Tesla just screwed me over

[IamMark]

I started working with Tesla over 3 months ago to install solar panels on my roof. A unique situation with our house is that it uses all steel frame construction - no wood is used for studs, rafters, etc. I discussed this point with my advisor on several occasions and included pictures from our attic. He said that he discussed this with the designer and assured me they had alternate mounts that could be used for the install.

Because our roof was over 20 years old, I decided I would re-roof before the project. I signed up with a roofer to do the job but then found out he wouldn't be able to do the install until the end of October. Because I didn't want to risk not getting PTO from PG&E before the end of the year, I hired a different roofer for an additional $2k who was able to start the re-roof earlier.

The roofer completed the job, and Tesla was scheduled to do the install this week. A couple days before, I called scheduling and told them again about the steel frame construction and to make sure that the crew was properly equipped. They stated it was in the job notes, and I was good to go. The day of the job, no one shows up. I call into scheduling to find out what is going on, and I'm told I was removed from the schedule. They said that the warehouse manager and "safety specialist" did not know how to safely anchor into my roof for their guys' harnesses, and so they couldn't do the install. This is despite me having warned them repeatedly about the construction of our house.

I spoke to my advisor today, who spent about 45 minutes on a conference call with the warehouse manager and safety specialist. The conclusion was that they simply aren't going to be able to do the install because they can't do it safely. When I asked why they didn't realize this when I brought it up so many times in the past, they really had no response.

Other solar installers in my area are 65% more expensive than Tesla, so unfortunately, going with someone else isn't really an option for me. Even so, I doubt somebody else could get it done before the end of the year, and I don't want to get stuck under NEM 3.0.

As a result, I paid to do a re-roof and an extra $2k to speed up the process for no reason. It is unbelievable that they could screw up this bad. Other solar companies have installed solar on numerous houses in my development, so I'm not sure how they were able to safely install the panels but Tesla is not.

 

[Az_Rael]

Man, that really sucks. I thought I had a bad time with my Tesla Energy install, but I think you got hosed way worse. Unfortunately, you found out the hard way that the left hand of Tesla Energy often doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. They will tell you “no problem” for anything non standard all the way up to the last minute when they figure out the local install team can’t actually do it.

 

[mnsweeps]

Sorry to hear that. I am hand holding Tesla every step of the way .. I ordered 7.28 and my permit was rejected 6 times by LA county.. Coincidently , permits were approved today. Now I have to call Tesla tomorrow and set the install in motion.

BTW when does NEM 3.0 start? Is there a specific date?

 

[Redhill_qik]

Sorry to hear that. I am hand holding Tesla every step of the way .. I ordered 7.28 and my permit was rejected 6 times by LA county.. Coincidently , permits were approved today. Now I have to call Tesla tomorrow and set the install in motion.

BTW when does NEM 3.0 start? Is there a specific date?

The NEM 3.0 regulatory investigation process just started, shouldn't be final until 2022.

 

[Alonzo]

It is unbelievable that they could screw up this bad.

Not if you read this forum regularly.

 

[Ludalicious]

Not having tie off points for harnesses doesn't really have anything to do with the roof being metal or wood. You should of had your roofers install harness tie off points on the roof. It's something I have had installed on all of my houses for safety reasons. I know contractors that won't step on a roof without them. It's a liability issue.

 

[SMAlset]

OP I’m pretty sure I remember your reroofing dilemma — time vs extra money. This sucks but I can understand the tie off issue. I have no idea where these are on our roof but know the guys found some on our roof because they were wearing harnesses.

As a homeowner I wouldn’t want anyone up there without them. If this is the issue, why not call your roofers back and have them install some and see if this will then let Tesla proceed. It’s something I wouldn’t have even thought about until reading your post. Just assumed all homes had ways for roofers to safely navigate every roof. How were your roofers working on your roof both during removal and then reroofing? Were they wearing harnesses? If they somehow covered up critical access points, they need to fix this for you whether you continue with Tesla or not.

 

[bgrynn1873]

You story is worse then mine. I would be hiring an attorney because you did work on anticipation of putting in solar panels. They are probably liable for the different it costs to install solar panels.

