Lat's Talk Solar Panel Cleaning

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The solar energy market has become increasingly
saturated, leading to widespreadmisinformation and a lack of
transparency.
Welcome to the HarmanSolarpodcast, offering a
straightforward, honestperspective on going solar.
Each episode dives into keytopics to help you better
understand the industry.
Our goal is to educate andempower you to make informed

(00:20):
decisions about solar energy.
While solar may not be theright fit for everyone, we
believe everyone should take thetime to explore it.
Our mission is to increase yourknowledge, not your bills.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another edition of the Harmon Solar
Podcast.
I'm Rob Romano, vp of Sales andMarketing for Harmon Solar, and
with me, as always, I'm notgoing to say my friend this time
, because I didn't like thatlast time, but my coworker.
How's that?
Coworker Ben Walschlager?
You guys know him as MrEverything.
It's good to be here again.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I don't know why that was funny.
Is it really good to be here?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
You always say that, and I just never believe you,
it's good to be here, and now inour new studios, you don't get
free food, I don't get breakfast, so I've noticed that you've
hangry.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
I went downstairs and got a snack.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
You got us, so it's just not the same.
I got a granola bar.
It was good.
That's not the same.
It's not the same.
It's not like getting thosetacos and those quesos and we'll
work on our contract we'll hiresomebody, yeah all right.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
So so, if you're a personal chef, yeah, please dm
us.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yes, all right so today we're going to touch us a
topic that um can be so to somepeople, can be controversial, um
, some people um Not named Ben,but actually is very popular in
the industry and is reallygrowing, and it's something we
thought it was time to reallyget in front of and talk about
and bring somebody on board thatactually has this business and
does it.
So we're going to talk panelcleaning yes, panel cleaning and

(01:39):
today we've got Rick Elmer fromSun Bros.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Yep, nice to meet you guys.
I'm happy to be here and let'sget into it.
Sun Bros.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I like the name Sun.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
Bros.
It's a bunch of bros, bunch ofbros.
Me and my brother started itabout two years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Oh, so two years ago, okay.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou and your background, and
then we'll get into Sun Bros.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Yeah, so quickly.
I'm born and raised in Arizona,grew up out here, played hockey
growing up and I went to GCUbusiness major.
So I did a project aboutbuilding a business, and solar
cleaning is what I fell on.
I was selling solar at the timeand I was like, you know, might
as well look into solarcleaning.
And so I built the wholeproject on it, kind of as like a

(02:19):
like whatever, we'll see how itgoes.
And then my brother graduatedhigh school and I was like, hey,
dude, I have this, I had thisbusiness, like, do you want to
do it?
And we went for it.
And now it's a two years in themaking.
So we were part-time at first.
While I was getting throughschool, finished up playing, he
was still working with my dadlike doing plumbing and stuff.
And then, uh, we just dovestraight in and it's been, it's

(02:40):
been great.
We hired another guy and nowwe're just moving along.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
So this started as a school project.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
That's kind of cool.
That's pretty cool.
I think that's really cool.
It's a school project you get alot of that in college, though,
where they stay in businessclasses and they start projects.
I think that's really neat thatyou guys did that.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Did you get an A on it?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
I did.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
Okay, good, yeah, kids, basically modeling a
business that was alreadyexisting, like some dude was
making, like a food truck andstuff you know, like it's like
Nick Ronald's.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, it's like yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
So it was one of those things where I was like I
can either mess around with itor I actually take it serious
and see what happens.
You know I'm already at school.
You might as well see what Ican get out of it.
So um, so that's what I did.
I went for it.
We bought the equipment off aguy that was retiring out of
solar cleaning, which is thattrailer that you guys saw, um
and that basically gave useverything we needed to get

(03:32):
started, started being indoorsand then, um, that's how we got
our first clients for a while,and now it's now it's grown into
something where it's, uh, beenable to provide us a full-time
job.
So two years, you said you'rein May, may, may is two years,
so just shy.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
All right, it's a cool story.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yep, that is kind of cool.
I mean, what I got out of thatis he went to college and he got
a business class and he starteda business, which I think is
really cool.
He recognized that his brotherwasn't college material, so he
pulled them from't know ifthat's true or not.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
I never saw your gpa.
No, he's great.
He's great.
It's our first episode of beingan entrepreneur.
I mean, we'll start a newpodcast on being an entrepreneur
.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
It's a cool little story, so let's tell people
because we've talked about panelcleaning now for a while, that
we've been doing this over ayear and ben's ben's never been
the hugest fan of it and we'llget into that, we'll get into
those details.
Let's have the expert in thefield, not the guy that thinks
he's an expert.
All right, but the expert Kindof tell us so why should a
customer clean their panels?

(04:33):
What's the benefit of cleaninga panel?

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah.
So other than aesthetics,obviously you're going to see a
production increase.
Now what I like to what me andBen have talked about is it's
not guaranteed you're going tosee an increase.
But what you do by cleaning isyou're going to maximize that
system's output.
So systems have naturaldegradation rates as they get
older, as sun beats on them, sonaturally it's already going to

(04:57):
drop in efficiency.
So what you're doing bycleaning them is you're going to
maximize what that system'sable to do.
Most people are on a fixedmonthly rate for solar, so why
not get everything you can getout of that monthly rate and
then pay whatever's left over toyour actual energy company?
So cleaning one, it's going toboost the integrity of the

(05:19):
system.
So we've seen a little bit ofwarranty issues.
When panels are super dirtythey're like clearly you guys
don't upkeep the system and thathas sparked some issues where
it kind of falls back on thehomeowner.
So by doing the cleaning,you're just one.
Everything needs maintenance,so you're ensuring that it's
going to be performing at itsmaximum Also gives us a chance
when we're up there.

(05:39):
We're not just going to go cleanthem off and leave.
We're going to make surethere's no cracked panels, no
burn spots from just over time,making sure the conduit's in
place, not super loose.
We just like to do a littlecheckup of everything too.
So it's also the peace of mindof hey, they were out here, they
checked everything, everythinglooks good, my system's
producing.
Another way you can look at itas like as a firsthand

(05:59):
diagnostic, for, like, hey, mysystem's not producing well.
Well, I've had it for a coupleyears like cool, have you had
them cleaned?
No, I haven't.
We'll start with that, becauseif the panels are clean, at
least you know that they havethe capacity to to produce.
Then, if something else isgoing wrong, okay, now, let's.
Now let's see if it's invertersor other electrical components,
sure, so that's kind of a longanswer.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Do you want me to get into my spiel now?

Speaker 2 (06:22):
well, I mean, I want you to talk to him, yeah lay
into me a little bit.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Let's see what okay well, I'm not a full skeptic.
What's I mean, ralph?
You know what's?
What's our catchphrase that wesay all the time on the show?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
which one we have, the one that solar is not for
everybody, but everyone shouldtake a look.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Thank you, and I feel the same way about panel
cleaning.
Panel cleaning is not foreveryone, but everyone should at
least take a look.
Explain that.
Here's the reason why you guysdon't work for free, do you?
We do not, so you don't go upthere and clean all the panels.
Do all that work for free.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
Unfortunately not, so there's a cost to it right.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Just like with solar, there's a cost to it and
sometimes it's not financiallybeneficial to the homeowner to
get solar.
Same thing with panel cleanings.
So here, here was my wholethoughts on it.
If you're spending and I'm justthrowing a number out there
because I know pricing is goingto depend on the system size and
all that stuff if you're goingto spend 200 to get your system
cleaned, is that going totranslate to a 200 savings on my

(07:17):
bill?
Now, fair, you know, if, if Ihave solar and oh my, my
electric bill is 250 bucks stillbecause it's not offsetting all
my power, but I went out andgot them cleaned, I spent $200
to get them cleaned Is my billgoing to drop down to $50?
No, it's not going to drop downthat much because they were
clean.
I mean, I guess, if they werereally dirty, maybe.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Maybe it would have to be caked on.
We'll talk about that too,because there are different
levels here.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Sure, but my point is is that upfront cost of paying
for the cleaning going totranslate to a savings on my
bill?
Sure, the answer is depends, itmight.
So the people that are wantingto get their panels cleaned
every single month, paying $200every month, that doesn't make
sense Because now you're payingway too much to get them clean

(08:02):
and you're not seeing thatoverall net savings for the year
paying way too much to get themclean and you're not seeing
that overall net savings for theyear.
Now, if you're getting a panelcleaning like once a year, okay,
that makes sense because you'relike well, I've been saving
about $800 every year andsometimes they get a little
dirty, they go dusty.
Maybe they need a cleaning hereand there once, maybe twice a
year.
So it's okay that I upfrontthat money to get them cleaned

(08:24):
and boost my savings now.
But it's the people that saylike, oh, should I be cleaning
them like every week or everymonth?
I'm like no, because that costsmoney.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's fair.
Yes, and to your defense, youtalk about that.
When we first met, you talkedabout the fact that you won't do
cleanings more than twice ayear.
So talk about your philosophyon that.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
Yeah, so I completely agree with you.
I will straight up, do you hear?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
that he agrees.
He's just being nice, we'll see.
We put that on a loop.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
If a homeowner came to me and said, hey, I want to
clean my panels every month, I'dbe like why, right, why do you
want to do that?
Because I can tell you rightnow that if you're just doing it
for efficiency, you're notgoing to you're going to spend
more money doing it every month,right?
Um, now, if you're like, hey,you know, I get my windows clean
, I get my card detailed, I wantmy panels to look good.
Okay, then we can explore thatonce a month.

