American Solar Enterprises LLC - Sterling, Virginia

David M.

My company was contracted to replace a roof with solar panels that needed to be detached and reset. I contacted American Solar to perform this task. In July, the detach occurred, the founder of the company passed away. This left us without a company to reset the solar panel on the new roof surface, as no other company would touch it.

This put us in a big spot because we don’t accept final payment until the job is completed. No one was available for months and it seemed like a huge write off was going to happen.

However, in the beginning of December, I reach out to the company again and this time I was able to get through. Joel took 30 minutes of his time…a difficult 30 minutes, as I wasn’t the only one looking for him…and explained his position, which was what it was.

Two weeks later, he’s out reinstalling the panels and we’re back on track to collect our large final payment.

It would have been pretty easy to keep ducking our company and move on, but Joel did what he said he was going to do. Lots of people do that, but Joel was facing people that were rightfully upset and he took the time to make it all right, months after the fact. That’s a very hard thing to do unless you have high integrity, and that’s what American Solar proved to me today.

Ken

Joel and his team are awesome! Prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable…true professionals!

Richard B.

Joel was able to quickly diagnose and resolve our issues. Our system is not necessarily the latest in the solar water heating technology (the company it was purchased from is no longer in this business), but he was very familiar with how it functioned and what was needed. He rerouted the related plumbing so that the system would work more effectively and efficiently with our back up propane hot water heater, repaired a faulty valve which he brought with him, and "recharged" our glycol. We can now use our system again to get the hot water we need while using less propane. I recommend him for his knowledge and skill. Our thanks to Joel for helping us.

Dylan G.

Joel and his team did an excellent job removing and reinstalling our system to accommodate our roof replacement. He was very knowledgeable in all aspects of the job and we'd definitely use him for any future solar system needs. Thanks Joel!

Rick M.

I have trusted American Solar for years. They were the original installers of my solar water heating system years ago, before I owned this home. I have them periodically maintain the system, and this week they removed and reinstalled the system when I had my home reroofed. The technicians were prompt, knowledgeable, courteous, and do very good work. My only caveat is that American Solar is very busy, and that may mean they cannot do the work as soon as you'd hope for. They will, however, work with you to get your project on their schedule. Thanks to Joel and his excellent technicians!

John C.

Needed a corner piece of water pipe replaced for our pool's solar heating system. The two techs were polite and professional, doing the repairs in about 2 hours. Respectful of our property. The only reason I didn't give five stars was that the price was much more than I expected. Would definitely call them again if we need repairs.

L P.

We have worked with American Solar in the past and had a good experience with Joel, the owner, and his assistant, but it appears the company has changed. This week a different crew came to replace some insulation and to install a “critter guard” to keep animals out from under our panels.

When they left, the price of the work was more than 40% higher than what was in the written, itemized estimate. I spoke with Joel, the owner. He told me that the cost of a both the service call and labor had increased, but no explanation was provided for the failure to update the quote. The main increase in the invoice came from the labor time, which was nearly twice what was originally quoted.

I asked if the crew was inexperienced so it took them longer, and he told me that he had sent an experienced team who knew what they were doing. They had called him during the work, however, to report that they were slipping on the roofing shingles, so it took nearly twice the usual time to finish the job. They had even tried to use some kind of a safety harness, but it failed to solve the problem.

I told Joel that it would have been appropriate for the workers to tell the client that they were not feeling safe on the roof before the work was begun. I never would have allowed anyone to continue working on a roof they claimed was dangerous. Joel then told me this was an inexperienced crew who were unable to assess conditions on the roof until they were well into the job, and at that point, they couldn't really stop working.

In sum, I was told that the crew was experienced enough to work efficiently, but they took four hours to complete the job. I was then told they were so inexperienced that they spent those four hours slipping and sliding around on our roof, but we heard no sounds of this inside the house, and nobody informed us there was a problem until it was time to pay. I was told that American Solar decided, without informing us, the homeowners, that they would continue installing materials on a roof that their workers had reported was unsafe. Even setting aside the contradictory statements, we find it difficult to believe that an established company would disregard both safety and liability in this manner.

No offer was made to honor the quoted pricing. No offer was made to honor the quoted labor cost. I was simply thanked for my “feedback” and told that “this is why it's called an estimate.”

We were charged $1200 for 30 feet of insulation and wire guards to keep squirrels from nesting under two solar panels. We paid the invoice in full, an expensive lesson learned. We will use another company for any future needs.

Harvey H.

Personnel were friendly and their explanations were thorough. They did have a couple of missed appointments, but they always communicated this well at the time. My only dissatisfaction was that when they made the first service call to diagnose the problem they didn’t try to pressurize the system. Had they done so then the second call may not have been necessary since pressurization would have quickly determined that the system could not be fixed due to part unavailability. On the positive side they did seal a leak at the roof, which I appreciate.