Apparently they are doing bids and then abandoning projects if it costs them too much.

I have damage on my roof from the contractors and even a bunch of mounts all over the roof that they installed and I am only getting silence. I rather keep lawyers out things but at a certain point you have to hire one.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Tough spot. I would get back in touch with Tesla and see if they'll proceed if you have anchors installed and where/how many they'd want. Your roofer would likely install fairly cheaply.

It's sad to see these "fringe cases" go so poorly when it could easily be avoided. If Tesla is only going to do the most straightforward of installs, they need to do a better job of weeding them out from the start.

I'm going to start a thread for a year-end earnings call question about service on the Energy side. It's such a glaring and easily rectified issue. Please contribute and we'll see if we can get it asked at the earnings call in January.

 

[IamMark]

Not having tie off points for harnesses doesn't really have anything to do with the roof being metal or wood. You should of had your roofers install harness tie off points on the roof. It's something I have had installed on all of my houses for safety reasons. I know contractors that won't step on a roof without them. It's a liability issue.

I'm not referring to the roof being made of metal. It is the rafters as well as everything else. My roofer would not have known how to install tie off points. He never worked on a house with steel frame construction, and as a result, did not feel comfortable doing a ridge vent. You cannot anchor into the studs like you can with traditional wood rafters.

 

[IamMark]

OP I’m pretty sure I remember your reroofing dilemma — time vs extra money. This sucks but I can understand the tie off issue. I have no idea where these are on our roof but know the guys found some on our roof because they were wearing harnesses.

As a homeowner I wouldn’t want anyone up there without them. If this is the issue, why not call your roofers back and have them install some and see if this will then let Tesla proceed. It’s something I wouldn’t have even thought about until reading your post. Just assumed all homes had ways for roofers to safely navigate every roof. How were your roofers working on your roof both during removal and then reroofing? Were they wearing harnesses? If they somehow covered up critical access points, they need to fix this for you whether you continue with Tesla or not.

The roofers were just walking around freely - no harnesses. And not that I'm condoning it, but I have never seen anyone in our area wearing a safety harness when doing work on the roof.

As I mentioned in my other response above, I honestly have no idea how they would install anchor points on our roof. You cannot nail or screw into the metal rafters.

Lastly, Tesla did an onsite assessment, and I again pointed out our steel frame construction when they were here. Not having tie off points was never brought up as an issue until now.

 

[wjgjr]

Tough spot. I would get back in touch with Tesla and see if they'll proceed if you have anchors installed and where/how many they'd want. Your roofer would likely install fairly cheaply.

It's sad to see these "fringe cases" go so poorly when it could easily be avoided. If Tesla is only going to do the most straightforward of installs, they need to do a better job of weeding them out from the start.

I'm going to start a thread for a year-end earnings call question about service on the Energy side. It's such a glaring and easily rectified issue. Please contribute and we'll see if we can get it asked at the earnings call in January.

I do think that is a good approach for Tesla as it may be as simple as installing those anchors. And I agree, Tesla needs to do a much better job of identifying the projects that fit with their model earlier in the process. It seems like the problem is that the experts are not involved in the process until too late in many cases, which means wasted time and frustration on both sides.

Also, since the mention of lawsuits came up, it is worth it for OP to re-read the contract with Tesla. Ours had no clause that I could see for Tesla to unilaterally back out. However, it does allow Tesla to change the contract price due to "unforeseen conditions". Whether or not this is really "unforeseen" is unclear (the type of roof was clearly identified, but maybe this issue of anchors was not obvious.) In any case, it seems like Tesla at least has a responsibility to come out and re-price the job to include the anchors. (I suppose they could just provide a ridiculous price if they don't want to do it, but it seems like that might be their only out.)

 

[wwhitney]

You cannot nail or screw into the metal rafters.

That can't be exactly true--the roof sheathing has to be secured to the metal rafters. If it's light gauge steel framing, self-tapping screws would be typically used. There could be an issue using a standard tieoff designed for mounting to wood framing, as the individual light gauge metal members may not be as strong as a wood member. So that would need checking.