(09:15):
I still think it's a little toomuch.
Um, what we recommend is once ayear or twice a year.
A lot of our clients are ontwice a year.
If you're like, hey, I don'tknow if I, if this is really for
me, but cool, let's just do itone time.
We don't even have to do oncehere.
Let's just do it one time andsee if you even see an increase,

(09:35):
right, some people don't.
So that's what me and Ralphspoke about when, or me and you
too, when we first met, is likeI'm never going to sit here and
say every single person needs toclean their system.
That would be like me sayingevery single person needs to
detail their car because itdon't need to.
So it really depends on thesituation where you live.
I would say at least do it oncea year, just for the well-being
of the system.
And like I said at the checkup,has a bird dropped the rock and

(09:58):
broke something?
Do I have nesting under there?
Most homeowners aren't going ontheir roof.
So for the $200, you're gettinga clean system.
We're going to make sureeverything else looks good and
we have all the proper safetyequipment to do it too.
So it saves if the homeownerwants to get them clean.
You're better off paying $200than you slipping off a roof or
trying to sit up there with arag and a hose.

(10:19):
Then you ending up in hospitalor something like that costing
way more than that?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
And if you just used hose water, isn't there an issue
with calcium buildup and otherthings, right?

Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yep, especially in Arizona.
So it's not too much well waterhere, but like more on the
outskirts there is.
But even just normal faucetwater it's has a super high TDS
or parts per million.
So what that means is there's alot of particles within the
water, a lot of calcium in thewater, so you can create hard
spots, make a dry weird on thepanels, actually kind of holding
the dirt to it.

(10:48):
And as far as like theelectrical side goes, you don't
want to use water that has anychance of any like metal
particles, like there's a lot oflike little things in what you
don't know what's in everythingthat's in the water.
So to anyone that's looking todo it, I would always recommend
making sure they either havelike some sort of filtration and
they're using the right brushes.
You don't want to use a superthick brush on there that's

(11:11):
going to scratch or damage thesystem, damage the seals on the
side, so talk about theequipment that you use.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
I mean, let's get specific.
So you've you've just gettinggave us a really good issue and
why you don't want to use a hose.
Yeah, so tell us what are youdoing to make sure that there's
no issues with that stuff?
What do you use?

Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, so we use.
It's a, the actual brand.
It's called an IPC Eagle hydrostation.
So what that has is it has acarbon, a sediment filter.
So there's a two stage rightthere and then it goes through
two, four by 40 RO membranes.
So what that does is thatstrips everything out of the
water, getting 95% of theparticles out of the water.
So if you have a TDS meter, mostfaucets or most hose bibs in

(11:47):
Arizona are going to be withouta water softener, just out of
the hose.
You're looking anywhere from, Iwould say three, 50, I've seen
all the way up to five, 50.
Now our filtration is onlygoing to get 95% of that.
So if you have a 500 TDS,you're still probably going to
end up with like a 50 TDS, whichis a lot better than the 500.
So that filtration systembasically gets everything out of

(12:07):
the water.
That way we can confidentlyclean your system without
leaving lines, without knowingif that water is safe or not.
It's a peace of mind for us aswell as the homeowners.
And then, as far as the actualbrush system, that water gets
pumped up to us out the brush.
It's not super high pressure,that's another thing.
You don't want to use pressurewashers on panels or anything

(12:31):
like that.
So it's a.
It's about 100 psi, which islike if you put your thumb on a
hose.
It's nothing crazy, but that,mixed with the nylon bristles,
you're able to scrub withoutbeing abrasive or damaging the
system or anything like that soit's filtered water.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
Can you drink it?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
I have, yeah, yeah I just I mean a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
I was thinking the same thing a lot of people think
like I don't want chemicals andthis and that you know, I don't
know it'd be kind of cool toshow a video like here's the
water that we use it's the same.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
I mean, I'll also drink hose water, though, so I
don't need to it's the bestwater it really is.
It is.
Yeah, it was like outside doingyard work just drinking the
hose, oh yeah playing outsideand the hose is the only thing
there I love it.
Um, no, it's the same.
Like the ro's, a lot of people,especially in arizona, have ro
systems in their house so it'snothing like crazy, like if a
homeowner has a full ro setupand you really wanted to do it,

(13:16):
I would say, at least get theright brush for it, because if
you just hose the system off,it's like hosing your car off or
hosing off your windows.
It's really not going to do much.
It'll get some of that surfacedust.
But if you're actually cleaningyour system for production,
then I would not recommend justhosing it off.
You want to make sure there's abrush or something involved to
actually I don't recommend ahomeowner doing this at all.

(13:37):
No, either do I, but there areDIY people out there.
I get being a.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
DIY guy.
But I mean, we'll talk aboutthe fact that we actually did it
on my house and we'll talkabout the scariness of that.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
But because you have a two story house and I have a
two story, so that makes it evenworse.
That's a long fall and I have avaulted steep ceilings.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
So it's just, it scared me to watch, sure, but I
mean, you know, if you're, youdon't want to do that, so let's,
let's talk.
So we got the equipment down.
Let's talk about the experience.
If someone's going to use yourservice, from the time you get
there, what's the experience forthe customer?
What's the process?

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah.
So that's one way we try to setourselves apart a little bit,
right, like, at the end of theday, panel cleaning it's a very
once you have everything otherthan the safety.
It's a very simple process,like you're really just
scrubbing the panels.
There's not a lot of complexityto it.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to make sure that
you have an excellent experience, right?
So I know every company saysthat, but that really does touch

(14:32):
heart with us.
When we show up, we're going tomake sure our guys match.
They're smiling, they're happyto be here.
We're not, hey man, we're goingto clean your panels.
We want to make sure they'rehappy and energetic.
Yeah, you don't want to show upand be like oh, it's the
cleaners again.
You know like we want to makesure you guys are happy to see
us.
So from the beginning, if youcall us, you're going to get
texting updates.
So a lot of our clients willbook six months out and I don't

(14:55):
expect them to remember oh,they're coming on the 21st you
know, so you'll get a two weektext saying, hey, we're on our
way.
You also get a two day textsaying, hey, here's your
appointment, and then an on theway text.
So we're super communicativewhen it comes to that side of
things.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Let me stop you so that I had this.
I went through this process andit absolutely does work like
that.
I got a text when it gotconfirmed.
I got a text a couple of daysbefore.
I got a text the day of let meknow what time they're going to
be there.
So communication was phenomenal.
Communication was phenomenal.
Loved every bit of that.
Go ahead, it's good.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yeah, so, and that's one like not to go too far off
topic, but in a lot of homeservice they'll be like oh, I'll
be by from eight to five.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's like, uh, all right, you know, sit around and
not do anything all day.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yeah, and then it's.
The day goes on.
I might be seven o'clock.
It's like very, it's very widerange.
So what we do is we have a twohour timeframe.
So I think for you we did likenine to 11 or 11 to something
like that.
So at least if no one has to behome either, but if you want to
be home, you know what, at leastwhat timeframe we're coming in
after that we're if you guys areworking from home, that's
another thing.
We're not just going to sitthere and bang on your door, get

(15:56):
the dogs barking.
We make sure we ask you beforethere, or do you want us to
knock your door and let you knowwe're there?
So that's another thing.
I ask whenever I book a job.
But we'll ask, we'll leave themwith a little brochure just
explaining our story a littlebit.
If you're not home, it's hardfor us to leave our brand mark,
you know, like without gettingto talk to you.
So we'll leave a little flyersaying hey, this is me and my

