Brian Buzbee

Eric Girouard  0:00  

This is Bucket Talk, a weekly podcast where people who work in the trades and construction that aren't just trying to survive but have the ambition and desire to thrive. The opportunity to trade and construction is absolutely ridiculous right now.

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Jeremy Perkins  0:27  

This is Jeremy and Eric with bucket talk powered by BRUNT. Today we're here with Brian Buzbee aka The Solar Slayer on Instagram. This is gonna be a banger. But before we get into that, Eric, what's been going on?

Eric Girouard  0:40  

All right. All right, so last week, we had our company Friendsgiving Jeremy and I with the rest of the team, it was actually the first time we get every single person that works at the company full time together under the same roof and yeah, it was one hell of a time Jeremy Why don't you just kick off a little bit of what we got into Dude,

Jeremy Perkins  0:59  

it was crazy. Eric loves to fry a Thanksgiving turkey I've kind of shied away from him because of the fire hazards and me I'm usually terrible with it, but he kind of roped me into it. So I only have first degree burns on my hands but yeah, dude, it was cool. We carved up the turkey with what would you have

Eric Girouard  1:16  

with the mighty Carver? Which is a chainsaw chainsaw that is a turkey Carver but it's pretty cool little thing,

Jeremy Perkins  1:23  

dude. So it was funny because my dumbass I was in charge of carving the damn Turkey and I had to Turkey upside down so when I think I thought this thing had no meat but everyone was like hey yeah, you should probably flip it over.

Eric Girouard  1:36  

And then luckily I was there I fried a few turkeys and there is a fatal flaw that a lot of people make a mistake on which was we put the bird in the oil and as expected the oil was boiling over the side most people forget when you put the burden turn the flame off even if first 3060 seconds this oil was everywhere the whole place would have went up in flames luckily we didn't have the flame on and then once it dies back down you turn that flame on there's one piece of advice kill the flame while you put the bird in the oil

Jeremy Perkins  2:07  

Public Service Announcement see though place would have burned down this is why I'm not allowed with oil and fire flammables but awesome. I hope you guys enjoy the podcast solar Slayer. Today we're here with Brian Busby. Brian Busby is known as the solar Slayer on Instagram. Welcome, Brian.

Brian Buzbee  2:25  

Hey, guys,

Jeremy Perkins  2:26  

thank you for having me. Awesome, awesome. So we just wanted to get a deep dive into what you do on a daily basis. But before we do that, let's start with where you're based out of a little bit of your background, you can go as far back as you want or love to hear the story.

Brian Buzbee  2:39  

Yeah, I've been doing solar for a little over seven years now started back with a company called Sun Run. Actually, before Sun Run, I was with Vivint, Vivint Solar and pretty much started as an installer worked my way up through the ranks. So you know, lead installer, electrical helper electrician, corpsman construction supervisor, you know, I've done done all the roles top to bottom. So you know,

Eric Girouard  3:02  

awesome, awesome give us like the early life of what bridge the gap? Yeah, so

Brian Buzbee  3:05  

before solar, I was working for a small locker company doing lockers at theme parks and things like that. And I had a friend who was just like, "Hey, you know, and solar is paying really well, hop over here." And I kind of just went for it. As soon as I got into it, I was you know, really enthralled with it. I loved it. I loved everything about it sort of learning as much as I could. And then I just kind of built my my knowledge base and, and all that.

Eric Girouard  3:28  

How long ago did you make that jump that was probably

Brian Buzbee  3:30  

about eight years ago decided to join the field and and get out you know, I did graduate from Salisbury University with a bachelor's degree I'm doing absolutely nothing with but you know, so it's alright, so now that I know what my degree so

Jeremy Perkins  3:43  

nice, nice, eight years ago, was that really when the solar revolution started happening is that when people started to do the installs, and it really became a household thing?

Brian Buzbee  3:52  

Yeah, especially on the East Coast, you know, probably about 10 years ago is when it just started, you know, getting a little bit popular, and then within the past, you know, five to seven years when it's, you know, kind of started taking off. And these past three years has been absolutely crazy.

