things (and based on their solarreviews.com reviews assume those were isolated cases)-but if you have used them for your install I'm interested to hear what your experience was once the ink was dry. Baker is thousands more and not interested in bettering their price unless I send them other company's written quotes for their review-which is not going to happen and honestly I'm disappointed they asked.

[J.P.M.]

I didn't use LA Solar Group, but I'm rather familiar w/ Baker as they've done ~ 15 jobs that I've reviewed/monitored as part of my duties w/ my HOA' s Arc. Rev. Comm.

Baker's work is quite good, but you'll need a tightly specified contract and probably a little sitting on the roof monitoring to get the best out of them.

I actually wanted them for my job 4+ years ago, but they were tough on negotiations. I believe I got the same/better quality as Baker (high) for more than 10 % less from another established electrical contractor, but I had a tightly specified scope of work and contract.

FWIW, see CSI reservation # SD- CSI-17646 for gory details. Long, boring story but all contractors for my job bid to the same scope of work and requirements and I never shared prices among vendors. Until recently, the price/Watt I paid was the lowest for a Sunpower system on the CSI database except for a system one vendor did for his own home.

Use quality vendors and negotiate tough but fair. You want nice - pay nice, but don't leave $$ on the table.

[jasonvr]

My LASG experience.

https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...ange-county-ca

There are others on here as well. I am in contact with some of them as we have a group on PVOutput

[tracksyde]

I want a quality vendor to do the install. Am not looking for cheapest price per watt. However right now LA Solar Group is the cheapest per watt. I've searched the forum and seen some comments about them being pushy and potentially ugly installs with conduit running across the roof. I will call and ask about those things (and based on their solarreviews.com reviews assume those were isolated cases)-but if you have used them for your install I'm interested to hear what your experience was once the ink was dry.

I used LASG, as well as a few friends (we're all in the PVOutput group jasonvr mentioned). In my experience, if you know what you want, just be upfront with them about it before the install. As with any vendor or service provider, if you leave it up to them and hope for the best, you may be disappointed.

In my case, I had looked at a lot of installs and looked into a lot of the equipment they planned to use. A week before they installed, I asked them to use some specific products (like using a combiner box versus one box for breakers, another shut off switch, etc). They didnt hesitate at all and told me they would include it. I was even prepared to pay extra for it just to have a tidier install. So I was happy they were able to accommodate my request. I had one friend who had them pull an ethernet line for his monitoring (he didnt want to rely on wifi or any zigbee bridge). A few friends asked them to install NEMA 14-50 outlets for EV car chargers.

Also, you may have read about it on this forum and in various reviews, but if the owner, Ara gets involved, its almost magical how quickly things get resolved. I can only image, as the owner, he must be somewhat annoyed when people contact him directly (although he always seemed very friendly and receptive to ideas/input/comments). In my case, he was actually my salesperson. So that made it easy.

One of my friends was trying to get an issue resolved through his salesperson. They did appear to make an effort to get it resolved. But after a few attempts, the salesperson went directly to Ara. Ara promptly emailed my friend that he would look into it personally. A few hours later he confirmed a date and time they would be out to investigate the issue. The day after, the issue was resolved. I believe they are trying to get people to fill in these customer service related rolls, but until they provide a similar experience as going direct to the boss, don't be afraid to go direct if you have to.