(16:18):
brother's company, this is whatwe do.
Here's a little coupon for nexttime, or little coupons if you
want to hop on a plan After thecleaning, we would do.
Put a little Sombra sign in theyard just saying, hey, we
cleaned your panels, which Idon't know if we did for you,
but if not, I'll put a double inyour yard next time.
Two signs, I want two signs,yeah, but we put a sign in the

(16:40):
yard, and then same thing.
So when you paid your milliondollar invoice with us, it was
expensive oh my gosh, I was justthrowing out 200.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
I don't want to say the actual because of this.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
It's crazy but when you get the, when you're done,
you get a text saying hey, ifyou enjoyed our work, take the
time to leave.
Please leave us a review.
Um, if you have any friendsthat want to do it, here's a
referral code, this and that.
So, um, as far as the goes, wejust want to make sure that you
guys enjoy us being there.
We want our customers not tojust call us because I mean,
obviously, to get their panelsclean, but, hey, we want to be a

(17:11):
part of what you guys are doing, like this is cool.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
At the end of the day , I I'll tell, like you hey,
anyone can clean your you cancall any company to clean your
panels, but at the end of theday, if I show up and I'm like,
dude, move your damn car, I needto clean my panels.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
You know like if depending on, I actually had to
move my car, and I think he saidmove your damn car.
Sorry for my, for my language,but no, it's just an experience
thing too.
We like as far as setting usapart, cause, yeah, like, a lot
of companies may have thefiltered water, they may have
the brushes, but are you goingto get treated how you want to
get treated?
At the end of the day, we'reworking on your home, right,
we're working on top of yourroof.
Trust is the number one thing.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Um, yeah, that's a long-handed answer, but no, it's
a good answer and I I willvouch for you because I had the
experience and communication wasfantastic.
Um, the way you guys did yourjob was you can tell that you
actually cared about what wasgoing on.
Your brother is crazy forgetting on that roof and what he
does.
I mean we want, we had a, wehad a GoPro attached to him, so

(18:10):
we're going to have to give you,we're going to share some video
with you guys, some in thispodcast and some outside of it.
Um, but you can kind of see theexperience and what it was and
it's I wouldn't get on my roof.
It's just insane.
He did it and it was fantastic.
Um, really good experience.
And then afterwards, what Ireally liked, after he came to
me and explained everything, hehe comes up to me and says, okay
, this is what we've done, thisis the invoice, this is how it

(18:32):
works.
Here's your pictures.
You give me before and afterphotos, which I thought was
phenomenal.
So I got to see how the cleaningimpacted, especially if the one
thing we did on the, on theblue panel some people, some
people have blue panels, we haveblack, the bluer ones.
You can't see it as much, butyou can in the pictures you can
see, and he did this thing wherehe was touching the panels to
see the dust and he was watchingwatch me on it and it was fun,

(18:53):
but they were dirty.
I I've so little background.
I've had my system up sinceOctober of 2016.
It's the dirt that was comingoff of them.
Yeah, and the cool thing was wewere able to, because I have

(19:16):
that that's like an off-grid onmine and we can actually look at
the production of the panelsreal time.
So we saw the production dropwhen he was sitting there and
cleaning it and, putting youknow, shading it basically yeah
and then, once he stoppedshading it, we saw an eight
percent increase um inproduction and we're showing
that.
We'll show that on the on thepodcast as well.
You can see it real time.
Eight percent's prettyimpressive for me.

(19:36):
Yeah, I thought that was reallyyeah, I mean they were.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
They were dirty, they weren't like filthy, which I'm
sure you've seen horror stories,but I mean, you could
definitely see that there wasdust because you know, just
looking at them you couldn'treally tell.
But then when you wiped yourhand across, like okay, yeah,
they are kind of they are alittle bit dusty.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
So you know, an eight percent increase and we saw the
brown water coming down, yeahright, and I was like, wow, I
mean that's, it was impressiveyeah, and I'm sure we'll touch
on it, but we've seen, like nojoke.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
we've seen all the way up to a 28% increase, which
is insane.
On the black panels, yeah, theblue panels, I think, since
they're a little older, they'realready like most blue panel
systems are already like almost10 years old.
So, on those you've alreadylost, what is it?
A natural degradation like oneto 2% a year half a percent.
So you've already lost a littlebit.
So it's hard to see a hugeincrease on those older systems.

(20:24):
Even 8%, though, like ouraverage is 12 to 20%, like
actual average is 12 to 20%.
So 8% is a lower on the side ofthe increase that we've seen,
but even then it's still a bigincrease.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
I'm happy with 8%.
Yeah, exactly, I wasn'texpecting 8%, yeah, and I've
noticed on my system itself, onthe whole system, that I've seen
an increase in production inthe last two days over what it
was prior to that.
I know there's a lot ofconditions and things that can
play into that, sure, sure, butI'm going to look at it over
time and I'll report back amonth from now, two months from
now, but it definitely lookslike it had an impact.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
And just for the listeners too.
Like you guys may not see anincrease, like there's a chance
you don't see one, like that'swhy I never and it's my, it's
not, it's my business, you knowand I'm out here saying you may
not see an increase.
Not everyone does so we don'tguarantee it, but by doing it
you're going to make sure thatthat system is at its max
capacity.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
You know, if there's electrical issues, then that's
one thing but if everything elseis good and you clean them,
your you know your honesty andintegrity is everything matches
our values as well.
Um we're not the cheapest solarcompany out.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
There you can go get a cheaper solar system.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah, we're not the.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
My guess you're not the cheapest 99 guy, you know
yeah, exactly, but I feel likeyou know you get what you pay
for in this industry, like, yeah, we might be a little bit much
more in for solar systems andfor cleaning, but this is who
you're going to be in arelationship with going forward.
Is this the type of person thatyou want to be with?
Or do you want to be in, youknow, in a relationship with a
company that's like, yeah, wegot your money, see you later.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Well, like that, and even if we like when we did his
house, if we just showed up,cleaned them and like is that?

Speaker 1 (22:05):
all.
We'll send you everything.
How do?

Speaker 4 (22:07):
we know, you know, because being on a two story
other than your patio, but beingon a two story, you're not
going to be like, oh, those are,those were cleaned.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
You know you can't see them.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
So that's another thing.
It's like the photos.
It's not just here's all yourphotos, it's before and after
laid out and labeled so you cansee before and after on top of
each other.
Is that the before Is?

Speaker 1 (22:27):
that the after is not the after, it says it you know.

Speaker 4 (22:28):
So that's another thing too.
It's just leaving that mark ofokay, we were here.
It's same with the pool guy,like you know.
How do you know your pool wascleaned if, if you weren't home,
you know he leaves a littlechemical stick or something to
show that he was there, right?

Speaker 3 (22:40):
um, so that's another thing.
Just my pool guy, yeah, justlittle stuff.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
I will tell you that the panels on the patio, they
looked amazing.
After you guys were, I I thinkI went out and looked at them
like three more times after youleft because it was just like,
they were just so shiny andclean new it looks so cool.
I was like man that just thatjust looks good.
Yeah, and the production pieceof it just kind of helps, kind
of I think I mean you know, forme you got your priority switch
but to the point we were talkingabout before, about reasons

(23:06):
people would do it.
Some people are.
Is this going to?
There's a lot, especially ifthey're in the front of your
house.
Yeah Right, no for sure.
And I'll tell you the aesthetic, the difference in aesthetics
is amazing.
I was blown away by that.
I wasn't expecting that, so yougot my vote on that one.
That was like and my wife?
Of course, aesthetics are moreimportant to the wife Usually.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
She was like yeah, she loved it.
Well, that's why we have peoplelike I, have people on
quarterly and triennial plans,so either every four months and
some people even every threemonths, and I tell them, hey,
everything or anything more thanevery six months, you, you're
not really going to start seeingas much as a cost to production
benefit at that and anythingmore than I would say.
I mean, even Google will tellyou I'll do it every four to six

(23:45):
months.
Six months, I would say.
If you did every six months,you're on, you're changing your
oil every five, that you're ontop of it, you know.
But the quarterly people, thethree months, quarterly people,
that's a lot of that's foraesthetics, a lot of homes with
it on the front.
You pull in, you have peopleover.
First thing you see is panelswith poop all over them or dust
it's like ah, you know, Um, soyeah, aesthetics for sure.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
So I think that's good.
I was going to go into that.
That's a really good point.
So, depending where you live,right, so I'm sure you have
customers probably out in morerural areas too, outside of the
city, right?
Those panels, I would assume,are going to get a lot more dust
, a lot more dirt on them a lotmore frequently right, because
there's a lot of those areas areheavy dust areas or like new
construction areas.
Yeah, then it makes sense tomaybe do it more than once a

(24:28):
year, right?
You're going to have youraesthetics customer.
If you have it on the front ofyour house, it just wants to
look good.
That makes sense, because I'mgoing to tell you something they
are going to look better.
There's no doubt about it.
And then there's people like mein my neighborhood.
It's a total bird neighborhood.
There's pigeons everywhere,right?
So there's always going to that.