Jeremy Perkins  4:07  

Now, how involved the solar? Do you have the roof side of things like so you'd obviously have to repair and install solar panels on the roof or however the setup may be. But there's also the wiring aspect, the electrical side of things. So can you do both? Is it just like an all inclusive train? Or is it kind of segmented

Brian Buzbee  4:23  

I think it all depends with what company you're with. But a lot of the companies let you start, you know, kind of doing with whatever you want. A lot of them will train you from the ground up, especially the bigger companies but you can pretty much learn it all through the company you're working with. You don't have to necessarily go to a solar trade school or, you know, electrical trade school, you can work, you know, under an electrician at a solar company for a while, you know, build up your hours, go to schooling in the evening, things like that, and work your way to you know, become an electrician that way. So there's multiple avenues to get into the solar trade. You don't have to necessarily dive headfirst into a book. You can get started as you know, an apprentice or an install helper out in the field and how Wanna learn? Like most of us do with hands on? Not all of us are good? You know, in the books?

Jeremy Perkins  5:04  

Yeah. So there's kind of a labor aspect to it. And then you can kind of pick which path you want to go within the company, whether you want to Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. For you. Is it customer facing? Do you guys have to deal with the customer on a daily basis? Or is it one of those things that you just kind of go in there, do the install in your

Brian Buzbee  5:20  

out, at least for me, as the foreman and the crew lead of crew, I do, you know, do 90% of the speaking with the customer, the other guys on the team, you know, hey, how you doing here and there. But yeah, for the most part, I get I get on site, I let the homeowner you know what, what to expect for the, you know, the safety protocols, the electrical protocols, you know, if we have to kill the power, all that good stuff. So there is a good amount of communicating with the homeowner, you got to remember that you're on someone's personal property, their residents, they got to live with what you do after. So you got to take all that in consideration, make sure they're 100% comfortable with what you're going to do before you just throw some stuff up on the side of their house.

Eric Girouard  5:54  

Yep, give us the high level on, I hear about it from a different angles, there's like it probably was more of the wild wild west back a few years ago, but it may still be where, you know, the guys are like, you know, running across the country get a neighborhood getting as many roofs done as possible and in print money. And that's obviously the business side of it. But what it is it is? Is it generating power, obviously the homeowner, it gets huge benefit for their solar. But is it also generating excess power that's then getting resold back to the cities and the towns? Like, what's the higher level kind of thesis behind it? Or is it more you do an install? And you make a bunch of money on that? And the homeowner pays for how does the kind of the model and I know there's probably different versions of it. But generally, how does it work?

Brian Buzbee  6:34  

Sure. So there's a couple different models, a lot of people what's most popular is like a PPA or a lease. So they don't have to buy the system outright. They're leasing it, they're paying the solar company a cheaper rate per kilowatt per hour, than they would pay the utility company. So on average, they do it that way. They're saving about 20% of months, and nothing has to come out of their pocket for the install or any of that pretty much it's all covered. And the warranty, the system for about 20 years is covered by the company, as long as you're you're on that lease, you can also get cash system that you have that capital when you have that buy the system outright, right then and there, you get all the benefits of the solar. So you're not just getting, you know, paying a percentage of it or getting a percentage of your solar, you're capping out anytime that you're over producing, you can actually, you know, back feed your power back onto the grid. So theoretically, you know, during the day, you have everything shut off in your house for your soldiers, chicken, you're essentially feeding in the houses around you with your power that you're over producing. Yep, got it. Wow. That's cool. Yeah, yep. And then now within the past, you know, three or five years, we have the battery systems, and they're, they're getting better, and they're getting cheaper. So now you have a way to actually store the power that you're creating, or you're over producing during the day. And then at night, instead of kicking over and using the utility power, you're using your you know, backup reserve power that you created yourself.

Jeremy Perkins  7:53  

So now how does that look like because I've had a few, I've had a few di wires come by my my shop and pick up some old car batteries, they test them and they bring them back to the house. And they're like, you know, it's gonna be my battery bank for my solar setup. Is it similar? Is it one big battery? Is it a whole bunch of like, 12 volt batteries out of how does that work?

