Gerard Roofing Systems [RE-wrenches]

Tue Dec 2 06:57:15 PST 2003

Does anyone have a solar electric system installed on a Gerard
(www.Gerardusa.com) roofing system?? I have a homeowner in the panhandle of
Florida who is ordering one from the manufacturer. I understand this metal
roofing system is popular in Southern California. The Gerard roofing system
looks like tiles or shingles etc. but is a ceramic coated metal roof. Does
anyone have a picture of one on a Gerard roof? Any details about
installation would be accepted.

Gator Tom
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Allan Sindelar" <allan at positiveenergysolar.com>
To: "New wrenches posting" <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:50 AM
Subject: Installing Systems Bought Elsewhere [RE-wrenches]

> Tom Lane and Fellow Wrenches,
>
> Tom, you posted the excerpt below back on 2/25/01. I saved it because it
had
> good advice, and recently came across it. The last paragraph, about
> installing equipment bought elsewhere, led me to some questions. This also
> seems like a relevant topic for all of us, so I'm asking it here.
>
> We generally offer a year's general warranty on our design and
installation
> work. We cover labor (and travel on jobs not too far away) on warranted
> product failures during this initial year as well. This is satisfactory in
> general to our customers, and in most cases there are no warranty trips
> necessary.
>
> We also have a general policy that we won't install equipment bought
> elsewhere. Partly, this is to encourage customers to buy their hardware
from
> us, as good business policy. We bend this policy on a case-by-case basis,
> generally with a disclaimer that reads, in its most formal
contract/proposal
> wording, as: "We honor all manufacturers' warranties and will repair or
> replace defective components according to each manufacturer's stated
> warranty terms. Our installation work is generally guaranteed for one year
> against failures due to our error. During this year, we will also cover
> labor [we sometimes add (but not travel)] on warranted product failures.
> However, we will only assume product warranty service liability for those
> products that we have both supplied and installed. This applies both to
> manufacturers' product warranties and to our standard one-year warranty on
> installation work performed. Positive Energy is not liable for any
warranty
> coverage for equipment not provided by us, whether or not we install that
> equipment."
>
> But we all know that the last person who works on a system gets blamed for
> anything that goes wrong.
>
> 1. How do you deal with followup and warranty support when you install
> equipment you didn't sell?
> 2. How do you protect yourself when something breaks that you installed
but
> didn't sell? What if it damages something else that you supplied?
> 3. What if the client claims that faulty installation caused the problem?
> 4. What happens when it's apparent that the equipment set is poorly
matched,
> or you suspect that the finished system isn't a good match for the
> customer's application? Human nature and ego are at work here, both yours
> and the customer's. What do you advise? Do you add missing pieces? Do you
> just install hardware supplied, even if you know it won't work well in the
> system? If not, and you sell part of a system (the part that makes it work
> well) when and how do you warrant overall performance? (For example, we
once
> had to analyze and rebuild a system with a DR2424, an LED voltmeter and
> forty golf cart batteries that had crashed three months after
installation.)
>
> Looking for discussion here to help us all...
> Thanks,
> Allan at Positive Energy
> Tom Lane on How to Charge for Design and Installation
>
> I am in total disagreement that contractors and wrenches who work for a
> living for their families should give away their time and knowledge to the
> "uneducated public". No other profession gives away their time and
knowledge
> for free. Solar hot water and solar pool heating systems are simple
systems
> with basic rules of thumb that enable you to give a consumer rough cost
> estimates and free job surveys and quotes. Not so with solar electric
> systems. Read Bob-O's & Richard Perez's article in Home Power #81 on what
to
> expect from a professional solar electric contractor.
>
> Our Fees
>
> ECS charges $500 to $2000 to custom design and specify all the equipment
> with price breakdowns that include labor. If some pilgrim wants to take
our
> list and shop the internet or call a discounter advertising in Home Power
> that's fine. I've been paid for providing an education and a shopping
list.
>
> If you don't value your time, no one else will. We typically refund half
of
> our design time charge, if the customer buys the system as specified. If
> they bring a shopping list and want a quote that's different. Some of you
> new contractors don't know how many professional engineering firms will
take
> advantage of you to quote or do their design work for them - that they're
> getting paid for!
>
> We provide basic educational brochures and information for free to people
to
> gain a basic understanding. We teach courses each semester at our local
> community college for the beginning pilgrim. We all do missionary work at
> trade shows, etc.
>
> When someone buys the equipment and wants us to install it for them, we're
> glad to charge them by the hour for our labor. It's pure profit when you
> charge by the hour for a crew. They pay for all the time it takes, holding
> us up driving or taking a boat or plane back to the mainland to get parts
or
> dealing with defective equipment. All the normal glitches a professional
> runs into costs the client money instead of our loss of profit when we run
> into Murphy's Law.
>
> Tom Lane
>
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>
>
>

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