Wolf River Electric — Local services in Isanti

August 2024 Update: 3/5 Got the opportunity to hit “reset” with WRE after last year’s hail storm. They made an effort to make it right and delivered a better product than I had before once it was all said and done. Overall, I would not hire them again knowing what I know now but I am content with how things turned out. If it weren’t for the times they lied to me, pressured me, or misinformed me this would have been a great experience.

August 2023 Update: 2/5 Repairs completed in May and haven’t had any additional leaks. Keeping the star rating as is because it was easily one of the worst experiences I’ve had trying to work with a contractor. If they could find a way to confirm when they’ll be on-site I would’ve given another star.

Also, I have been asked multiple times to remove this review despite it being an accurate account of my experience.

April 2023 Update: 2/5 After submitting a BBB complaint, the WRE team was able to get us on the schedule. They attempted “quick” repairs which appear to have worked on some leaks but others still remain. They still have a really hard time scheduling and communicating. Hope things improve with the warmer weather.

March 2023 Update: 1/5 If you’re a prospective customer, I’d strongly recommend holding off on giving WRE your business at this time. If you already have signed a contract but work hasn’t started take lots of “before videos and photos.”

They seem to have a tough time giving their field crews and PMs the resources needed to succeed after the sale is made. their estimator is also their scheduler who, understandably, is prioritizing new work so our punch issues keep getting pushed out. our first PM was let go shortly after we reported leaks and expressed concern around lack of progress towards a resolution crews have showed up without necessary tools, materials, or info from office on planned work. We had to lend them our ladders and show them issues that weren’t shared by office. we’ve had roof leaks due to bad seals at missed anchors and junction boxes since at least December 2022 that haven’t been resolved or scheduled. still haven’t passed the final electrical inspection for the service panel upgrade done in November 2022

The silver lining is WRE’s roof and installer warranty is pretty iron clad so while it is annoying to have a system operating at less than 50% and active roof leaks at least we’re not on the hook financially. I hope they are able to turn it around and continue installing high quality Enphase systems as I would love to be able to update this again saying it all turned out okay. Until then… I’m just hoping we can get on the schedule soon.

Overall, wouldn’t recommend WRE at this time for solar or residential electrical work due to issues coordinating and sharing information between office and field.

Original 4/5 rating: We had a large array installed in addition to a 200A service panel upgrade. There were a few hiccups as far as coordinating with the local utility company but the WRE team put in effort to work around that and expedite when possible. Their crews were also top notch and respected our home (and dog) like it was their own. There were a few post-inspection items that took over a month to rectify though with holidays and staffing issues.

Really enjoyed having access to the project within the Bodhi app too. Looking forward to lower (and perhaps negative!) utility bills later this year with longer and...

I had Wolf River install a dozen solar panels at my house. The estimated work time was one day. The first foreman spent a few hours wasting time trying to setup electric piping to go around the edge of my roof around my gutters as opposed to going through the attic due the pitch being steep where the initial drilling was. The second foreman moved the entry point a foot over to a different part of the overhang. This resulted in them having to come back a week and a half later to finish the install.

Once installed, the garbage from the install lingered in my front yard for almost a full month from the initial install date and I received a warning from the city for it. I contacted my project manager repeatedly and was assured it would be taken care of, yet the results were lacking.

Finally, my panels were set to get tested and have the net meter installed a month after the install was completed. Due to weather, the test was cancelled, yet I received no communication from either the team on site, who never left their cars, nor from my PM. Then a month and a half after the test was cancelled, the team suddenly showed up during lunchtime to run the test and install the net meter. Thankfully, I was home to ensure things were shut down appropriately before everything lost power for a few minutes, but I was very frustrated by the lack of communication throughout the process.

While I was impressed by the sales team, I found the overall coordination of events, communication, and professionalism to be lacking by Wolf River. I paid a premium to get a pain-free installation and found the experience to be anything but. I am assuming everything works fine at the moment and that none of my property was damaged, but as they have yet to setup the monitoring hardware for me, I have no way of confirming whether the system is working or not. My solar panels have been installed since 2/16 and I'm writing this review on 5/3 and the panels have supposedly just started producing energy for me.

I would find it hard to recommend Wolf River's service and find the fact they offer $100 for a 5-star Google review distasteful as it encourages customers to mislead potential customers. I paid a premium for what I perceived to be premium services and received lackluster services in return.

Edit 5/10/22: Justin from Wolf River reached out to talk through my frustrations with the install. It turns out my PM left the company during my installation process at the same time as a few other PM's. As such, my project got lost a bit after the initial install. Justin apologized and covered my utility and solar panel payments while I was waiting for the solar panels to be finished setting up. I am still waiting on the monitoring hardware to be setup, so I increased the review to 4 stars for now.

Edit 5/17/22: The cell kit was setup today and I am now able to monitor my energy production. Once Justin reached out, he did a great job ensuring the project was completed in a timely fashion and I received clear communication from the team. I will chalk up my poor initial experience to the turnover experienced by the team as I have been very pleased with the service since my initial complaint. As such, I will leave my notes as is, but increase my...

Great Solar! Wolf River was able to remedy my issues.

Pre-Installation: Pricing was slightly better than competitors, so I decided to go with Wolf River. I have heard that they hit some of my neighbors with add-ons after the contract was signed, so I asked how to prevent that and I took those steps. Unfortunately, they hit me with $2k in add-ons because "the utility requires a particular brand". I called the utility, and no they don't - they suggested a brand but similar works and they're surprised I (the home owner) was calling and not the PM to confirm. 10 minutes after utility called the PM Wolf River suddenly knows that there is no similar. In the meantime I got a Wolf River coupon for a generator but they didn't accept it as I already signed the contract - I was hoping they'd throw it in as good will for the up charge they assured me wouldn't happen if I sent them a bunch of pictures of my electrical system. Oh well.

Installation: I was told it would take two days - great! The day installation started the installers wanted to know where I had the materials... I guess the PM didn't order it for the install? Install didn't start until 2pm, the installers just chilled out in my driveway the entire morning. Day 2 - STOP WORK ORDER. I guess Wolf River PM doesn't check to see if permits get approved. Now 10's of thousands of dollars in equipment is sitting in my yard killing my grass and open for theft. The following week another crew comes in for a couple days, doesn't finish. The following week another crew comes in and finally finishes. 2 day installation turns into 6 days over 3 weeks. Also, I had to call/email myself, no updates from the PM about when the crew would be coming for each reschedule. Sales staff (maybe unintentionally sent to me) had to tell PM to communicate with me. Each installation crew was friendly and professional. They showed up on time each day I was told they were coming.

Post Installation: They cut a bunch of siding off the side of my house, and I have no idea when they plan on fixing it. When the PM chooses to answer, he either "has to talk to his boss" or "its on the handy man's list". No idea when they plan to fix this. I've also got big yellow rectangles of hopefully not dead grass.

The solar itself seems to be doing great. App is working and I'm eager to get my first utility bill to see how its...