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If the pitch starts at your door and ends with "sign tonight for the special," sleep on it. The sun will still be there tomorrow; so will we.
Before
After
Before
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Before
AfterSolar Services in Fairfax, CA
Solar in Fairfax is a different animal than solar in, say, flat sunny Novato or the open hills of Petaluma. Here, you’re dealing with steep canyon lots, dense redwood and oak canopies, and a town that loves its trees as fiercely as any community in Marin. That’s why we start every Fairfax job with a shade analysis done in person, not over a satellite map. We know Deer Park, Cascade Canyon, and the flats near Peri Park, and we know how the ridgelines move the shadows across your roof from October through March. If you want straight answers about whether solar will actually produce on your specific lot, call (877) 550-6892. We answer live, day or night.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Why Fairfax Homeowners Choose Gus’s Solar
Most of the people we work with for Solar Panel Installation - Fairfax have already had a door-knocker give them a number, push a tablet at them, and vanish. Then Gus Petrakis shows up, sits at the kitchen table, and asks to see a year of PG&E bills. That’s the whole pitch. He’s been doing this since 2011, his name is on the truck, and the crew doing the install is his own crew: background-checked, uniformed, and on your roof only after you know exactly who’s coming. Homeowners up in the White Hill area and over on Olema Road keep our proposal on the counter for two weeks, call with questions, and then call again when the system’s live. That’s the pace we work at.
Every job, from a panel repair on a 1949 bungalow in the flats to a full Fairfax Solar Battery Storage & Backup on a hillside place above the Meadow Club, comes with the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If something’s not right, Gus makes it right. One call brings him back. The number’s the same one that answers live: (877) 550-6892.
Solar Services We Offer in Fairfax
Solar Panel Installation
A rooftop system in Fairfax has to be engineered around shade and pitch, not a brochure diagram. We design every array from your actual usage and your actual roof, using microinverters or optimizers that harvest whatever sun each section gets throughout the day.
Learn more about our Solar Panel Installation in Fairfax.
Solar Battery Storage & Backup
Fairfax sits up against forested hills, and when the wind blows or the heat spikes, outages happen. A FranklinWH or Tesla Powerwall sized to your panel draw keeps the fridge, well pump, and internet live without you touching a thing.
Learn more about our Solar Battery Storage & Backup in Fairfax.
Solar Panel Cleaning
Pollen from the oaks and bay laurels, plus the fine dust that settles in the valley during dry spells, cuts into production faster than most people expect. Fairfax Solar Panel Cleaning gets your array back to its actual rated output.
Learn more about our Solar Panel Cleaning in Fairfax.
EV Charger Installation
We wire and mount EV Charger Installation - Fairfax for whatever you drive, and we size the circuit to your panel honestly. If your 1960s-era 100-amp service needs an upgrade first, we’ll tell you that before we touch the wall.
Solar Panel Maintenance & Monitoring
We don’t hand you a password and disappear. Gus watches your system’s output, and if a panel drops or an inverter faults, you get a call from a person who already knows your roof. Most fixes happen before you notice anything’s off.
Solar Panel Repair
Hail, a falling branch, a squirrel chewing through a home run: things happen on a wooded lot. We diagnose the problem, show you the failed part, and quote you a repair number before any work starts. If you have a written quote from another company, bring it in for a free second opinion.
Commercial Solar Installation
For storefronts and small commercial buildings along Broadway and Center Boulevard, we design arrays that cut operating costs without disrupting your business. The same crew does the work, and the same guy answers the phone afterward.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Fairfax
We work all over town, from the flats near downtown to the steep lots up against the open space. Typical response time in Fairfax is same-day or next-day for most calls, and emergency situations get someone out that day.