(24:49):
So some of the panels I had onthe patio had that and it was
impacting production and thatinstantly cleared up and that's
where I got the 8% increase, andI'm sure I got some on the top
too from the same thing.
So you have to know whereveryou live will determine, in my
opinion, how often you wouldneed this service.
I think, the more I'm lookingat it, there's a necessity to
this, to the service.
Sure, I understand what you'resaying and I think you're right.

(25:09):
Just like with solar, it's notfor everybody right, right,
right.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Another thing um, that brings up the skepticism to
um, let's say I, I book youguys.
You guys, you're coming out onon monday, you do the cleaning
panels look great, they'reproducing.
Tuesday we get a dust storm,like I just wasted my money.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
Now my panels are dirty again so in a situation
like that, like said, we're notthe cheapest company out there,
we're not going to be like oh,sucks to suck, man, you should
have.
Like we're going to make sure,like hey, if you call us, hey,
man, we just had a dust storm,right, cool, well, we'll come
out and do it.
Sure, like I'm not going to, Irain guarantee, necessarily.

(25:47):
But if it rains the same dayand you're like hey, dude, like
what the heck, you know, justlet us know we're gonna come
take care of you right, I meanthat.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, I get that right.
Yeah, you probably want to lookseasonally when you want to
want to do this.
Right, you know when monsoonseason is right, you know when
spring hits and all the pollensare gonna be out.
I mean, you can adjust.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
They did yours like what, like three or four days
after it rained, right, yeah.
So I was like, oh, that youknow, and they were dirty.
They're clean now.
They rained right, but theywere, but they were still a
little dirty.

Speaker 4 (26:10):
Still saw an increase after the rain.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
So, that's a huge that's a huge misconception.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
is rain cleans panels ?
First thing I tell people isyeah yes and no.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, exactly yes and no Like it might get the dust
off.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
But the same thing I ask people.
Well, does you?
Are you going to detail yourcar knowing it's going to rain
the next day?
Probably not.
Um, same thing with the panels,you know.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
If the rain doesn't clean them, it actually a lot of
the water in arizona, sinceit's going through so much
pollution, pollution, you knowit could make it even worse
after it dries, you know that'sa good point, and I wanted to
touch on that because when Ilook at the panels because I can
see the ones on the patioreally closely out of my bedroom
window they used to have a filmon them and that film is gone,

(26:54):
that kind of shiny film, yeah,and now you just see the glass
and the clean panel.
Now, of course, since you'vedone it, there's there's
translucent dust on there now alittle bit, but we live in the
desert.
That's going to happen, andtranslate dust is not going to
really impact my production?

Speaker 3 (27:06):
yeah, I can go through.
It's certain layers of dust.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
I mean, if it's a now , if you have this much dust,
yeah, but I mean it's the pigeonstuff, right, it's the film
that from the pollution that youjust talked about.
When it rains, that's a reallygood point, because it is going
through pollution, that watercan be a bit dirty, no, for sure
I'm not gonna sit there anddrink rain water just straight
out of the.
I mean just god knows what's init.
But those panels don't havethat film on them anymore.
It's gone.
It looked like they did whenthey were brand new.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
That's impressive, yeah, and I think that's
probably the most importantpiece to get off the panel, and
however long it takes for thatto come back on, I'm going to
see, but it's definitely gone.

Speaker 4 (27:39):
Yeah, and that's another thing.
Like even coming back to thefrequency, if a customer says,
well, I don't know how yoursystem's going to react.
You may not see an increase.
I may like for me to come outand clean them every six months.
It may not be necessary for you.
So what?
I tell people if they're likeno, I have some people that call
us, hey, I need you guys outhere every six months.

(28:04):
Cool, I got it for you.
I have some people are like hey, you know, I would like to do
it.
Maybe'm just going to call youin six months and we're just
going to talk about it.
We're going to see if you sawan increase.
If you did see an increase, okay, maybe let's revisit it.
If you didn't see an increase,let's push it out to a year.
You know, I don't.
At the end of the day, you gosolar, save money.
So, to your point, you don'twant to clean it so much.

(28:32):
To tell you my brother I don'tknow if he told you the blue
ones he's like hey, man, theselike the blue ones weren't as
dirty as the black ones.
Like it's hard to say that yeah,it's like we're going to tell
you.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
We're not going to sit here and say, hey, they were
the most dirty system we'veever seen.
You just said because that'swhy you're on this podcast,
because we feel you're a reallygood connection with us, right,
you speak the things that wespeak, which I like.
The one thing that your brotherbrought up that I thought was
interesting and this is a goodpoint for people and why you
should have somebody up there ishe said that he commonly goes
up there and sees burn spots onpanels like very often.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Yeah, it's weird man.
Um, a lot of it.
It's with the older systems, soa lot of the blue.
I don't even know how toexplain it.
It almost looks like.
I don't think it's a chemicalburn.
It literally looks like a brownlike chemical spot.
It's the weirdest thing, um,and typically we won't clean
those ones because we don't knowwhat's going on with that panel
.
But that's another reason tohave people out there.
We can take a photo of it andsay hey, you have three panels

(29:30):
that are having like these burnspots on them.
Um, you should call your solarcompany I'm pretty sure that's
impacting production.
Yeah right, yeah that, or eveneven fire risk, like who knows
if that's going to create aspark, you know and that, and
then I know we'll talk about it.
But that goes into the, thebird stuff underneath like the
pine needles, if one of thoseinverters goes rogue and starts,
I don't't know how that works,but if it goes rogue, it starts

(29:53):
sparking a little bit, like thatcould cause a fire, you know.
So it's um, it's a safety thingas well.
And looking at the roof, makingsure, hey man, you got your
tiles that are messed up.
You know like we've seen somecrazy stuff.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
So, um no, but I think that's cool because, as a
homeowner, the first time I sawmy roof in a long time was the
pictures that you guys took inthe video I don't ever go up
there.
Yeah, right, it was cool to seewhat was up, but you found an
old bird nest under my panelsthat was now encased in the cage
.
Yeah, the company that did myencasing didn't get rid of that
nest, right, so, but there's nobig deal about it.

(30:26):
It's not a big deal.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
It's not gonna do anything yeah, there's nothing
in the nest.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah, nice to have that cleaned out right exactly
yeah, but it was cool to seethat I mean, I had never gone up
there to look normally it wasalso cool to see all the gunk
and crud and stuff coming offyour roof as they were cleaning
it I was like your roof wasdirty, yeah, clean your roof.
It's a bird neighborhood, right.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I guess that's part of it is roof cleaning a thing
like he can clean my?
Okay, yeah, he kind of cleanedit.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
We do do, uh, when we ever we do bird proofing jobs,
we're not just gonna just do thesystem because now the system
looks good.
The rest of the roof?
Looks like crap you know sowhenever we do actual not with
your typical cleaning, but whenwe do like bigger services, when
we're getting the nesting outor putting the guards around,
we'll clean off the roof for you.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
So so to that point, your company also does
birdproofing, yep.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
So we hadn't talked about that, yep, so do you want
me to touch on that?

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (31:16):
So a lot of times when you so little thing for the
listeners, if you guys dobirdproofing, you get a free
cleaning with it.
So just to let you know, Ididn't know that.
Yeah, but with the birdproofing.
We've had people that have hadroof leaks from bird poop like
collecting over over time.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
I have a lady.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Yeah, it gets gross.
So the bird proofing is prettyimportant.
They can damage underneath itssystem.
We've pulled like connectionwires out of a nest itself, like
it was embedded in the nest,which could cause many other
issues.
As far as the solar goes, I'vehad a customer call us and say,
hey, my solar company will notwork on the system until all the

(31:57):
nesting's gone.
So we've had to go out andremove all the nesting just so
they can come out and fix thepanels, and that's like I've had
that with two people.
Now, um, I've had uh, yeah,we've had birds that have been
very stubborn, like they willnot leave the system, because
you're essentially like takingthem away from their home but at
the end of the day it's causingit could cost the homeowner

(32:19):
like thousands of dollars.
Or we're up there for hoursjust getting bird poop out Cause
you're in a, you're in a lock,like luckily that nest isn't
obviously active.
But if we were to say that nestwas active today and you had a
couple more, if we just went andthrew the guards on, it's
essentially you locking the doorof your house and then being
like yo, all my stuff's inside,like how do I get back in?

