How To Choose the Best Solar Panel Maintenance Company

If you’re looking into hiring a separate team to maintain your solar panels, you should do the same homework you did when choosing an installer. And in truth, only qualified professionals should come into contact with your solar panel system, making choosing the right company absolutely critical. If not, you put your solar panels at risk of being mismanaged and possibly voiding your warranty. This article will review how to choose the best solar panel maintenance company to help you find the right team to care for your solar panels.

Look Into Certifications

First and foremost, the people who are going to be working with your solar panels should be qualified to work with your solar panels. While many workers need to take particular courses, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have done so or have obtained the qualifications necessary. There’s nothing wrong with talking to your contractor and inquiring about their qualifications as well as the team’s qualifications. In truth, you should be able to easily access a company’s certifications.

For example, Solar Restore is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. In order to be certified by this organization, you must meet particular requirements, agree to a code of ethics, and pass a written exam. Additionally, once certified, continuing education courses and experience requirements are necessary to stay certified.

Workers need to be intimately familiar with the system, and while solar panels certainly aren’t flimsy, they are expensive. You want to mitigate any chance of damage or mismanagement as much as possible, and choosing a company with the right certifications can do just that. If a company is secretive about whether they have the right qualifications, that’s a red flag.

Compare Prices and Services

Once you’ve looked at a few companies and determined whether they’re properly certified, it’s time to look at the services they offer and what their prices are. Most companies will give you a free estimate, which is key, but the last thing you want is for the company to be secretive about its pricing. This is a huge red flag, and you should keep an eye on any business that isn’t fully transparent.

Many solar panel maintenance companies will over panel cleaning, system inspections, repair, and more. Here at Solar Restore, we offer all those things, including removal, reinstallation, and bird-proofing services. If a company doesn’t have the service your solar panel system needs, it’s time to move on to the next one.

Hopefully, at this point, you’ve found a handful of companies that are certified and offer the services you need. Now you need to compare the prices of those services. You may have to talk to a few different contractors to get the overall feel. But let’s take cleaning services as an example; on average, the cost to clean a solar panel system ranges between $15 to $25 per panel. It’s a good idea to get an average of what most companies cost in the US and compare it to the prices of other companies to see if you’re getting the best deal possible.

Look at Past History and Experience

While getting the best deal is great, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor, as no amount of money can make up for cheap work or damaged panels. You should also take a look into each company’s history and experience. Many contractors will tell you how long they and the company have been in the business, but some less experienced companies may not be as keen. This is not necessarily because they lack the knowledge or expertise, but because many solar panel owners don’t feel comfortable working with newer companies, and with good reason.

If a newer solar company goes under, the owner is left without the maintenance team that they trust. The last thing you want is for a company to go under and drop you in the middle of a project. If a company isn’t comfortable telling you how long they’ve been in the business, this can be a red flag that you need to watch out for.

Look at Online Reviews

So you’ve found an experienced, well-priced company that has the qualifications necessary to get the job done! Congratulations—that certainly isn’t an easy task. But all these things don’t necessarily mean the company will get the job done well. Luckily, it’s very likely that an experienced company will have plenty of reviews from previous clients, and these clients are likely homeowners near you. And due to the wonders of the internet, finding reviews for past projects is easy.

While many company websites may contain a section that lists some reviews, the place to get the honest truth will be from social media and other search engine results. There, you can get a better idea as to the quality of their work and their customer service.

Now, while your first instinct may be to drop a company when you see a bad review, it’s smart to look at a bad review against the others. The customer that left a bad review may have had a one-off poor experience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the company as a whole is to blame. If you’re still unsure, there’s no shame in inquiring as to why the bad review may have occurred to get a different perspective. While online reviews shouldn’t be the end all be all, they can certainly aid you in the process of choosing the best solar panel maintenance company.

Observe Core Values

Most companies will have some sort of mission statement or set of core values that they’ll put on their website, brochure, or other sources of information. While these mission statements are usually for marketing purposes, there is truth in them, and a company’s core values should reflect yours. If their values and processes aren’t aligned with you and what you need, how can you truly rely on them? Being able to trust a solar panel company is critical because the workers are the ones handling your investment—and, subsequently, your money. If you don’t have the ability to form that tight professional relationship that will last, you won’t have a maintenance team you can count on.

Talk With the Team

Before making your final decision, talk to the people who will be working on your solar panels. Face-to-face contact and conversation can be the best way to gauge if everything you’ve learned about the company so far is true. Sometimes, the company you want isn’t the most affordable or the most experienced; rather, the company you want is honest, open, reliable, and trustworthy. If you’ve found a company that’s trustworthy, meets your needs, and fits your budget, you’ve truly hit the jackpot.

Now that you know how to choose the best solar panel maintenance company, there’s one final question you need to ask: what do you value most? Is it price, experience, qualifications, or something else?

Solar Restore is a solar energy company that specializes in maintenance and value building strong relationships throughout our community. Whether you decide to work with us, we’re dedicated to providing you with the advice, knowledge, and education necessary to help you maintain your solar panels.