Meet architect and self-described “techie-guy,” Eric Roberts. Eric has been living and working as an architect for 15 years. Like many of you, Eric thought about going solar for a long time before actually making the leap. When he got a $600 utility bill during his first summer in his new house, he knew something had to change. Find out what it was about Freedom Forever that made him comfortable enough to finally make the switch and how the whole process worked out for him.
What was your first experience with Freedom Forever like?
Eric: Dealing with Freedom Forever, when they showed up at the door, was… It started as a typical door approach. I’m sure it’s happened to most people when someone shows up at your door. And I was busy doing something else. And when I talked to Jared, he was not pushy. He said if we could come back another time, I could leave us some information… But I thought I would ask him some questions because I knew enough about solar from the commercial side that I was gonna check him on his data. I would question and he would answer to the best of his ability. He didn’t overdo anything that he talked about and over-promise anything. I was very happy with that. It wasn’t high pressure and it wasn’t, “You have to do this today because it’s the summer blowout.” It was done at my pace… And I loved that.
Were there any unexpected challenges during your product installation?
Eric: One of the things we appreciated about Freedom Forever was during the design process. There were some aesthetic concerns with the layout of the panels on the roof. They actually moved the layout and changed the layout to be something that my wife would like and still get the electrical production that we needed on the home. And that was fantastic for us. So the installation process was really straightforward once we had approved the layout. They came out and it took them a day, maybe two days max, to get the things installed. They did run into a hiccup. The inspector came out and he wanted something moved three inches off the ridgeline, three inches on our roof. But they came out. They did it. They took a day. They had the crew on the roof and moved it into a position where we could get it approved and operating as quickly as they could.
Are you using the Freedom Forever app yet? And if so, how do you like it?
Eric: So it’s very cool to show how much power we’re producing. And for a techie guy like me. I have an app on my phone and I can show you any moment of the day how much energy I’m producing,(and) how much energy I produced last week. It’s so cool to look at it. And sometimes I’ll just open at the office and say, “oh, there it is. Still working, still going.”
So are you happy you went solar with Freedom Forever?
Eric: I think there’s a lot of decisions that we have to make day to day as parents, dads… The decisions that make a difference, I think, are the ones that are lasting and will hold true to the promise. Making the decision to go solar with Freedom Forever. I know is a good decision because the promise we made 18 months ago has been true. Day after day after day. And not only can my kids see the benefit of living an efficient and sustainable lifestyle, but they have more money to do things that we want to do as a family besides just paying a power company.