Speaker 3 (32:40):
you know, and that's what the yeah.
Did you see your neighboringhouses?
Yes, all those pigeons.
Yes, because you're, becauseyou have the bird guard on your
system, but the pigeons are alljust around your house, on your
neighbor's house, it's like thatwas supposed to be ours.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
No, and they're hanging around.
So, yeah, if you don't get allthat nesting out, which yours
has been probably five years,it's been a while they ain't
getting in there anymore.
But right off the bat, if we goto a job and we don't get all
that nesting out, it's going tomake the problem.
They and we don't get all thatnesting out, it's going to make
the problem.
They're going to bring theirfriends.
Hey, we got to get in thissystem.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
We got to get our babies our eggs.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
They did try for a while.
Yeah, and they're going tocontinue to try to get back in,
mainly because that nest ortheir scent is still there.
Yeah, so we'll do adisinfectant, not on the actual
surface of the bird, which inArizona.
You don't know how long termaffected it is, but at least for

(33:33):
the short term it's going tokill that scent of the bird, so
they're not going to want tocome back.
We do wire along the ridge, soif you're like yo, I have the
guards, but these birds arestill hanging out.
We have other precautions thatwe can take just to make your
roof.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Oh really.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
So you can put stuff on the ridges and, yep, yeah,
stainless steel wire that runsacross so they can't land on it.
It's not like electrified oranything.
That would be pretty cool, butyeah, that would be cool, but
can you do it?

Speaker 2 (33:58):
oh, that's interesting because, yeah, they
like to hang out on the ridges.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah, yeah so we can.
We can wire the ridges, whichis a little cleaner than spikes
too.
You'll see some people thatspike the whole roof, which is
just as effective, but itdoesn't look as appealing.
Hoas might not like that andstuff.
So that's another thing withour bird proofing is yeah, it's
going to work, but it's going tolook really good.
Um, I have to do that on thebridge.
Yeah, people invest a lot intheir solar system and doing a

(34:21):
cheap bird guard job.
It's like now what you knowwe've seen people use, or
companies use, not coated birdguards, so it's basically just a
stainless like chicken wire andit started.
Every time it gets wet, rustliterally runs down the system,
like I had a homeowner thatcalled us out for a cleaning.
We get up there and it's likerust.

(34:41):
The system itself has run downrust from the guards not being
coated.
So it's like, okay, well, we'lldo our best to clean this, but
you're going to want to talk towhoever installed these and get
that.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Right, you're putting a Band-Aid over a bullet wound
right now.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Exactly, and that's what a lot of like some
bird-proofing companies will do.
They'll just put a Band-Aid onwhat the actual problem is and
not taking care of the root.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
See, I was going to actually get into you know why.
Sun Bros versus other people,and you just kind, which is
someone?
If they're looking over a panelcleaning company, what should
they look for?
What are their key things?

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Yeah, so one thing is to make sure that whoever's
doing your system is fullyinsured, not just to be cleaning
your windows or your solar, butto actually be on your roof.
So that was a little bit of anawakening for us.
When we got started, I thoughthow much insurance can we need
for solar cleaning or whatever?
And since we're up on top ofroofs, we automatically fall

(35:31):
into the roofing bracket.
So we pay roofing insurancealong with actual like solar and
bird proofing insurance also,which isn't like you can't just
get like.
We had to have someone thebroker like build us a policy
for it, cause it's not a superbig industry yet.
So if you're out looking onGoogle whether you don't want to
use us, whatever the case is,you're just maybe not in our
market.

(35:51):
I would always check for thequality of what they're using
Chemicals.
If you want me to touch on thatright now, we can.
So at Sunbros, we do not useany chemicals, which could be
pretty controversial.
There's cleaners in Arizonathat do use chemicals and they
live by them.
Chemicals work, but the problemis, is not every manufacturer

(36:12):
approves the chemicals, sochemicals in the water.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:15):
Okay, like a clean, like a cleaning solution.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
A cleaning solution.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Okay, yep.
So like you can go on Amazonand look up like solar cleaning
solution and they'll bottleswill pop up and stuff.
But if it's not approved bythat manufacturer, it voids the
warranty.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
So wow, what a good point that is, yeah yeah, so it
may work, you know.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
But if it voids the warranty, then what good does
the cleaning do anyway, if now?
Now your panels can't even befixed and there's hundreds of
different manufacturers.
So many like so that just usenot chemicals, yeah exactly so
that's why we did invest intothat filtration system is so
that we can get the same resultnot using chemicals.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Yeah, even that is really something we got to
really harp on that for a secondRight.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
I mean, I didn't even realize that.
Yeah, no, there's actual like.
I mean there's a company calleduh, I mean shameless plug, I
think it's called like chemitech, which is like solar chemicals.
So they may be approved by moremanufacturers.
But for the volume like we dodo personally, like on a
cleaning, we can do four or fivehouses in a day, maybe more.
The systems are smaller anddrive time and stuff, but we're
not checking with six differentmanufacturers on what to use,

(37:19):
you know so, with water,especially the filtered water.
You're pretty much in the clear.
Our brushes are actual, likethey're solar cleaning brushes
that are meant for solar panels.
Um, even though it's just,i'm'm pretty sure they're just
nylon bristles, but they'remeant like for solar.
So you're not being a bracelet.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
It looked really soft and they did a good job
cleaning.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yeah, super soft.
That way we're not scratchinganything.
You know some of the olderpanels.
They may not be as good a shapeas they were Very easy terms to
say like they wear down overtime.
So you don't want to useanything that could potentially
harm the, harm the system,because at the end of the day
you clean them to make it better.
You don't want to clean them belike oh, now I have all these
issues, you know yeah, and it'snot just the, the modules that

(37:59):
are getting the chemicals onthere too.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
When you're up there cleaning, yeah, you have the
racking, the stanchions.
If you have micro inverters,the conduit, yeah, all that
warranty stuff, you know.
So're like oh, the panel, thiscleaning solution is good for
the panels, but then you noticethat your you know your racking
is deteriorating.
You try to file a claim.
They're like no, yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
You use these chemicals.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
It's not approved by us, so no.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
Exactly that, or even a lot of components.
Roofs out.
Here are tile roofs, asphalt.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
That's a good point too, you know.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
So it may be good for the panels but it may not be
good for it may not be for yourdog run.
That's right below the system.
You know your dogs are sniffingthat stuff now and that's
another thing.
With bird poop, like bird poopis not just for the sake of bird
proofing, is not just for thesake of no poop on the roof.
But if you have little kids,you have dogs a lot of times at
the bottom of I mean that poop'sgoing to fall.

(38:51):
So if you have play stuff or alot of people will have dog runs
on the side of their house,like whatever your dog's
stepping in and sniffing, it'sbringing it into the house.
I've had a guy which we'reactually doing his house next
week.
That's disgusting, but they putthe solar system over a vent

(39:11):
Like.
So they cut the vent on theroof and it installed the solar
system on top of it.
They started nesting on top ofthat vent.
So now there's poop and fly he'slike there's flies flying like
coming through my airways, likethere's literally poop going
into his house maybe notdirectly onto his floor, but
into the air vents it's likeit's disgusting that smell yeah,
no, it's disgusting, and birdpoop has a very distinctive
smell.
It's not like normal, it's just, oh, it's gross I'll take your

(39:33):
word for it.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, it's disgusting .
It's that smell.
Yeah, no, it's disgusting, andbird poop has a very distinctive
smell.
It's not like normal, it's just.
Oh, it's gross.
I'll take your word for it.
Yeah, it's disgusting.
I'll bring some in next time.
No, really, I've broughtsamples.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
It looks like customers.
So what you should be askingare they insured?
So the company you're workingwith?
Do they have?
What kind of water are theyusing?
Do they put chemicals in thewater?
Which, gosh, I didn't realize.
I didn't even realize that theywere doing that.
Yeah, but boy, that brings up awhole sort of red flag with a
warranty losing, warrantyhurting the components of your

(39:59):
system, that stuff coming downthe side of your house onto the
ground.
If you have pets, there's justa lot there.
That man I wouldn't want to use.
Somebody that uses chemicals, Ithink.
Do they.
Do they offer you a before andafter photos of what they've
done?

