I am an electrical engineer and contractor so my first thought was to use my own crew to install the solar on my home. I contacted AWS solar in order to learn more about the process and after talking with the owner, Frank, I realized that there is much more to solar than simply putting panels on the roof. It quickly became clear that to precisely analyze the system requirements, create the design, do all the technical drawings and permits and figure out the best way to install the footings etc. it would not make sense for me to try and do it if AWS could do it at a reasonable cost. The price that Frank gave me made sense and all of his energy projections have been accurate. I am now saving a good amount of $$$ each month and his great warranty against leaks gives me absolute peace of mind.

I was building a new home and wanted to incorporate solar energy not just for the home but also because I have two EV’s. I contacted AWS Solar and was immediately impressed with the detailed questions that they asked. They were very keen to get as much information as possible about my appliances and my lifestyle regarding when I used energy as I didn’t have any significant utility history at this newly constructed home. They asked me also about how many miles the cars would be driven each year and showed me exactly how they calculated the extra energy I would need to charge both the cars. The installation was flawless and the crew and technicians clearly knew what they were doing as I kept a close eye on the first day of the installations. Good attention to detail in what they did. True enough, my energy needs are zero with the net metering system and I will save many thousands of dollars over the coming years. Good work by AWS Solar.S.

2018: We decided late last year to go for solar, given our high energy bill and wanting to get federal tax credits both for solar panels and a new electric car (at the time the new tax bill included provisions to remove both credits in 2018). As a consequence, we had a tight deadline to complete the project before the year-end, and I had doubts we were going to be able to do it. I initially talked with Tesla/Solar City and a couple of other local installers and their quotes came in so high, they made me reconsider the whole project. Fortunately I found Frank through a personal contact and he gave me a more reasonable quote; more importantly he gave me a timeline which I thought was very aggressive, but it would have allowed me to get the credits for 2017. Frank walked me through all the steps, calculated the size of the installation including the new car, discussed financing options available, and I decided to go ahead with him. We got the whole thing completed on December 28, and I look forward to paying only $10/month to LADWP while running two cars on electricity. Given that, the panels will have paid for themselves in less than 5 years; we already got back (March) the LADWP and federal tax credit incentives. Overall very happy. One-year update (2019). AWS guaranteed a 12,000kW production during the first year; the system was officially connected on February 7, 2018. For the balance of 2018, the system produced 12,560kW. Adding the 1/1/2019 to 2/62019 production, production for the last 365 days was 13,200kW, or an extra 10%. Awesome and very happy! 4-year update (2022) - new home in San Diego. Given our experience with AWS at our home in LA, they were our first call when we starting looking at solar options for our new home in San Diego. This turned out to be a great decision, as the owner Frank walked us through all the details of a rather complicated installation - rather than installing our panels on the roof, we opted for two stand-alone solar pergolas with frameless panels from Lumos. Each pergola has a single-surface roof that drains the rain and blocks the sun, giving us a total of about 600 sqft of protected outdoor space. Frank coordinated with the structural engineer, the city, and the contractor that erected the structures, for a flawless installation. Very happy with the energy production and the extra outdoor living space. Highly recommended.

Now that the job is done I have only good things to say about AWS Solar. We got bids from 5 companies. I recommend going with a company that's large enough to have workers' compensation but not a company that's so big that they cover the whole country. AWS was efficient through the whole process. Tim was my POC and he kept me informed every step of the way. Carlos lead the installation and he came for the site survey, both days of installation, and the city inspection. We got 11 solar panels and 2 Enphase 5kWh batteries. If you're going to get solar panels you might as well go all in and get battery backup so that you can power your home if the grid goes down. The installation team was probably about 6 guys (I didn't count). They were all good and did the installation in 2 days just like they said they would. It's working great so far. There's nothing like watching your electric meter go backwards.