Are the rafters and sheathing exposed on the attic side? Do you have any pictures?

Cheers, Wayne

 

[IamMark]

That can't be exactly true--the roof sheathing has to be secured to the metal rafters. If it's light gauge steel framing, self-tapping screws would be typically used. There could be an issue using a standard tieoff designed for mounting to wood framing, as the individual light gauge metal members may not be as strong as a wood member. So that would need checking.

Are the rafters and sheathing exposed on the attic side? Do you have any pictures?

Cheers, Wayne

Thanks. Here's a couple pictures of the rafters.

 

[zecar]

I rather keep lawyers out things but at a certain point you have to hire one.

IMO most people are too slow to hire a lawyer when it comes to construction issue. They key is to get a consultation from a local litigator who specializes in construction and landlord issues. These guys are not expensive. They are often in practice with real estate attorneys. The typical real estate attorney is not the person to use for construction problems.

Of course its a poor choice to threaten hiring a lawyer or a lawsuit. Homeowners do too much threatening and posturing and not enough talking to an attorney who actually knows the law. The net cost of an attorney in the situations mentioned above is usually negative.

 

[brkaus]

Look up fall prevention equipment online and call a few places?

I have a high/steep roof that’s been re-roofed twice. They have never used fall prevention. Scary.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Sorry to hear about your story. Unfortunately, none of it surprises me, and it’s why I have a hard time recommending Tesla to people.

 

[BrettS]

The roofers were just walking around freely - no harnesses. And not that I'm condoning it, but I have never seen anyone in our area wearing a safety harness when doing work on the roof.

For better or worse, Tesla has required their workers to use safety harnesses on the roof for years. I remember seeing reviews from a couple of years ago when people mentioned it. I agree that it’s not common in the industry, but Tesla has been pretty hard and fast about this for some time.

As I mentioned in my other response above, I honestly have no idea how they would install anchor points on our roof. You cannot nail or screw into the metal rafters.

I imagine that there’s gotta be some way to install anchor points on a roof like that, even if it would require building a small wood structure in the attic or bolting the anchors to the metal rafters instead of trying to screw into them. It might be worth reaching out to a couple of roofing companies and see if they have a solution. It does seem like getting the anchors on your roof might be an easy and reasonably inexpensive way to resolve the issue.

Lastly, Tesla did an onsite assessment, and I again pointed out our steel frame construction when they were here. Not having tie off points was never brought up as an issue until now.

I suspect that this might have just been a case of the engineers and other folks getting too focused on whether the metal rafters would work for your solar roof without thinking about the whole process and the fact that they would also need to have anchor points on the roof to actually install it. Not that this is an excuse at all, but I can definitely see how it might have slipped through the cracks... the engineers wouldn’t really normally think about the install process, they just want to verify that your roof can support the solar roof.

Out of curiosity, did the guy who did the onsite assessment ever step foot on your roof? It’s my understanding that any Tesla employee standing on a roof needs to be anchored and that would include the assessors. If he did go on the roof then it would seem like he should have been well aware of the anchor issue.

 

[wwhitney]

Thanks. Here's a couple pictures of the rafters.

Yeah, you can definitely use the self-drilling screws on those. You can see how it's done near the ridge, with the self-drilling screw ends pointed towards the camera. I would think one of the standard tie-off products would work, just using the appropriate size and length of screw instead of nails to mount it. But it would be better to find a product that has installation instructions for metal framing and specifies the size of screw to use.

Alternatively, there might be a tie-off product around that is rated for just attaching to the roof sheathing. It presumably would have a bigger base plate and more fasteners. That would be the simplest solution.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[wwhitney]

As an example, the Ridge-It anchor instructions say it can be installed with #14 screws into 20 gauge metal:

Ridge-It Anchor

So if you confirm your rafters are at least 20 gauge, you could use it. I'd suggest the 0510 double d-ring, it's a style that goes over the ridge and is meant for permanent installation, with the asphalt ridge cap shingle installed on top, covering all the fasteners. Depending on your roof geometry, ridge length, and installation area, you might need 2 or 3 of them.

Cheers, Wayne