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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.
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AfterSolar Services in San Francisco, CA
If your PG&E bill keeps climbing while June gloom sits over the Sunset, you’re not imagining it. San Francisco’s fog pattern means your solar math has to start with the fog, not with some statewide average. We’re Gus’s Solar, and we’ve been handling Solar Panel Installation - San Francisco long enough to know that a system sized for Sacramento will underperform here every single summer. Call (877) 550-6892 and we’ll walk your actual usage, your actual roof, and your actual microclimate before anyone talks equipment.
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 San Francisco Homeowners Choose Gus’s Solar
Gus Petrakis put his name on the truck in 2011 and never looked back. No door-knockers. No call center three states away. When you call, a live person picks up, day or night. When we quote, the number is the number. And when something goes wrong after install, one call brings Gus back, not a ticket number.
We work throughout San Francisco, from the fog-heavy avenues of the Richmond to the sunny slopes of Noe Valley. Homeowners in the Mission and Potrero Hill have us back for panel cleaning and system checkups because they know who’s on the roof. That’s the whole point. The crew that installs your panels is our crew, background-checked, uniformed, and accountable to one name.
Every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not right, we make it right. That’s been the standard for 29 years across every community we serve, and it doesn’t change at the city line.
Solar Services We Offer in San Francisco
You don’t need a menu of vague “solutions.” You need the actual work, done correctly, on a house built in 1912 with a 60-amp panel and a shared party wall. Here’s what we do, and where to dig deeper. Learn more about our Solar Panel Installation in San Francisco.
Solar Panel Installation
We size systems to your real PG&E usage, current export rates, and the fog zone your block sits in. Racking on Victorians and Edwardians takes someone who has done it before, not a crew learning on your roof.
Learn more about our Solar Panel Installation in San Francisco.
Solar Battery Storage & Backup
With PG&E’s public safety power shutoffs, a battery isn’t a luxury. We install FranklinWH, Tesla, and Enphase systems sized to your evening load, your refrigerator, and whether you need the whole house or just the essentials.
Learn more about our Solar Battery Storage & Backup in San Francisco.
Solar Panel Cleaning
Fog residue, salt air, and pigeon activity cut production faster here than most inland spots think possible, which is why San Francisco Solar Panel Cleaning matters. A seasonal cleaning typically recovers 5 to 10 percent of output, and we do it without damaging the racking.
Learn more about our Solar Panel Cleaning in San Francisco.
EV Charger Installation
Garages in San Francisco are often detached or built pre-conduit, which changes the wire run and the permit path for EV Charger Installation - San Francisco. We handle the load calculation, the panel work, and the city inspection with the same crew that installed your array.
Solar Panel Maintenance & Monitoring
Gus monitors your system. When production dips, he calls you. You don’t have to log into a portal monthly or wonder whether the inverter is still breathing.
Solar Panel Repair
Microinverter failures, damaged panels, chewed wiring, roof leaks around old racking. We diagnose honestly. If it’s a $40 fix, we won’t sell you a $400 panel.
Commercial Solar Installation
Flat roofs in the Mission, warehouses in Bayview, small retail in the Richmond. We handle the structural review, the DBI paperwork, and the production modeling for businesses that can’t afford a month of idle panels.
Neighborhoods We Serve in San Francisco
We work all over the city. If you’re in one of these spots, you’ve probably seen our trucks already. Typical response time is same-day or next-day for an assessment.
- Mission District
- Noe Valley
- Potrero Hill
- Sunset District
- Richmond District
Why San Francisco’s Climate & Housing Affect Solar
San Francisco is not one solar market. It’s at least four, divided by fog. The Mission, Potrero Hill, and Noe Valley get meaningfully more annual sun than the Sunset or the Richmond, which sit under the marine layer for weeks at a stretch in summer. Any quote that starts with a city-average irradiance number is already wrong. We start with a fog-zone assessment for your block, then build the production model from there. That’s the difference between a system that pencils out in year 8 and one that pencils out in year 15.
Then you add the housing. Most of the homes in ZIP codes 94127, 94101, 94102, and 94103 are pre-1930s Victorians and Edwardians. Wood-frame. Shared party walls. Flat or low-slope roofs. Original 60-amp electrical services. A meaningful share of these streets fall inside historic or conservation districts, which means the Department of Building Inspection routes permits through an additional planning review. We have navigated this enough times to tell you which racking systems the reviewers will accept and which ones will stall your permit for weeks. Bring me a bill, I’ll bring you the math. That math includes the service panel, the roof type, the district review, and the fog.
Pricing for Solar in San Francisco
We quote from your actual PG&E bill, not a brochure. But here are honest ranges for what homeowners in San Francisco typically see:
- Solar panel installation: $16,000 to $32,000 before incentives, depending on roof, panel type, and electrical work
- Battery storage & backup: $11,000 to $19,000 added to an install, or retrofitted separately
- Panel cleaning: $120 to $240 for an average 20-panel roof in SF
- EV charger install: $700 to $2,600 depending on panel capacity and wire run
- Repairs: $200 to $2,000 depending on fault type; we have a $40-off-any-repair-over-$200 standing offer
The price we quote is the price you pay. No signature wanted tonight. Take two weeks. Think about it. The price will be the same. And if you already have a written estimate from another company, we’ll give you a free second opinion.
Service Area - Cities Near San Francisco
While we’re rooted throughout San Francisco, our crews also work in nearby neighborhoods and districts. If you’re in Mission District, Noe Valley, Chinatown, or Visitacion Valley, we’re just a quick call away.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco 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 San Francisco
Yes, but only if the system is designed for your specific fog zone. A proposal built on California averages will underperform. We model production for your actual block, using your actual usage, and we tell you the year-25 output expectation before you commit. Call (877) 550-6892 and ask for a fog-zone assessment.
Most pre-1930s homes in San Francisco have a 60-amp electrical service, and yes, you’ll often need a 100-amp or 200-amp upgrade before we can interconnect. We handle the panel work as part of the scope, and we’ll tell you the cost before you sign anything.
If your home sits within a historic or conservation district, expect an additional planning review that can add two to six weeks. That’s not a surprise to us, and we will tell you before you pay the permit fee. The rest of the city moves on the standard DBI timeline, often three to six weeks for a residential solar permit.
Clean them, almost always. Fog residue, salt air, and pigeon droppings can cut production by 5 to 10 percent, and a $120 cleaning usually restores it. Call (877) 550-6892 and we’ll tell you if your panels are actually dirty before you spend anything.
In most cases, yes. We keep scheduling open for same-day and next-day visits inside the city. A live person answers the phone 24/7, not a voicemail queue. Call (877) 550-6892 and we’ll work out a time that fits your week.
Written by Gus Petrakis, Owner at Gus’s Solar, serving San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.
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 San Francisco Customers Say
"He modelled it on my actual bill and the current export rates rather than the old ones, and told me plainly that the payback was longer than the door knockers had claimed. Then it came in about where he said it would."
- Octavius Redmond"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