Flat Roof Solar Panel Installation

I am excited to share my most recent solar install. I really love working with these clients—their home is a museum of art collections and designs, and both the exterior and interior of the house are architectural beauties.

This project included connecting a 40-panel solar system to the grid. Because the roof is flat, we used the SunModo racking system, which is specialized in custom systems for flat roofs (www.sunmodo.com). It has several other advantages as well:

1.     SunModo is all aluminum, which makes it very lightweight, so there’s less stress on the roof, but still thick and burly enough to support 40 panels.

2.     Because of its angle arms, this is an excellent system to use in areas with high winds and ocean breezes. (This product is tremendously popular in Hawaii, where it is subjected to salt breezes and tropical storms.)

3.     The racking system is designed to level and plumb itself easily.

From a professional point of view it was great working with this system. It is light, dependable, easy to install, and very cutting edge.

This install required structural mounting to the roof, which meant we had to work in close cooperation with the roofer. We set him up for success by making all our holes on the roof small, clean, neat, and tidy. Our roofer, Reed Roofing (www.reedroofingca.com), was helpful in waterproofing our penetrations using Gaco foam and silicone in 54 E-curbs (www.chemlink.com/e-curb).

An important tip for solar installers, roofers, plumbers, or electricians, working on flat roofs: When the existing roof has a silicone layer, you must be careful not to use the E-curb POLY filler. The POLY in the E-curb kit will melt your silicone roof layer and instead of sealing it, will cause it to leak. 

It was a little nerve-wracking to do this install in the middle of the rainy season, but because we used the SunModo racking system, and were able to work closely with Reed Roofing, the panels were up in less than a week. The rooftop now blends beautifully with the serene mountain views of this stunning Carpinteria home.

We had a blast from the beginning to the end on this job. For more information about solar panel installation please go to our website http://www.korling.net/solar.html

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Remodeling a 1930 guesthouse

As a green construction company, we love opportunities to give new life to existing structures and materials. Recently we had a great pleasure to save a 1930 home from demolition. This small example shows that there are ways to save money, time, and effort with some creativity and thinking outside of the box.

Although it was charming, after consulting other professionals (architects, engineers, and other contractors) the owner of this small 1930 guesthouse had been convinced that the home was a tear down. My plea was that she already had a foundation footprint that was grandfathered in with the building and safety department—a legal structure that she was already paying property taxes on. Because my client had faith in my experience, we pushed forward, even in the face of others’ contradicting opinions.

Once we began our construction project, we discovered that the building’s walls were not constructed of 2x4s like a typical modern home. It was so old that instead it had redwood planks, 1 inch x 8 inch x 8 feet high, all around the exterior of the house. These planks were holding up the roof and provided the main structural support of the home. 

We knew we would need to tackle the project in a creative way, and did so by shoring up the home’s roof and building the exterior walls from the inside out. We gutted the interior and assembled exterior perimeter walls to follow the old foundation footprint. Not only were we able to save the home from demolition, but we also saved every single piece of the 80-year-old redwood planks to be re-purposed. As an added bonus, the owner/designer was delighted that this plan gave her the opportunity to redesign the interior.

In looking into the materials left over from her last job, the owner found she had enough tile and Brazilian wood (teak, iron wood) to do the finishes on the small 1930 house. She also went to a recycling center where she found an old freestanding bathtub. 

I don’t tell this story to put down the hardworking architects and engineers who had the owner convinced to tear it down. In their defense, it was a risky job, which required experience in the front lines of physical structural construction. It required shoring, assembling, and disassembling within the interior of the structure. If we hadn’t known what we were doing, the whole house could have easily crumbled, and, even worse, injured someone.

The lesson here is to take your time. Listen, slow down. Don’t let your emotions drive your decisions. Stay open-minded until all ideas have been explored. Because the owner of this project trusted my experience and creativity, she gained a 900-square-foot guest home that she now rents out.

We had a blast working on this project. To see more pictures from this remodel, and other green building projects, go to www.korling.net 

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The Power of Listening

In any relationship communication is key. When it comes to communicating with your contractor, it is very important to convey all your priorities, concerns, and preferences in the first stages of the relationship. Make sure you ask questions. Ask again if you don’t understand. And—this is the most important part—make sure your contractor is listening.

