Site Survey - Makello Blog

December 3, 2018April 2, 2024

Buyer’s Rights for Energy Upgrades

There are 10 ways that Makello protects your home from leaks

How does a homeowner build superior quality workmanship into the solar panel bidding process, to protect the home from the risk of water leak, accidental injury, electrical shock and fire hazards?

Makello documents the site survey and installation techniques with step by step photos and videos. Proof of quality workmanship is a “Buyer’s Right”.

Request a Quote

Are you ready to save money on solar power, EV charging or Energy Storage? Get an instant quote from Makello!

Without context about the actual installation process and installer training for a specific installation, quality talk means very little. If an installer doesn’t have a system to document and identify quality workmanship, a homeowner may not realize the system was installed improperly until years later in the frantic search for a bucket to catch the drips, or a bucket to put out a fire.

At the opening of a recent public lecture at the Vista library in San Diego, I asked a small audience, “How many of you had solar panels installed at your home or business in the last 3 years?” Approximately half of the room responded. I instructed the audience, “Keep your hands up if you experienced a roof leak under the solar panels during recent heavy rains”. About half of the hands remained raised. It was a shocking moment for me, because Makello’s exclusive solar PV installer, Green Energy EPC, has not had any leaks in many 100s of installations in San Diego. However, the guests at my lecture, all of whom were not Green Energy EPC installed solar panel customers, related very different results and experiences.

To my surprise, in the moments that followed, the audience took control of the lecture and started naming names of the installer companies involved. We won’t bad-mouth the competition, but I can tell you that the brands named are easily recognizable to all, including some of the biggest local, regional and national solar installers in the San Diego market. How is this possible, given that many of the companies identified have 4-Star average ratings on Yelp!, Angie’s List and other review websites? How is this possible, given that the Authority Having Jurisdiction passed the permit inspection in each case? The answer is quite simple- once you understand that any company can cut quality where the homeowner and the permit inspector won’t see it, to lower their costs and offer a lower price.

One of the Dirty Little Secrets of the Solar Industry is that the permit inspector is not responsible to inspect the quality workmanship in the attic, under the array, in the flashing and sealant waterproofing, in the wiring, at the connections, in the electric panel, or in the conduit. The burden then falls on the homeowner to climb ladders, scale rooftops, open up electrical panels and hardware, or shimmy on their belly in attics or crawl spaces. To do this inspection thoroughly after installation is difficult, costly and impractical.

March 26, 2018April 2, 2024

My UCSD Internship in Software Engineering

Research Intern Bhavna Gupta w/ Makello CEO Charlie Johnson

I first saw Makello at the Triton Career fair, where their colorful booth, binders full of pictures of the work they’ve done, and my would-be boss’s passionate pitch immediately captured my attention and made me want to work there.

As an energy efficiency and renewable energy company, Makello is in a field that I was initially unfamiliar with. Thus, being an intern there made the summer very educational for me because I was assigned to perform various tasks that really expanded my skill set. I learned about the field of sustainability and alternative energy, developed new skills in various computer programs such as Microsoft Excel and Zoho CRM, and practiced communication from working with both customers and other interns. It broadened my horizons and my mindset in a way I didn’t know I needed, and made me appreciate the value of learning outside the classroom.
The most exciting aspect of interning for Makello was that no two days were exactly the same; we were constantly learning new skills and given different assignments. Below are just a small handful of the tasks that I got to complete.

Customer Proposals
One of the main focuses of the summer was creating customer proposals. The first task was to update the company’s already existing business model with the most recent data for energy usage in San Diego. This required me to research prices and formulas about gas and electricity, and then input the data into Microsoft Excel. Once the model was up-to-date, we would enter the customer’s electric and gas usage and it would automatically generate a proposal for their solar needs. If the customer was interested, we followed a similar process to create proposals for replacing their most commonly used lighting around the house with LED light bulbs, which would ultimately save them more money.

Database/Computer Programs
Over the course of the summer, I was given a variety of tasks that required me to use different computer programs, some which I had no experience with. For example, we used Zoho CRM to manage the customer database. I previously had never been exposed to any database software, but it was very easy to learn and we were able to input lots of new customer data and easily access it when necessary. We also used Microsoft Excel for the business model; although it had already been created, I had to update formulas for some cells based on up-to-date rates, as well as add features to the model so we could create more accurate and adaptable customer proposals. Ever since learning the basics of Excel that summer, it has proven to be a very helpful skill because Excel is so frequently used. At the end of the summer, I was also tasked with using Adobe Photoshop for a new marketing campaign trial.

