It says a lot about the customer experience at Solar Generation (No. 398 on the 2018 Top Solar Contractors list) that after getting solar installed on his home last year, Paul McMenemy wanted to buy the company and come on board.
“There was an open line of communication, and they were just down to earth,” McMenemy said. “They did it all efficiently, and there was no mess. They were very friendly with the dog—all those silly little things, but just natural customer service. One hires contractors throughout your life, and this was the best group that I’ve ever dealt with.”
This wasn’t McMenemy’s first interaction with Solar Generation in New York’s Hudson Valley. He got a solar quote on his home a few years ago, but the project didn’t pan out. He also knew Solar Generation’s previous owner Todd Koelmel because their children went to the same schools. When McMenemy moved to a new house better primed for solar, he gave Koelmel and Solar Generation a call.
“I called Todd again and the crew came out and put up some gorgeous panels and were just really a top-notch crew,” McMenemy said. “I was very impressed by their work ethic and the quality of work. Got to talk to Todd a little bit. He was nearing the end of his 13 years as an installer and I was looking for a new gig, so we started talking.”
McMenemy has been involved with renewable energy since the early 2000s, as a developer and entrepreneur in biofuels and other organic markets. Now in charge of Solar Generation’s future, he wants to lead the company into the next horizon—large-scale projects.
“I was of the opinion and still am that this is a quality group with high-quality projects,” he said. “We’re doing Solar Generation 2.0 which is to [continue] the residential and commercial and also now doing project development in terms of solar farms here in New York state.”
Solar Generation has seven employees plus McMenemy. Vicki Weaver, project analyst, said the close-knit team is excited about the future.
“When Todd had discussed it with us, we were kind of wondering how the change would go,” she said of McMenemy’s new leadership. “I have to say it went really smoothly. Paul was great with coming in and seeing our process and viewing us as a team before implementing anything. It’s been a great transition.”
McMenemy said the learning curve to solar has been steep, but he has plenty of experience with the business basics.
“Customers are customers. Whether it’s selling a $30 million digester to a city or an 8-kW [solar] system to someone, it’s the same process. You have to be transparent,” he said. “I’ve always been in renewables, so the tax stuff and financing and the contracts, I’m very familiar with. But the nitty gritty of where to put this particular inverter or where we should hang this disconnect switch, that’s a learning curve I’m slowly getting up on.”
To take on larger projects, Solar Generation will have to grow beyond its seven employees or begin partnering with subcontractors. McMenemy is looking into all options.
“I have a very solid base team and we’ll organically grow from this core team. We’ll see where it takes us,” he said. “We’re a very small company, but we have big ambitions.”
This story was featured exclusively in our 2018 Top Solar Contractors issue. See the issue and full list of top U.S. solar installers here.
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