San Diego Solar reviews
• last updated FEB 26, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
San Diego Solar gets the fundamentals right without any flash. We found a small, owner-operated outfit where the two brothers who answer your calls also wire your inverter and climb on your roof. One homeowner watched the county inspector congratulate Dirk on passing inspection on the first try, a rarity the inspector felt compelled to mention. Reviewers consistently note the no-pressure sales approach: when one couple asked about battery storage, Dirk recommended they wait because better products were coming soon, an answer that cost him an immediate upsell. The follow-up support is reliable across dozens of reviews, with customers reporting prompt replies years after install. Installation timelines run longer than you'd get from a crew-heavy company. One customer endured a six-week wait that turned contentious when scheduling conflicts and invoice confusion derailed a repair (the only negative review we saw), proof that a two-person leadership team can bottleneck when jobs stack up.
If you value an owner who'll personally run the conduit and explain why he chose each panel over a company that can field three crews tomorrow, San Diego Solar is worth the wait. Just confirm install dates in writing upfront.
Reviews That Shaped Our Verdict
Annette chose San Diego Solar last September after interviewing several well-known companies and liked that the process felt low-pressure from the start. Dirk came out, walked her through the panel types and why they used them, and laid out the pros and cons of current battery options without pushing a sale — he actually recommended waiting for new battery products rather than upselling. The business is a small, local operation run by two brothers with years of experience, and the installation itself was efficient. On one visit when either Burt or Dirk was on site, she mentioned a patio leak; one of them climbed onto the roof, decided it was an easy fix, and repaired it on the spot — a detail that underscored their service. She also gets prompt replies to calls and emails. What lingered most was the combination of straightforward, no-hard-sell advice and the on-the-spot roof repair that made the experience feel more like hiring a trusted local contractor than dealing with a big company.
Allen W. shopped around with five different solar contractors before deciding to go with the installer his neighbor had used. He ended up with an 8,000-watt system — 40 commercial-grade panels — that’s been live for ten months, and the meter now spins backward faster than it ever ran forward, even with the pool pump and A/C running. Dirk, the owner, handled every step personally: planning, permits, installation, rebates, and the electrical hookups himself. The county inspector remarked that passing on the first inspection is rare, congratulated Dirk, and cleared the system with no issues. When a storm knocked out power for a day in the mountains, they plugged into the garage inverters and ran the refrigerator and communications directly from the panels while the sun was up — no generator needed. Dirk also fixed a poor job by the original roofers and re-roofed the half of the house where the panels sit; that extra work cost roughly a third of what a separate roofing contractor would have charged, and because it counted toward the solar project they could take a bigger tax break. Two friends have since hired Dirk and are equally pleased, and Allen found the big national firms much pr
Skip had a solar emergency at his compact 704-square-foot home with ten panels when his original installer, Petersen Dean, went bankrupt and the buyer refused to honor the warranty. On 4/30/21 San Diego Solar arrived: four technicians showed up, the owner Brad chatted with him, one tech found and made a temporary fix in minutes, and the crew departed after about 40 minutes. They traced the failure to shoddy junction boxes and wrong wire connectors left by the previous company, and Brad promised they would return within two weeks to replace the boxes. Skip warned he was moving on June 7 and asked for the work completed before then; Brad replied “NO PROBLEM,” and Skip even offered to pay that day but accepted Brad’s offer to settle when the job was finished. He sent the crew off with a few cactus cuttings they had admired — a friendly start that set expectations for timely follow-up. What followed was a string of missed appointments and mixed messages. San Diego Solar texted and rescheduled repeatedly (notable entries: a promised 5/5 visit that never happened, a 5/14 message that they were “super busy,” and a 5/27 reply that they were finishing a 150-panel job). Calls and voicema—s
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 88
Clean Record
Unauthorized Activities
Passed screening
Misleading Claims
Passed screening
Background Check
Serving customers for 12 years
Operating longer than most installers in the market.
BBB Rating: A+
Excellent BBB standing. Strong complaint resolution.
Review Patterns
Licensed Contractor
A valid contractor license is on record.
What You Can Expect
After waiting a couple of years to see how things held up, Jerry discovered that his solar system continued to perform well and the company's aftercare stayed reliable. He hasn't needed much maintenance, but when follow-up was necessary Brad and Dirk stepped in quickly—capable, responsive and consistently courteous. He recommended San Diego-Solar to several friends, and they echoed his positive view. The lasting impression was clear: not just a smooth installation, but dependable service years later when it mattered most.
Skip had a solar emergency at his compact 704-square-foot home with ten panels when his original installer, Petersen Dean, went bankrupt and the buyer refused to honor the warranty. On 4/30/21 San Diego Solar arrived: four technicians showed up, the owner Brad chatted with him, one tech found and made a temporary fix in minutes, and the crew departed after about 40 minutes. They traced the failure to shoddy junction boxes and wrong wire connectors left by the previous company, and Brad promised they would return within two weeks to replace the boxes. Skip warned he was moving on June 7 and asked for the work completed before then; Brad replied “NO PROBLEM,” and Skip even offered to pay that day but accepted Brad’s offer to settle when the job was finished. He sent the crew off with a few cactus cuttings they had admired — a friendly start that set expectations for timely follow-up. What followed was a string of missed appointments and mixed messages. San Diego Solar texted and rescheduled repeatedly (notable entries: a promised 5/5 visit that never happened, a 5/14 message that they were “super busy,” and a 5/27 reply that they were finishing a 150-panel job). Calls and voicema—s
L C. hired San Diego Solar to put panels on their home and ended up appreciating how smoothly the whole project ran. Dirk answered a barrage of questions quickly and stepped in to navigate the red tape SDGE threw up, which took a lot of stress off their plate. His brother Brad and the installation crew worked fast, stayed friendly, and left the homeowner with a system they felt was well priced and easy to monitor — L C. enjoys checking real-time electricity use and timing. At no point did they feel pressured or shortchanged; the process felt straightforward from the first meeting through final hookup. The moment that stuck with L C. most came outside the work itself: while Dirk was meeting an inspector he noticed L C. struggling to get a rescued cat into a carrier, offered to help unprompted, and had the cat secured in about five minutes after an hour and a half of unsuccessful attempts. That combination of competent project management and unexpectedly neighborly help is what made the experience memorable.