Speaker 4 (40:10):
I think that's really important, and that's all
little stuff too.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
That's little, but that was big to me.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Yeah Right, it's the little things that go a long way
, leaving a brochure showing,hey, this is me and my brother,
this is why we started and thisis what we do, you know.
So so if I, so if I givensomeone like a brochure, or hey,
follow us on Instagram, or byjust by giving them something

(40:39):
too, it's like hey, these guys,I'm going to put it on my fridge
.
You know like I had a guy callus the other day, which again
out of our services, but he'slike hey, man, you're, you're
the only guy I know that can geton roofs and I'm having some
weird trouble, like trouble withmy sky.
It was just weird, like weirdphone call.
But the fact that he can trustus to come out there again just
says says a lot.
You know, like a lot of roofers, you never know what you're

(41:01):
getting.
You may hire a great roofingcompany, but who knows who
they're actually subbing it'renot.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
You're going to know before we get there who's coming
.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
So on that link that we send you, you click that link
, it'll show you the selfie ofwho's coming.
So, like I, for example, I putme, my brother and David all on
that job form.
So when you click on it, nicebeautiful photo of all three of
our faces is going to come up.
Who's coming to my house?
It's, it's David, it's Andrewand it's Rick.
And that's just another thingwhere it's like you know who

(41:32):
you're, who you're getting.
It's like Uber, right.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
If you, when you order an Uber you're like who's
this guy?

Speaker 4 (41:36):
Like, this guy looks sketchy, you know.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
So it's just a just on something that I was not 100
sold on that honestly now and Iget ben's points yeah, but
honestly now it's probablysomething I'll do once a year
because I think there's value toit.
Yeah, for me in my situationthere's value I'm curious to see
.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
I'm a long-term guy, so I'm curious to see what your
production is going to be like.
It's day one of cleaning, yeah.
The next 365 days, yeah, andthen I'll compare that to last
year's production.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah and I'm I'm gonna do that too, because I'm
curious, I mean so being in theindustry.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
We can do that kind of stuff, and we'll have you
again next year at this timedon't speak.
For me it didn't work.
We waited a year for this.
I also liked the personal touchthat you had.
You had the hired actors thatdrove by Ralph's house and
walked by.
It was pretty cool.
We're a big production.
Yeah, hired actors.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
What he's referring to is when we are cleaning.
We do a lot.
In our branding we have signsout.
We had two people stop byasking for flyers asking what
we're doing.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
It's just they're of.
You know they're a contract.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
Now that happens more often than you think we've.
I can't count on my like howmany times we've gotten more
jobs just because we're alreadythere.
You know that's the biggestproof of concept is when my
neighbor's getting it done.
You know, especially if youlike your neighbor, depending
where you live you know, if youlike your neighbor and they're
getting it done.

(43:12):
You're much more accepting towhatever that service is.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
We have a lot of solar in our neighborhood and,
like I said, it's a birdneighborhood.
So and I've never, ever, onetime and I've lived there now
for 10 years have seen a panelcleaning company there.
So I think when people saw yourtrucks there, it was a shock to
the system and they want to gettheir panels cleaned because
they get so dirty with the birdsand all that stuff.
So it just that neighborhood isit makes sense to have a

(43:38):
company like yours come out.
It just does yeah, right.
So I thought that was cool andI want referral bonuses on both
those people.
But I thought that.
I thought that was cool thatpeople stopped by and asked you
for your card and stuff.
That's neat.
Yeah, you know it's funny.
I'm looking at what we want totalk about and we're hitting
everything without even trying.
I mean, we wanted to talk aboutthe warranty impacts which we
kind of talked about already,monitoring impacts and

(44:00):
performance.
We've kind of touched on that alittle bit too, and that'll be
to be determined as we continueto go forward.
You know me at this every monthand then we'll look at it and
we'll talk about it and see whatthe impact is.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
I've got your logins, yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
And we're getting into what we're looking for.
I love the fact that theinsurance, the chemicals in the
water that's real important.
The before and after photos isthere anything else that really
kind of sets you apart or youreally feel that I mean, that's
a lot.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
Yeah, our reviews.
If you look up Sumbro's onGoogle, we're very reputable for
what we do and that's a hugething that for me.
I can do all the marketing inthe world, but if we can't keep
our current customers happy,then what kind of company are we
, you know?
And that's a big thing.
For me, it's like I wouldrather just nurture my current
clientele than continue to tryto just keep finding more.

(44:45):
So as far as setting us apartone at the end, we have a cool
story too, which you don't see alot these days, which is
another little thing.
It's not so much of our processalone, but in the safety we
didn't really touch on safety.
Yeah, let's talk about that.
So a lot of times you're not alot of safety.
That comes with roofing.
Stuff happens on and off theladder Once you're on the roof.

(45:07):
I know you were watching thatvideo getting motion sickness.
Once you're on the roof, I knowyou were watching that video
getting motion sickness.
Yeah, I was.
Once you're on the roof,especially out here in Arizona,
the roofs are pretty grippy,except when it's raining, but
once you're on the roof you'repretty safe.
Like it's hard to fall, likeeven if we're cleaning and we
trip.
It's hard to fall off the roof.
Honestly, a lot of the safetycomes on getting on and off the

(45:30):
ladder.
So obviously OSHA has theirrules.
We have our own like threepoint rule.
So at all times you must havethree points of contact both
feet and at least one hand.
So if you're holding the brushor something, you can at least
have one hand on it.
You're also going to findladder straps on every job we go
to.
So it's basically a strap thatthat clips to the facial board
underneath and then Velcros tothe ladder itself.

(45:52):
So if I'm sitting there likedancing on the ladder or
something, I'm not going to falloff.
Now, if I slip in some of thatit's different.
But as far as the ladderslipping out or the ladder
actually tipping backwards onany job we do especially two
stories we always make sure tohave a ladder strap on there.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
I saw that.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
I wasn't sure what that was, but I did see that.
Yeah, so that's a safetyprecaution.
Yep, uh, we also have, likegutter guards and stuff.
So a lot of not a ton of homesout here, but some people get
gutters installed, and leaning ametal ladder up against a nice
painted gutter doesn't really gohand in hand typically.
Um, so we have gutter guardsand stuff.
At the end of the day, we'regoing to take care of your
property.
Um, and all that poop, waterand everything that falls.
We're also going to go our wayand make sure it's picked up.
Because what I even withbirdproofing at the end of the

(46:38):
day.
I mean, ralph goes outside andlooks at his panels and loves
how they look, but a lot ofpeople, if they can't see them,
they're going to also, butthey're going to remember how we
left their property.
You know, so if we're doing abirdproofing job and we did a
killer job on the roof and thenthe rest of the house looks like
like bird, poopy and not good,and it's like, okay, well, they
did good, but look how they leftthe house, yeah, you know, and

(47:00):
that kills the entire reputationif we did a great job and and
told ralph that the dodgers suckor something.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Then it's like yeah you know, but then it.
But then you do that kind ofruins the experience.
I'll pay extra for that.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
I go, I dive into any job we do.
I dive in and I hammer on theexperience and just hammering
that, hey, with us we're goingto make sure your home's in good
care.
If, if we break a tile, you'regoing to know about it.
We're not going to be like, oh,they won't see it.
You know, we're going to makesure you guys are aware.
In that app we take photos.

(47:35):
Another just added thing we do alot of companies charge, not
when they break a tile, but ifwe're already up there and
there's broken tiles, a lot ofcompanies will be like, hey,
I'll fix these tiles for ahundred bucks, whatever, we're
just going to glue them for you.
We fix a lot of tiles for free.
Now, if it's the entire roof,we ain't doing that, but if it's
like four or five tiles andwe're already there, we
typically have two man cleaning.
We're going to make sure thatother guy is either cleaning
stuff up, making sure theproperty looks good, just little

(47:55):
things.
I had one of my guys pick updog poop on the side of that.
It's just little stuff to leaveour mark.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yeah, it's just little things.
Can they come back over?
Maybe you should have panelcleaning once a month.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
But roof tile is another thing.
With barely any rain we get outhere.
You want to make sure that yourroof is in good condition and
not paying I mean, some roofersdo it for like free estimates
and stuff, but the freeinspections to like, we're going
to be up there.
We're going to tell you, hey,you have six broken tiles.
We went ahead and just gluedthem for you.
Now, if we break a tile, we'realways going to fix it.

