Joel, Drake, Jerry, Bill, et al,

Here in Shasta County, we have rather efficient inspections when the inspector doesn't know the contractor. On the other hand, I have had inspectors pass my jobs based on my word to complete it (if the inspection was early) or fix it (if the inspector saw something he/she didn't like). I guess my point is that the best inspector out there isn't a photovoltaic expert. They are trusting us. Obviously, they will not allow visually shoddy work to pass, but they can not be expected (nor is it their job) to understand the inter-functioning of a system, or the inner wiring. Their point is: "If it looks good, we're happy. If it doesn't work, the customer is calling you to make it right." If I mess up, the customer has every right to call the California Consumer Protection Agency or the State Licensing Board and report me. They investigate every complaint, and they will pull a license if there are repeated blunders or any evidence of intentional wrongdoing or shortcuts. I receive a bi-monthly report from them which, among other things, list all the contractors in the state who have been disciplined, or had their license pulled or suspended in the past two months. Sort of a California Contractor's Hall of Shame.

Several of you spoke of having to ongoingly repair a competitor's mistakes. I believe we owe it to our fellow contractors to point out their obvious shortcomings on jobs (those we make money on going back to fix). I operate from the "if they knew better, they would do better" philosophy. Anyone who has fixed several installs from the same person who won't make good or change their ways owes it to our industry to report them. A 10 minute phone call to the proper state officials will get the ball rolling. Someone who knows what to do, but takes the quick-and-dirty approach deserves reproach and / or banishment. It CAN be done. I fully support my qualified competitors in doing business in my county but I will hunt down and expose those who would profit without the requisite knowledge to operate in this field. We all make mistakes. Those of us who are professionals learn from them and grow.

I am in the interesting position of helping several local contractors enter the field, to eventually "compete" against me. Two licensed electricians and a general contractor that specializes in energy efficiency. I have invited them to a couple of my installs. I figure that they will be doing it anyway, so why not set a good example. I can't do it for them, but they can learn. They will either become competent RE wrenches or they will do that which will have then removed. I don't really think there are more than a handful of people out there who are intentionally going out there trying to scam. The safeguards ARE in place and WE are a big part of them. I'm more worried about those well-meaning souls who jump in and find the water too deep. My latest encounter was someone who had used "Ohm's Law" to calculate wire size for a 24VDC system. Unfortunately, he forgot to factor in the higher resistance of the reduced voltage and came up a couple of wire sizes too small. I explained his error in a non-judgmental way and suggested he buy an "Electro-Calc" for future wire sizings. He seemed grateful and probably won't make the same mistake again. Will he make some new and exotic mistake next week? Who knows, but I think this is the tact we should use. There is nothing more meaningful in any field than the respect of out peers and competitors. End-of-Diatribe

Baran

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