Client Interaction
Because Makello’s leading focus is sales, the business heavily relies on the satisfaction of its customers, so keeping positive relations with clients was an important part of the summer. We interacted with these customers both via email and in person at their business or home, so I spent a large portion of the summer building my communication skills. We created their proposal prior to our first meeting with them, so we were prepared with data and tangible numbers in the first meeting. We presented our proposal, performed a Site Survey to obtain details about their roof, and performed and Energy Audit to potentially save them more money. Because this usually involved being in someone’s home, we had to be very respectful to their time and space. The actual meetings were often very rewarding because the customers were so surprised and pleased by how prepared we were.
Aside from being exposed to the exciting field of renewable energy, the field of the future, my summer at Makello allowed me to develop and grow numerous personal skills. It was so much fun getting to do new things everyday, and was incredibly beneficial to have such a variety of tasks. Although I was working in a field that I had no experience in, with just an open mind and a desire to learn I was able to succeed and develop useful skills for the future. – by Bhavna Gupta

January 20, 2016April 2, 2024

My UCSD Internship at Wipomo

Tatiana Freinn Von Rheinbaben, Wipomo Research Intern

In the summer of 2015, I worked full-time for the San Diego based energy efficiency company Wipomo. Overall, I had a great and very rewarding learning experience, especially since this was the first internship that I completed in the sustainability and alternative energy sector, an area I would like to work in after graduation.

Research Intern Tatiana assisting on a solar installation — Wipomo Research Intern Tatiana Freinn Von Rheinbaben helping out in a solar installation

As a fourth-year U.C. San Diego student and molecular biology major, my background, aside from a membership of the UCSD organization Engineers for a Sustainable World, did not provide engineering or computer science classes prior to her internship at Wipomo. Thus, basically all the tasks I performed at Wipomo were new to me, but through hard work, dedication and love for nature, conservation, and sustainable development, I was able to contribute to the development of the company and complete my assignments.

My part-time work with Wipomo began in May 2015, and continues until graduation in June 2016. As a social media administrator, I post interesting articles, pictures and/or videos of our work in the field on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp and Youtube. I also helped to staff the Wipomo booth at events, like EcoFest (9th year, formerly Encinitas Environment Day), where Wipomo organized the Energy Ecosystem Pavilion and Electric Vehicle Showcase, or similar to events at UCSD where ESW & Wipomo demonstrated a mobile electric vehicle charging station to commercial business owners.

My full-time work with Wipomo, from July – September, I helped Charlie Johnson, the CEO, to create proposals for customers: we would input a costumers personal, electricity and gas usage information in our model and analyze the house/property with Google Earth to estimate the amount of solar modules the costumer would need to bring the electricity bill close to $0.

During the site survey appointment, we would inspect the roof, measure the roof dimensions, the angle of tilt and azimuth, and record a shading analysis. In some cases, if agreed so by the customer, we also performed an Energy Audit. We record power and use characteristics for appliances, light bulbs, pumps and motors, in our software tools, to analyze the potential cost savings from energy efficiency upgrades like LEDs or Energy Star appliances.

At the office, we interact with the Wipomo team, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, software engineers, energy efficiency experts, suppliers, distributors and construction industry personnel, to discover the trade-offs in equipment, site and installation techniques for a particular customer. Often we inquire with Sam Syed, owner of Green Energy EPC, before finalizing the solar photovoltaic system proposal. Sam’s team is the one that actually accomplishes the solar array installation. Sam is a NABCEP certified solar installer. He teaches the PV Installation classes at Cuyamaca College and Mira Costa College (Oceanside). I had the chance of watching various Green Energy EPC installations and even assisting at one installation as a volunteer. For a non-engineering person such as myself, the solar installation was an incredibly rewarding experience under the guidance of Green Energy EPC’s trained installers – drilling on the roof, positioning solar modules, connecting the modules to inverters and helping out with various other small tasks was a lot of fun. Overall, I truly enjoyed being outside, in the field and interacting with the customers directly and not only via phone or email. Oh yes- and the view from the roof is usually beautiful!

Another great part of my internship was the fact that I attended the Intersolar North American Conference in San Francisco, a yearly conference where various international companies present their technologies- solar panels, installation equipment, batteries, inverters, and the list goes on and on. And since we were already in Northern California, we also met with a few commercial and residential customers in the Bay Area that are installing in 2016.

Now, after my internship, I can definitely say that I would like to keep working in the field of renewable energy and sustainable development. I might not always work in the solar industry, but I do realize how this field is currently booming and can definitely benefit people and the environment at the same time.
So, my conclusion: after all, anyone can excel in a field that might seem foreign at first- it is up to you to put heart and passion into your work to create the reality you are looking for.

By Tatiana Freinn Von Rheinbaben, Wipomo Research Intern