We have one Entry Level NABCEP employee. I, myself, am not certified. In our neck of the woods I have never heard of any prospective customer asking our sales reps if we are NAPCEP certified. Not one. Even our most inquisitive and well-read customers are not very concerned with certifications. They want to know our *references* and *experience*.
All else being equal, would customers likely hire a recent NABCEP certified installer with 5 years experience and 100kW under their belt or a non-certified installer with 15 years of experience and 1mW? NABCEP can advertise whatever they want (darned 1st amendment). But good solar salespeople will always have a way to counter the certification argument. I know of at least one NABCEP certified installer in my area. In fact, he's probably reading this right now. I've seen his work. He's a great installer. He may be one of the most experienced and capable installers in our area. But I don't think he's getting lots of jobs because of his certification, per se, at least for now... I could be wrong; and if I am, maybe I'll see you in NABCEP training soon! Jason Szumlanski Fafco Solar -----Original Message----- From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of wire...@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 8:13 AM To: re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Subject: [RE-wrenches] Problem with NABCEP ad Hello Wrenches, NABCEP has a full page ad in Home Power magazine that tells potential PV buyers to "Insist on a NABCEP Certified Installer". That's a great ad if you are certified but not so good if you are not. I know many of you are but lots of us are not yet certified. NABCEP is doing a great job to ensure that PV is installed by qualified personal but is it their job to unintentionally cause non NABCEP certified installers who are otherwise very qualified to lose business. I don't think so. I contacted NABCEP about the consequences of this ad and actually asked them to stop running it or at least tone it down so it doesn't cause installers like to me to lose business. They disagreed with me. Am I being too sensitive here? Thank you. Larry Liesner Wirewiz Westport, CT Phone: 203-644-2404 Fax: 203-557-0556 wire...@gmail.com www.wire-wiz.com _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
