Southard Solar & Construction review: Solar panel installation

Doug Southard Is A Pathetic Excuse Of A Man

In short, Doug Southard hustles every homeowner he can talk to until he gets paid. After that, good luck. You are left out to dry with Xcel, Enphase, and even the county inspector. I can’t believe the man hasn’t been held personally liable for all the grossly negligent jobs he’s hired cut-rate guys to do. Never do business with this slob. His pathetic existence keeps lurching ever forward to con the next homeowner he can find. Details to follow.

I made my first mistake by blindly choosing Southard to install panels without any prior diligence or comparing quotes from other installers. There’s a reason the big guys in the space have so many positive reviews. After getting some dirt on him with previous clients and competitors, I came to learn that Doug’s strategy is to undercut any other quotes you get for panels. He can do this because of his complete lack of staff. His business model is to buy panels wholesale, do the absolute minimum (through Amanda Borchardt) for analyzing the roof and modeling production in PVWatts, then hiring borderline homeless men to punch holes in your roof and mount these panels. Because I am a reasonably respectable person I paid Doug promptly after installation, and that’s where things got quiet for almost an entire year. Yes, a whole year passed before we could turn on our panels. It was a fight to get Amanda to submit the required diagrams to Xcel, and to top it all off, we sustained thousands of dollars in damages because the installers missed the beams. Our roof was leaking for many months before we noticed. Of course, Doug never stepped up to the plate and admitted fault or apologized. It was a miracle that I even got him to give me the name of his business liability insurance, WHICH IS AUTO OWNERS INSURANCE, AND YOU SHOULD FILE A CLAIM AGAINST HIM WITH THEM IF YOU CAN. We ended up getting thousands from them to help fix the roof. They were slow, but great. Get every penny you are owed and fight. Don’t let him get away with it. Thank you for reading – a Littleton homeowner that fought to the bitter end for what’s right.