(48:28):
Um, like full transparency.
We broke a tile the other daythat we couldn't fix just
because it was in like threepieces or I don't even I'm not
going to puzzle this togetherand try to hold it for an hour.
So we will go get you a newtile and I never make the
homeowner pay for that.
Um, so anything that we do orsay, we do make a mistake, we're
always going to go.
We'll eat that.
Um, that's another thing.

(48:48):
With birdproofing too, I'm notgoing to tell you hey, mr
Homeowner, it's, it's a thousandbucks and then actually, now
that we've been here for twohours, it's now 1200, you know,
we're never going to up theprice on you.
The price that we tell you,that is the final price If we go
an extra day, if we go an extrahour, if we run out of material
.
Whatever the case is, we eatthat as a company because we

(49:11):
didn't do our proper duediligence in the estimating
process.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
See, and everything you're just saying.
So we just talked about in thebeginning about you know, we're
not the cheapest way we dobusiness.
You said you're not thecheapest and you get what you
pay for, Right, Right.
And everything he just said isexactly it.
It speaks to that You'regetting what you pay for, Right
he's.
He's given you everything upfront.
He's telling you his experienceand how they do things and
that's why he's not the cheapest.

(49:34):
If he was the cheapest, Iguarantee it'd be a totally
different experience.
To me.
It's so important and ourcompany at Harman it's so
important that our crews, whenthey go out there, when they're
done, that they clean up, thatthey do the right stuff, that
they leave the place immaculate.

(49:56):
And if they don't, guys focuson that.
And I saw that when you were atthe house.
I just saw how you did things.
It was, it was just, it wasprimo.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
Yeah, no doubt about it and that, honestly, that
wasn't just us trying to be like, oh, this is like we got to do,
right this.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
No, like that's just a standard.
I didn't get that feel.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
No, that's our standard process.
Like my brother, he has thatlittle spiel that he told you
hey, this is your invoice.
Like he has that on record likememory.
Now it's just second nature tohim to go through that little
spiel yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's not.
Oh, uh, here is your invoicehere.
Like you know it's, it's verysmooth, it's you.
We make the homeowner feel likethey're getting something more

(50:31):
than just cleaning.
You guys are getting a goodexperience and I think that is a
lot what's missing in the homeservice industry, whether it's
cleaning plumbing, solar itself,like you guys can do a killer
system.
But if you break a bunch oftiles and make the homeowner
feel like crap, drop a pant,like whatever the case is, it
kind of kills the wholeexperience.
And at the end of the day I'llstraight up tell any homeowner

(50:51):
like like hey, you might be ableto get this for cheaper, but
what you're not going to get isus not to be like cocky or
anything, but that's true butyou're not going to get the
experience that we're able toprovide for you

Speaker 2 (51:00):
that's exactly that's our pitch right the harman
difference right.
Why are we different?

Speaker 3 (51:04):
why are we and that's why you see all those, you know
, those bad reviews out therefor you know, our industry or
any industry, really it's like,no, that was you in your
specific situation.
Don't blame the industry.
That was because you went withthe cheaper company.
You went with, you know, anon-reputable company.
You know, we're not like that.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
So, so I also want to mention that you offer one more
thing you do window cleaning,right?

Speaker 4 (51:24):
We do, yeah, so that's a newer service for us,
so our specialty.
Another hinting back on whatcustomers should look for don't
look for a company that doeseverything like they do it all.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
You want niche, a niche, and we're done, dang it.
No, I'm saying, like we don'tdo auto repair, all right, yeah,
we're gonna do like every noit's.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
We're very niche in bird proofing and solar cleaning
, like I've had people hey, canyou clean our uh chimney and
stuff like that?
Honestly, just weird stuff likethe outside, just like we can,
but that's not our, that's notour niche.
So window cleaning is newer forus.
We started doing that justbecause it's the same equipment.

(52:05):
Yeah, it's glass window cleaningtakes longer than solar
cleanings and it's a cheaperservice.
So it's kind of like we'restill trying to figure out the
pricing with it.
Um, but window cleaning isnewer for us.
Uh, we do screen cleaning too.
What's hard, though?
In Arizona a lot of thesescreens are absolutely beat.
So, um, that's a tough one.

(52:25):
Yeah, so that's a little bit nota battle necessarily, but just
when we're moving screens likeI'm not a professional screen
fixer, um, I know one of ourcustomers.
Actually he does screen repair,so I kind of have his contact.
But, yeah, window cleaning is anewer service of ours.
It's definitely we're not asgood on window cleaning as we
are solar cleaning andbirdproofing just being
transparent, but that's one ofthose services where what we're

(52:47):
probably going to do is marketit to our current clients first.
That way, if we do mess up alittle bit, you know we have a
little bit of a buffer, but inall, in all honesty, we want to
just make sure that whateverservices you guys are getting,
we can provide with fullconfidence.
So, um, yeah, window cleaningis is in the works.
Um, I haven't advertised it onlike social media yet.

(53:10):
Um, it's on our website, if youlike really go throughout and
fill out a form you'll seesearch yeah.
If you research for it, you'llsee window washing.
But that's definitely a servicelike moving into more into 2025
that with the new van setupwe're doing, it will be fully
capable of doing windows.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Very good.
So I want everybody listeningand watching to go on their
website and get window.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
They're not great at it yet so get them now, which
means the pricing is fantastic.

Speaker 4 (53:34):
It is cheaper.
Now I've thrown it in for acouple clients, just, hey, we'll
do it, just so we could see howit goes and we could learn.
It's all little stuff.
Leaving that little squeegee,it's kind of tough.
That's an art man.
Yeah, it's kind of tough.

(53:58):
Which window cleaners areprobably watching this, being
like, oh, you guys don't knowhow to do it.
You know, but it's, it's a?
Yeah, it is, it's just reps.
Um, so messing with that waterfed systems.
Uh, we have a really sickscreen cleaner.
That's actually kind of fun touse.
So we've been using that alittle more.
Um, but yeah, it's just an addedservice, especially on
birdproofing jobs.
If bird poop falls and gets thewindow a mess like, even if we
spray off your window, you'restill going to see those water
spots.
So it's mainly that too.
Like we want to be able toclean windows so that, hey, if
we get your house, your windows,messy in the process, we can

(54:19):
take care of it for you beforewe leave.
So we clean neighbor's yardstoo.
Whenever we do bad poop jobsand it's going over into the
neighbor's yard, we'll do thatfor free Also, we clean the
neighbor's yard.
So it's just like we don't wantany way, for I mean, there's
courses, probably ways peoplecould try to like come at us for
little things, but we like tomitigate that as much, as as

(54:41):
much as possible.
We were trying to do everythingwe can to provide that.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
I don't think anyone's going to be mad for
cleaning up your yard.
You cleaned my yard.
I wanted it messy.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
If we cleaned like that, that homeowner's house.
But like some of those twostories, that poop is going off
Like, so it's into theneighbor's yard too.
So like, technically we werehired by that house.
You know we don't have to dothe neighbor's house, but we
made the mess.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
That's the right thing to do.
Yeah, so we do it.
Yeah, I mean that sayseverything about your company.

Speaker 4 (55:16):
That's the right thing.
That neighbor standing outthere, you guys, you guys have
to clean this up.
We'd make you stand.
We make you stand underneath itand be like watch, tell us when
the poop's coming down, okay.
So for anyone listening if youjust mentioned that, you saw us
on the harman podcast we aredoing 25 off initial solar
cleaning as well as windowcleaning.
If you bundle it together,we'll do 20 off on that and then
when you do bird proofing, youget 10 off and a free solar
cleaning with that so just alittle thing for the listeners,
just let us know.

(55:37):
I heard you fumble your words afew times on the podcast.
We'll take care of it for you.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
So to our 3 million listeners, there you go, I mean
your phone's going to be ringingoff.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
Yeah, yeah you, let us know you just lost it.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Dude Just mentioned that you saw him on the Harmon
Solar podcast.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
Yeah, we lost it, dude Just mentioned that you saw
him on the Harmon Solar Podcast.
Yeah, we'll hook you up.
There's only three of us thatdo this, so it's either gonna be
me, my brother Andrew or Davidcoming by.
So that's another thing I like.
I mean we do plan on obviouslyexpanding, but right now we're
able to hone in on that qualitycontrol, making sure every job
is treated equally.
Yeah, and yeah, there's alittle stuff like that, guys I
mean at the end of the day, andyeah, just all little stuff like

(56:15):
that, guys I mean at the end ofthe day.
One thing me and Ben and we'veall talked about not everyone
needs to get their solar panelsclean.
So do your own due diligence onif it's right for you.
Look at your.
If you're an APS, look at yourproduction on what your solar is
producing versus what it wasdoing last year.
Or if your solar company gaveyou the login a lot of companies
don't, but if they give youyour, your login, look at it,
take the time and look at it,because that 10, 15 minutes

(56:37):
looking at your production, youmay find other issues.
You may find out a guy theother day.
We're looking at his box andhe's like I don't think it's
supposed to be like red blinkinglight.
I'm like, yeah, dude, I don'tthink that's supposed.
A look at everything and that'sjust, it's all little stuff.
You know, it might not be thecleaning by itself, but all the

(56:58):
little.
Hey, by the way, you have abroken panel.
That's another thing we didn'ttalk about.
A lot of times, on golf coursesor whatnot, golf balls will hit
panels and they they shatter.
Um, so we will never clean ashattered panel.
We'll rinse it off Like withoutthe brush touching it.

