Solar install turning out really bad - looking for some help/advice please.

[sensij]

Thanks man...it's almost there, almost! Al that's left to do now is...

• Secure a few PV wires to the underside of the panels (a few wires are touching the roof tiles)
• Add a bond bushing inside the DC disconnect
• Rivet a label to the main panel dead front
• Run 4 PV wires + ground through about 6' of conduit on the roof. This part is probably the most difficult, if it can even be called that. Basically need to cut the wires, run them through conduit and then splice them back together via MC4 connectors.

Thats it, and the project is done...then a re-insepction and hopefully it gets the green tag!

Don't forget that your equipment grounding of the AC Disconnect was also flagged during the first inspection. You'll need to do something different there... go back to the original discussion of that for some ideas.

[HX_Guy]

I wish you luck.

Thanks man...it's almost there, almost! Al that's left to do now is...

• Secure a few PV wires to the underside of the panels (a few wires are touching the roof tiles)
• Add a bond bushing inside the DC disconnect
• Rivet a label to the main panel dead front
• Run 4 PV wires + ground through about 6' of conduit on the roof. This part is probably the most difficult, if it can even be called that. Basically need to cut the wires, run them through conduit and then splice them back together via MC4 connectors.

Thats it, and the project is done...then a re-insepction and hopefully it gets the green tag!

[SunEagle]

Revised permit APPROVED!

I saw the approved on the city's website and sent a text to the installer a bit saying "Saw the permit was approved, when can the inspection be rescheduled and the other items fixed?"...and of course no answer. But I'm hoping for Thursday this week? *fingers crossed*

I wish you luck.

[HX_Guy]

Revised permit APPROVED!

I saw the approval on the city's website and sent a text to the installer a bit saying "Saw the permit was approved, when can the inspection be rescheduled and the other items fixed?"...and of course no answer. But I'm hoping for Thursday this week? *fingers crossed*

[HX_Guy]

Received a letter from the ROC today, basically a CC of what they mailed to him informing him that a formal complaint has been filed against him. A copy of the complaint was also mailed to him.

The letter say he has 15 days to submit a written response dressing the allegations and provide any documentation supporting his response.

There is also a separate page that goes over the process. It says that if the investigation requires an onsite inspection, both me and the installer are advised to be preset (now that would be interesting!).
Items covered during an investigation would be:

Information furnished by the complainant
Information furnished by the respondent
Information gathered at the job site
Photographs taken during the jobsite visit
Building codes
Plans and specifications
Industry standards

If the ROC determines that items require correction, a Written Directive will be send to the respondent. The ROC may decide to issue a citation to the contractor and there are different ways that could end up anywhere from the contractor fixing the problems to ending up in a hearing.

[Alisobob]

..... that changes my pay back period from about 10 years to about 3 years.

Bummer about the permit...

[HX_Guy]

What's frustrating is how did this guy not even think to ask what is required for a permit revision? After the inspection failed and I called the city to see what would be needed to file a revision, they gave me a list of items:

1. Letter of changes
2. Two copies of revised permit
3. $150 fee
4. 5 day review period

Did he not even think to ask? I swear it seems like he is dragging this out on purpose, I can't think of any other reason why it's been such a long process.

[foo1bar]

Perhaps it's city-specific. I've been to my city's permit counter and I've seen contractors just red-line in front of the clerk and hand it to them.

That works probably at most places...
Works in my city too. I had to make a change on my permit, and I just made sure it was in red so that it was easy to see. For the simple change I was making it was no charge and was done in less than a minute once I got to the front of the line.

Basically they need something that makes it clear to the reviewer what changed (and maybe why it changed). Then the reviewer can do their job effectively.

[HX_Guy]

In reality that shouldn't have dragged it out even more, it could have been a lot quicker...the work required to pull new wires could have been done in under an hour easily, heck with wires already in place, you could probably use the old wires as a snake and just pull the new wires though replacing the old ones. This could have been done the day after inspection failed and we'd be done with the re-inspection by now.

The route of resubmitting the permit however is cheaper for him and less actual physical work...though with all the trips he has to make back and forth to the development debt, he'll probably end up spending more time than if he just had done the work.

[Volusiano]

And of course the installer isn't answering my call or text. I'd offer to write up the summary letter myself if it would be helpful, I live a lot closer to my city's development dept than the installer is and could have the letter to them first thing in the morning. Seems my installer is in no hurry but I'm going to go nuts if he takes 30-40 days to resubmit like he did the last two times when the permit was denied.

I think reversing the payment may be on deck.

I assume he already got paid with the barter money so it's really not in his interest at this point to close this chapter up quickly. Heck, he may even be sloppy on purpose to prolong the agony to drive you nuts deliberately, especially since you had filed a formal complaint on him. And of course he's not going to answer your text or call now either in light of the complaint.

I think you'll have to push hard to reverse the payment as quickly as possible and only reinstate payment if he passes inspection. That's the only kind of talk and leverage he'll respond to now after you've filed the complaint with the ROC on him.

And FWIW, I think the right thing to do is to focus on making changes to the permit instead of making changes to meet the original permit's specs. It's out of your control anyway which course of action he decides to take to solve the issue. Just be glad he's smart enough to take the least resistance path here to change the permit. Who knows what other screw-up may entail if he actually gets back out on-site and pull new wires to match the old permit? That'll just drag it on even more.

[control4userguy]

I'd expect a revision summary page to be required....

Perhaps it's city-specific. I've been to my city's permit counter and I've seen contractors just red-line in front of the clerk and hand it to them.

[HX_Guy]

And of course the installer isn't answering my call or text. I'd offer to write up the summary letter myself if it would be helpful, I live a lot closer to my city's development dept than the installer is and could have the letter to them first thing in the morning. Seems my installer is in no hurry but I'm going to go nuts if he takes 30-40 days to resubmit like he did the last two times when the permit was denied.

I think reversing the payment may be on deck.

[Living Large]

Called the city and they said it was submitted without a revision summary page, so the person looking at the permit had no idea what changes to look for.

At least the installer is consistently poor in his lack of attention to detail. There's something to be said for that - but not fit for a public website.

[foo1bar]

Called the city and they said it was submitted without a revision summary page, so the person looking at the permit had no idea what changes to look for. You would think the installer would know how to submit a permit revision.

This is exactly why I would have preferred to just fix the items to match the permit vs messing with an approved permit, but of course my installer wouldn't listen.

I'd expect a revision summary page to be required.
OR some other method to show what was being changed. (ex. big red circle around the change)
Something so that it's clear what was changed (and why).

FWIW, I think changing the permit is the right thing to do. But if they really want to charge a significant amount like you had stated they would, then matching the permit makes sense.

[HX_Guy]

Sorry to hear. Did they say why? So next option would be to rerun the wires to meet the old permit specs?

Called the city and they said it was submitted without a revision summary page, so the person looking at the permit had no idea what changes to look for. You would think the installer would know how to submit a permit revision.

This is exactly why I would have preferred to just fix the items to match the permit vs messing with an approved permit, but of course my installer wouldn't listen.