- Deer Park
- Cascade Canyon
- White Hill
- Olema Road corridor
- Fairfax-Bolinas Road area
Why Fairfax’s Climate & Housing Affect Solar
Fairfax sits in an inland valley ringed by forested ridgelines, which means two things for solar. First, those hills are a real asset: the valley gets warmer afternoon sun than coastal Mill Valley or Sausalito, and on a clear summer day your array will produce beautifully. Second, those same ridgelines throw shadows across rooftops well before sunset and well after sunrise, especially in the winter months when the sun stays low. In-person shade assessment is not optional here. A satellite model will tell you a roof gets six sun-hours. Standing in the backyard at 4:30 in December tells you the truth.
The housing stock compounds the challenge. Most Fairfax homes were built between the 1940s and early 1970s, and many sit on hillside lots where the roof pitch was set by the terrain, not by anyone thinking about optimal panel angle. Older 100-amp electrical panels are everywhere, and PG&E plus the town’s building department frequently require a service upgrade to 200 amps before an interconnection gets approved. That’s a real cost, and we’ll put it on the quote as a line item, not hide it until the last week. When you call for an estimate, we’ll look at your panel, your roof, and your bill, and tell you the whole number up front.
Pricing for Solar in Fairfax
Fairfax pricing varies more than most towns because so much depends on shading, roof pitch, and electrical panel work. A modest 4 kW system on a low-shade roof can start around $11,000 before incentives. A larger 7 kW system with microinverters, a main panel upgrade, and steep-roof labor commonly lands in the $22,000 to $28,000 range. Battery backup adds $9,000 to $14,000 depending on the brand and capacity.
Every quote Gus writes is built from your actual PG&E bill and your actual roof, not a template. The price he quotes is the price you pay, and he’ll tell you to take two weeks to think about it. The number won’t change.
Service Area - Cities Near Fairfax
We regularly serve San Anselmo, San Rafael, Kentfield, and Lucas Valley-Marinwood. If you’re just over the town line, give us a call and we’ll let you know if we can get a crew to you.
Serving Fairfax, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Fairfax area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Solar in Fairfax
Most Fairfax residential systems fall between $11,000 and $28,000 before the federal tax credit, with the final number driven by roof complexity, shade mitigation equipment, and whether an electrical panel upgrade is needed. Battery storage typically adds $9,000 to $14,000. Call (877) 550-6892 for a quote built from your actual bill, not a range from a website.
Usually no, and we’ll never ask you to. Fairfax’s tree-removal permit process is strict, and most residents would sooner live with less solar than cut a mature oak. Our default design uses Enphase microinverters or SolarEdge optimizers so each panel works independently, capturing whatever light hits each roof section even when part of the array is shaded. Tree preservation and solar can coexist here.
In most cases, yes. Fairfax is close enough that we can often do a same-day site visit, especially for repair calls or urgent battery concerns. Call (877) 550-6892 and a live person will give you a real time window, not a four-hour arrival block.
It’s likely, but not guaranteed. Many homes built before the early 1970s in Fairfax still have 100-amp panels, and the town plus PG&E will want a 200-amp service before approving most solar interconnections. We’ll tell you on the first visit whether you need it, and it will be a clear line item on your quote. No surprises at week six.
Often yes, but the answer comes from real measurements, not optimism. With per-panel optimization and an honest sun-hour assessment, many Fairfax homes produce more than enough to justify the system. The key is a shade analysis done in person at the right times of day. That’s the first thing we do, and it’s free.
Written by Gus Petrakis, owner of Gus’s Solar. Gus founded the company in 2011 and still answers his own phone. Call (877) 550-6892 for a free estimate, a free second opinion on any written quote, or just to ask whether your roof gets enough sun.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local solar pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, typically within 1-hour.
- 4You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
What Fairfax Customers Say
"Production dropped one spring and I did not even notice. Gus rang me, because he watches the monitoring, and had it sorted the same week."
- Sunita Balakrishnan"My previous solar company went out of business and left me with an array nobody would touch. Gus took the system over, replaced two dead microinverters, and it has run properly since."
- Ferdinand Kaltenbrunner"Four different companies knocked on my door in one summer and every one of them wanted a signature that evening. Gus has a shop with his name on it, gave me the numbers on paper, and told me to take a fortnight and think about it."
- Winifred Castellano