(57:18):
You know that's the same thingas like rain hitting it right.
So I'll rinse it off to get thedust off.
But never have a cleaners outthere that are going to say, oh,
we'll take care that we'llclean the broken panel because
that one their own safety.
You can get electrocuted.
You know, I'm assuming it'sgrounded, but you never know.
It's water and electricity.
Yeah, yeah, like you never knowwhat could happen.
So never clean broken.
Yeah, I mean other cleanersmight be listening to this, but
yeah, that's what I wouldrecommend.
And then, yeah, just makingsure at the end of the day

(57:40):
you're in it for the homeowner,not in it to make a quick buck.
And that's the differencebetween.
We have a lot of these guysthat may be beating us on
pricing now, but in a year ortwo, when they're not operating
anymore.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Boy, that sounds familiar, I know.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Yeah, like it's the same thing in the solar industry
.
I came from the solar industryand you have all these people
that will permit pool.
They'll go after all.
These permits are like permitpoachers.
Yep, you know, it's not as badin solar cleaning, but as
birdproofing goes like, I had alady that was telling us oh, you
guys are double the price.
I told her straight up.
I was like I don't know howthey're in business like doing
that, like just in materialalone.

(58:14):
They're kind of puttingthemselves at risk.
I don't know how we get thatall the time.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Yeah, exactly, most of those guys aren't in business
anymore.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
So, you may take the, the cheap route for the short
term but I mean we'll probablyto see that tagline on their
website now that says you know,may not need to do this, but
everybody should look at it, weshould get royalty for that.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
We should, yeah, we should.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
Number two I think you've given people good
questions that they need tostart asking the other companies
.
I don't care, Forget, never askabout price.
I know price.
Yeah, you want a good price,but you should ask the questions
the chemicals, this, thatstuff's important.
I don't know if that's on yourwebsite, but I would recommend
you should.
Hey, if you're looking for thisservice, ask these questions.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
So, on the insurance too, you'll find a lot of window
cleaning companies that areinsured for window cleaning not
actually to be up on your roof.
So, that's a completelydifferent insurance bracket.
So, um, I have a couple likewindow cleaning companies that
we work with and we'll cleantheir any solar systems that
they get in, just for theinsurance factor.
Because if one of those kidsfall, falls off the roof or they

(59:17):
break a panel or the roof,they're not most times they're
not insured for that.
So I encourage customers hey,if you want to look at our
insurance documents I alwaysprovide upon request, I'll
provide insurance documentation.
Make sure they're actuallyinsured to clean and be on your
roof, because that is a hugething.
A company will tell you hey,we're insured.

(59:37):
What are you insured for?

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Are you?

Speaker 4 (59:39):
insured just to clean my windows, because you don't
have to get on a roof and you'rejust using a little squeegee,
you know, because they have.
Yeah, exactly Like there'sinsurance is huge we're insured.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
You have dental insurance.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Yeah, we have car insurance, you know?
Um no, that's a really goodpoint.
People need to be looking atthat stuff exactly.
Yeah, so if people want to findyou, how?

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
do they find you?
Yeah, uh, sumbrose cleaning onone google, instagram, facebook.
Easy way to get a hold of me ismy personal account is just
rick elmer um, but just messageus on instagram, give us a
follow.
We try to post more engagingcontent on instagram, not so
much like um, like technicalstuff, it's more of us having
fun.
What music do we listen to onthe job?
Just little stuff like that.

(01:00:21):
Yeah, just all little things.
Sunbrose Cleaning.
Sunbrose Cleaning on Instagram,sunbrose Cleaning on Facebook.
Sunbrosecleaningcom is ourwebsite.
Take a look at that.
Yeah, guys, just let us know.
Google, my business.
We have Sunbrow Solar PanelCleaning.
You'll see a ton of photos thathomeowners have put up.
There's us like on the roofthat people take and stuff and

(01:00:42):
that's like I don't know.
I just I really love the factthat people just like when we're
, when we're there you know,homeowners are out there smiling
.
They're watching us Like it justfeels good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
No, no matter what service we provide and we are
going to post a bunch of clipsand videos and some photos of
the work that they did at myhouse so you guys can kind of
get a feel for it.
Some of it you've seen in thispodcast as it's been running,
but we'll post more of thatstuff because it was just kind
of it was cool and it's justgood to see.
Yeah, you know, we talk aboutsolar is an investment, right,

(01:01:09):
and it is an investment.
It's a big investment and youshould take care of your
investment and this is one ofthe ways that you take care of
your investment.
I mean, if anything else, ifyou don't 100% believe in the
whole cleaning aspect of it,having somebody on your roof
taking a look and seeing thingsand be able to share that
information with you that'spretty important.
So I always think back to theburn spots and everything else.
That your brother was sayingthat he sees all the time,
that's just good information.

(01:01:29):
Yeah, that your brother wassaying that he sees all the time
, that's just good information.
Yeah, you know.
But I think the cleaning hassome benefit.
We're going to see financiallyin the long term what it does.
We know instantly it did andwe'll be convinced and we'll get
Ben convinced 100% too One day.
But we're definitely at Harmonhere.
We're going to start offeringthis service because we do see
value in it and we are going touse Assembro's for the service

(01:01:51):
because they are aligned with usand the way that we do business
and that's important to us.
You all know that we talk aboutthat all the time.
So we found I think we found areally good partner.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
Yeah.
And if anyone's skeptical on it, call me.
I would love to just talk toyou about it.
Um, at the end of the day, likeI'm here to educate just as
much as I am to actually cleanyour home or clean your system.
So just call, call one of usand me and my brother will
answer and we'll take youthrough, write down your
questions, hassle us like likeBen, does you know?
No, all jokes aside, they'llcall us and let us know and

(01:02:21):
we'll be happy to just talk toyou about it and see if it's the
right fit for you.
And if someone calls me and islike, hey, my system's not
working, I need them clean.
But no, you don't need themclean, you get fix right.
Um, that's another thing.
The cleaning is not a one-allfix-all.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
It's going to boost the production.
It's going to maximize what thecurrent the system can
currently do, but it's not goingto fix every problem.
That's wrong.
So we're going to work with youguys.
If you find systems that needhelp or need work, yeah, they're
going to get with us and we'llhelp the system.
So it's going to be a coollittle team thing that we're
going to have going on.
So sure, I, I appreciate it,I'm done.
You have anything else you know?

Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
you want to add you're very quiet today.

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
I was, I was listening, I just feel like
you're very vocal usually I waslistening and learning today.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
I learned a lot today okay, good I told me three
things you learned, and that'sour show so don't forget, if you
do call sun bros or look themup, mention that you saw them on
the harman solar podcast andyou'll get some discounts and
some things and some free giftsand I don't know about that.
You'll definitely get somediscounts and stuff, so don't
forget to mention that.
All right, ben.
So what are we doing next?

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
What are we doing next?
I think we have an AC companycoming in.
Yeah, oh, okay, next week.
So we're going to talk AC, theimportance of getting your AC
checked and maintained, andbecause that's the biggest
impact on your, your, your bill.
So we're going to, we'retalking with AC.
Gay, that's next, that's next.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
All right.
So thanks, thanks for joiningus again.
Thanks Thanks for joining us onthe podcast.
Really good topic that wefinally were able to get to.
We've been wanting to do thisfor a while so I'm glad we
finally did it and we appreciateyour guys support and watching
us and we will see you againsoon.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Thank you.
With Ben and Ralph bringingclarity to the intersection of
solar power and smart homeownership.
If you found this episodehelpful, don't forget to like,
comment and subscribe, and alsoshare the show with others
navigating the solar journey.
For questions and topicsuggestions, call 800-281-3189
or visit harmandsolarcom.
You can also connect with theteam on social media.
See you next episode.

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