Our neighborhood solar co-op fell apart after the inverter guy ghosted us

We had 14 households in Boulder sign up for a community solar install last spring, and the contractor we picked vanished after taking our $2,000 deposits each. Turns out he was juggling three projects in Denver and skipped town mid-July. We split the cost of a lawyer between us and got maybe 60% back, but the whole deal soured three families on renewables. Has anyone else had a group install go sideways, and did you find a way to vet contractors better before handing over cash?

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aaronroberts16d ago

Used to figure bigger companies were always the safer bet, thought a local guy would never have the nerve to pull something like that. Then my cousin's HOA got burned by a big regional firm that just declared bankruptcy mid-project, so now I get that size means nothing when it comes to trust. The lawyer route is smart, but you really gotta check their license history with the state contractor board before any money moves. Also, paying in thirds instead of upfront deposits seems to weed out the flaky types, they hate waiting for their cash. Sorry your neighbors got soured on it, that stinks because solar is worth doing right.