A good contractor is like a good clergyman. If he knows your specific concerns and hopes, he will spend more time and effort to make sure he doesn’t drop the ball on things that are most important to you. When I talk to my clients I try to understand the underlying reasons for their priorities. This can only come with true listening.

When you talk with your contractors, notice whether they take the time to explain everything. Did they explain it a second or third time around if needed? In a follow-up conversation, did they address your concerns or did you have to constantly remind them? Are they making sure your project is truly on budget, even if it costs them the job? Are they explaining all the variables, as well as the benefits, or just telling you what you want to hear?

Better communication brings knowledge for both sides. It is then easier to plan a strategy (even a backup plan) that will lead to a satisfactory execution.

Good contractors understand all the variables within the bigger picture, including ever-changing regulations, underlying politics of engineers, architects, or building & safety issues. I have had clients get upset because I did not agree to what they assumed was a reasonable budget or schedule. Many times this has led to me turning away projects that were based on unreasonable expectations.

When I truly listen to my clients I can see the bigger picture. For example, one client asked me to build a guesthouse in her back yard. She had a beautiful garden and, from our talks, I realized that the garden was very important to her. I knew that no matter how nice of a guesthouse I built, if it ruined her plants she would be left with a bad memory of whole experience. Protecting her garden required some careful planning and extra attention during construction. Some plants we could not save, but I was careful to communicate everything to her to make sure her expectations were realistic. Eventually we managed to save most of the garden and she was very happy.

By listening to my clients from the beginning, I make sure they are delighted with all aspects the final product. To see more, visit my project gallery korling.net .

The power of long term relationships

When I think about my clients and their projects, I think about how I feel about bringing my truck to my mechanic, or my thoughts when I see the doctor. I trust my mechanic because he has been taking care of my car for years. He knows its history, and I know he will use the best parts for it. The same is true when I visit my doctor: I am completely trusting his experience in his field to advise me on what treatment or medication best suits me. He has known me for years, and therefore can give me the best treatment for me. These relationships are about longevity.

          Nourishing my relationships with employees or subcontractors elevates the quality of my product. Unfortunately, I often see big-brand companies that are only concerned with their bottom line. They hire pushy salesman, drive up their prices, and do lousy installations using low-end materials. It’s pretty much the standard with today’s boom & bust type mentality. The average company on the S&P today only has a 15-year lifespan, verses a 67-year lifespan back in the 1920s. (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/where-do-firms-go-when-they-die/390249/)

          Long-lasting companies are those that do not have revolving doors. If your regular doctor now has 5 new staff members since your last visit a few months ago, does that increase your confidence in the care you’ll get? Big companies have high overhead, which leads them to take on many projects with tiny margins and fast turnover. Since employees are hindered by tight budgets, they lose morale. Their apathy is projected in the quality of their work and the high employee turnover. Projects that have an easy call back, which can be solved faster by the employee who handled that project the first time around, now cost more time and money because that employee is no longer working there. When you have high employee turnover the quality of workmanship goes down.

          I’ve been blessed to have the right people guide me through my 20 years of experience as a contractor. I have worked with the same contractors as a subcontractor on their projects, and as a general contractor working with them as my subs. Our relationship was never lost. I became best friends with my engineers. Not only is there a deep trust between us, but a mentorship was also established. This relationship gives us both valuable information about how to build better for less, gives our clients confidence, and has brought us more work over the years. Which brings me back again to the need for long-term relationships. Watch out for those fast-paced machines that are big for only a short while and then disappear.

I believe boom & bust will be here for a while until long-term goals are once again imbedded into our culture. Meanwhile, I will continue to be long-term minded in all my endeavors.

          I trust that eventually we will all begin to focus on long-term goals. True prosperity will come from nourishing our relationships with employees, subcontractors, clients, vendors, and all the people in our professional arena.

Visit my projects gallery to see the projects I've worked on with some of my long-term clients korling.net 

With Ross, my mentor

On a job with my crew of 15 years

Our upcoming Solar project

We are very excited to see this project coming to its install phase in the next few days.
It is a 5000 sf residential property in Carpinteria, CA, with a flat roof, which required custom racking system from sunmodo.com of Canada.
It is a complex install that took some time to design and prepare for and now we are finally ready to move forward with the installation.

This is the "before" picture. more to come after the project is done.