Is solar installer at fault for delays?

[slrcapt]

Long story short: In late July 2018, I signed up with a solar installer to put a 9.1kW system in my home. Little did I know at the time that it would take over 200 days to get it up and running. The installer is claiming it isn't their fault, but I think otherwise. What do you think?

The details: From the day we signed the contract, it took us 219 days to get PTO. Of that...

• We spent 46 days in planning, since the installer had issues sourcing a battery (which we eventually took out of the project)
• We spent 70 days in permitting: 11 days at the County for review, 59 at the installer for corrections
• We spent 61 days in inspections (inspector came 4 times and installed kept forgetting to address problems from past inspections)
• We spent 15 days in construction spanning three separate visits
• Contractor fried my fridge twice
• We started making payments on the system before PTO

Our solar contract says work will be done within 60 days, not including delays out of the installer's control. While I agree that stuff like permitting and County inspections are out of their control, I feel our case was a bit excessive. Most of the permitting time was when the ball was in the installer's court and they could have done a more thorough job to avoid continual failed inspections.

In all fairness, we requested a permit mid-project, for a previously un-permitted component of the project that was already part of the original scope. This added about 11 days and it all occurred after the PV system was permitted and construction started. Nevertheless, the installer was difficult to work with, wasn't very knowledgeable, and provided us with false and misleading information. At one point, the installer said the service panel replacement would not disrupt power to our home!

Any thoughts on my experience? Can any of the delays be attributed to the installer? If yes, would it be unreasonable to request compensation?

[NewBostonConst]

Yes that is excessive.... 4 inspections is crazy....sounds like this guy has no clue what he is doing. Not sure what a court would do but I would ask for money back....not sure if you can hold back money. In that amount of time the cost of the equiptment should have came down, did he buy the stuff at time of contract or at the time of install?

[peakbagger]

This is not a court of law but there are definite issues if you are describing the events correctly. My read is you had a contractor that was in over their head, incompetent or just plain trying to cut corners. My experience with building departments and inspectors is they rely on past projects or at least initial contacts with a contractor to establish if the contractor knows what they are doing. If they had bad experiences in the past or bad initial contacts any further requests are going to the bottom of the pile. In the case of multiple inspections it may be that the contractor was clueless and didn't even understand the inspectors concerns or just decided to try to cut corners. In some cases the contractor expects the inspector to train him on the details of his profession. Same with permitting authorities, there is usually a system in place to get a permit and if the contractor is incompetent or lazy the permitting folks may just elect to disapprove and put revisions to the bottom of the pile.

The one thing that could complicate litigation is the mid course correction for the unpermitted components unless the contractor had acknowledged that that was in the scope.

Unfortunately without funds withheld from payment on the system getting a dime off the contractor is going to be difficult. He is probably a LLC and been to court before. Unless you have meticulous notes and proof the only folks who make out are the lawyers although in some cases the small claims court process can be viable way to get a claim against him but collecting on it still can be an issue.

At this point you need to hope that his work inst dangerous as he could have cut corner that do not become apparent for years that the inspector may have missed.

[bcroe]

My contractor said the array would be operational in 3.5 to 4 weeks, but nothing about
that in the contract. It took 12 weeks, half of that delay because of the PoCo. Since
those weeks were May-June-July I has pretty upset, but I soon managed to get even.
Bruce Roe

[slrcapt]

Regarding the mid-project change. We assumed that part of the work was permitted, when we found out it wasnt, we asked the installer to get a permit.

Part of the reason I'm asking for advice is that I dug through a ton of info to find the stuff in the OP. Most of the communication was over e-mail, so it's decently documented. To their credit, the installer is picking up the repair costs for the fridge as well as interest accrued on the loan while the system is still off.

Honestly, we were quite happy with the installer until our project manager left the company 30-60 days into the project. When their replacement took over, everything went downhill pretty quickly and I had to hand hold them through a lot of the process. At one point, I was calling the County and coordinating inspection visits and plan checks.

[Paul Land]

Long story short: In late July 2018, I signed up with a solar installer to put a 9.1kW system in my home. Little did I know at the time that it would take over 200 days to get it up and running. The installer is claiming it isn't their fault, but I think otherwise. What do you think?

The details: From the day we signed the contract, it took us 219 days to get PTO. Of that...

