As an engineer with >30 years of experience, I know that I am a tough sell. Several solar companies were going door to door to solicit business in our area, so I explored their proposals while also investigating other solar companies serving El Paso. In short, Solar Smart Living (SSL) secured my contract and they blew the competition out of the water!
SSL had the best components, their own experienced employees in all areas (sales, engineering, installation, and accounting), actual leadership engagement, great service, fast response times, on-time delivery and a great PRICE! Other companies couldn't compare in any of these categories. The others seemed more interested in selling financing deals than quality systems. Most companies contract out the installation, do not provide full local service, and use one or more components that are not satisfactory.
My experience with SSL, was outstanding from start to finish. Mike Allen in the sales department took the lead providing the initial presentation and excellent service throughout the project. Mike was far more versed in solar than the representatives from the other contenders. Due to the technical nature of some of my questions, when Mike couldn’t answer me, he lined up Javier in SSL Engineering to answer me. (NOTE - with all of the other solar companies I was never able to talk to an actual person in their engineering department or their leadership.) The owner of SSL, Larry Perea answered my questions about his business history and practices, and even texted me when he was out of town.
The fourth quarter is SSL's busiest season as customers want their systems installed by year end to take advantage of the tax incentive. When I signed the contract, SSL said the system would be installed by year end and they even beat their mid-December install target date by several days.
Throughout the project SSL took care of everything effectively: design, approval with EP Electric, permits, installation, inspection, meter updates with EP Electric and commissioning. Tony, Austin, and the installation crew were great and on time. Tony is a journeyman electrician who's been with SSL for 8 years. He was very knowledgeable and friendly. Austin lead the roof installation and was equally professional. I was able to consult real time with Javier in engineering when some panels needed to be repositioned due to stack penetrations. The repositioning didn’t cause the installation crew to skip a beat. What a great thing to have experienced full-time crews!
After installation, the El Paso inspector was out within a few days. It was another week to wait on EP Electric meters and then they turned on the system. The final step was for the SSL tech to activate the online system-monitoring account with a cool mobile app, and then I paid the final installment with Rosa who was delightful. All in all a great experience and a great deal with a fantastic local company. We are fortunate to have this level of solar company in El Paso!