• We spent 46 days in planning, since the installer had issues sourcing a battery (which we eventually took out of the project)
• We spent 70 days in permitting: 11 days at the County for review, 59 at the installer for corrections
• We spent 61 days in inspections (inspector came 4 times and installed kept forgetting to address problems from past inspections)
• We spent 15 days in construction spanning three separate visits
• Contractor fried my fridge twice
• We started making payments on the system before PTO

Our solar contract says work will be done within 60 days, not including delays out of the installer's control. While I agree that stuff like permitting and County inspections are out of their control, I feel our case was a bit excessive. Most of the permitting time was when the ball was in the installer's court and they could have done a more thorough job to avoid continual failed inspections.

In all fairness, we requested a permit mid-project, for a previously un-permitted component of the project that was already part of the original scope. This added about 11 days and it all occurred after the PV system was permitted and construction started. Nevertheless, the installer was difficult to work with, wasn't very knowledgeable, and provided us with false and misleading information. At one point, the installer said the service panel replacement would not disrupt power to our home!

Any thoughts on my experience? Can any of the delays be attributed to the installer? If yes, would it be unreasonable to request compensation?

When I use to write contracts it contained specific payment due/ time line for line-item punch list. If we had over run due to permits, weather or back orders that was in contract.
This sounds like you needed to do more on your part ie: references, BBB check ,pay only 10% to start job not 30%-50% and 3 quotes. the only control you have over job is the money. Time line should have been under 90 Days your installation company did not have good relations with city hall. Just might have pushed them around to much. You need a good working relationship these bureaucrats they hold all the cards.

[slrcapt]

When I use to write contracts it contained specific payment due/ time line for line-item punch list. If we had over run due to permits, weather or back orders that was in contract.
This sounds like you needed to do more on your part ie: references, BBB check ,pay only 10% to start job not 30%-50% and 3 quotes. the only control you have over job is the money. Time line should have been under 90 Days.

That's the funny part. We did shop around and do our research before signing up. A family friend actually recommended this installer. Their contract has a split payment schedule, because PTO was a few days ago, we havent sent this last check.

[Paul Land]

That's the funny part. We did shop around and do our research before signing up. A family friend actually recommended this installer. Their contract has a split payment schedule, because PTO was a few days ago, we havent sent this last check.

Family friend Humm hows that going. I hired a Biz friends Sub-Cont, he work was great till he came and worked for my crew. I am not talking to Jim much after that. We all get burned just make it a learning lesson.

[JSchnee21]

Faster, cheaper, better. You cannot have all three. Hopefully you got cheaper because you struck out on faster and better isn't looking to good.

That said, my system seemed to take quite a while as well. Probably ~4 months (I'd have to go back and look) but most of this seems to be due to a break down in communication between the solar company and the roofing company. Once the install got started in earnest, it only took a month or so. But, all of my inspections (2) passed the first time and there was no issues procuring the equipment.

Still, I was kind of surprised it took that long. It's really only a week of work at most (given two installers and an electrician) and that's being generous. Granted lining up the permits, inspections, engineering drawings, and interconnect agreement will add a week or so.

[slrcapt]

Faster, cheaper, better. You cannot have all three. Hopefully you got cheaper because you struck out on faster and better isn't looking to good.

Honestly, this installer was middle of the road in terms of price. They priced out around $3.53/W, while some of my other quotes were higher and lower.

[slrcapt]

Thought I'd share an update. I've been talking with the installer about this and they claim no fault for the delays, under the belief that permitting and inspection delays are out of their control.

However, they did offer to reimburse me about 50% of the amount I originally requested. Considering I can always file a complaint with the CSLB and/or write a review of my experiences on the web, does this sound like a fair compromise?

[J.P.M.]

Thought I'd share an update. I've been talking with the installer about this and they claim no fault for the delays, under the belief that permitting and inspection delays are out of their control.

However, they did offer to reimburse me about 50% of the amount I originally requested. Considering I can always file a complaint with the CSLB and/or write a review of my experiences on the web, does this sound like a fair compromise?

You are the sole arbiter of what you consider fairness. If you think it isn't, go to arbitration.

[Ben25]

I'm just here to ask how they managed to fry your refrigerator, twice!?

[slrcapt]

I'm just here to ask how they managed to fry your refrigerator, twice!?

They worked on the breaker panel twice and I guess a surge went through the fridge each time. Their own guys fixed it the first time, the second time we got fed up and got a professional to do it.

[inetdog]

The most likely repeatable mistake they could make that would fry a refrigerator (or anything else) would be disconnecting a feeder neutral without first disconnecting the hot wires or opening all breakers it fed or interrupting the neutral of an MWBC (circuit with two hots from opposite sides of the line and a shared neutral.

Any undervoltage would overheat the motor, but its thermal overload should have protected it. Any overvoltage could easily destroy the electronics in the control board of a newer unit.

Blaming a "surge" is a total cop out.