Brian Buzbee  8:11  

So yeah, a lot of the DI wires so those are the guys that got a bunch of car batteries. And they're just running them in series, you know, whatever they're doing in their garage, working in actual Tesla power wall batteries, which are a bunch of, you know, lithium ion batteries crammed together in this, you know, this giant box, theoretically, we hang on the customers wall. And yeah, so those are the ones that are a lot more not only just attractive, but the footprints a lot smaller, and they're a lot more versatile. And with those type systems also come with, you know, an app so you can control how you want your battery back to work. Do you want it to offset your nighttime power? Or do you want to set it up as just a full time backup generator. So when the power goes off, your battery kicks on. And then you're using battery. So there's a lot of, you know, cooler interfaces that you can do with the newer systems that you can't, can't really do as much if you know you're doing old school battery systems.

Jeremy Perkins  9:02  

Yeah, it's cool. I did a little research on solar setups. And you know, for me, it's one of those things with electric cars, you know, how are you going to power those cars from your home? And then it's funny that you brought up Tesla because you know Elon wanted to go essentially all electric and

Eric Girouard  9:19  

he Jeremy you drop the name like you know the guy.

Jeremy Perkins  9:23  

Mr. Musk, but it's funny because like he's getting in all aspects of things he's getting into the solar panels. And I think now they're getting into solar shingles too, as well. Correct?

Brian Buzbee  9:33  

Yep, yep. And our company, you know, we work as a build partner with Tesla. So they'll come out they'll install the solar shingles and then they'll subcontract, you know, the electrical part to us and we'll come out. We'll install the batteries, inverters and all that wire up pretty much everything from the roof down so it's we got a nice little partnership with the Tesla guys. Do you see that

Jeremy Perkins  9:52  

decided interest in are they kind of paired together with an electric vehicle as well or is it kind of two separate business model. So

Brian Buzbee  10:00  

you can do it however you want, you can just get the solar shingles just says, you know, roof solar, and that's all it does, you can get them in conjunction with some batteries, or you can go, you know, trifecta. And you know, a lot of these people already have electric cars. And that's kind of why they want the solar to go with it to kind of help, you know, power their car with solar and the battery. So I'd say probably good 80% of the people that are getting the solar shingles, but the batteries also have electric power. And we're just doing the whole kit caboodle while we're there.

Eric Girouard  10:29  

Yep, yep. Awesome. Awesome. So you've been in it for eight years, but it's still like kind of a new world order. And the world is going to kind of evolve, we usually ask folks, you know, where did you picture your career going from where it is now, but I'm going to say, let's look to the future. Where do you think your career is going to go as the world of solar continues to kind of change the world a little bit? And where do you think things are going to head out in the next, you know, 510 years?

Brian Buzbee  10:51  

Right. I'm hoping the next five or 10 years, I mean, we're already getting to the point where solar's you know, almost the the new norm, California passed the bill, I think was last year, the year before where all new houses built, are required to come to solar, you can't build a new home in California without putting solar on it. Yeah, it'd be a great model to kind of incorporate anywhere are everywhere, I would say, yeah. So you know, that'd be ideal. And being able to, you know, frame houses out and run your conduit through the house, instead of you know, how we're doing it now, where we're coming. And kind of retrofitting houses to be able to, you know, build the house from the ground up and incorporate that solar into it from the get go would probably be ideal, you know, solar shingles, definitely, probably the future if we can bring the price down, and, you know, make sure that they're going to last they've only been out so long, we'll see how they do in the long run, you know, I'm fairly confident they'll be probably the wave of the future, too, is just roofs, windows, they have windows now that can generate electricity, you know, maybe even siding one day, so just you know, any side of your house or portion, your house that get sunlight, probably power the house, I'm hoping that's what we can get to.

Jeremy Perkins  11:57  

Nice, nice. So what's the number one thing that you know, now that you wish, you know, when you first started in the game, any tips or tricks?

Brian Buzbee  12:05  

Oh, tons of tips and tricks, I think the best tips I would say for guys is to just keep your head down and learn as much as you can get in with a company that's willing to train and learn. I think I kind of just got lucky at the beginning and finding a company that already had that good, you know, basis of training and stuff. I've had tons of guys reach out to me and they're not happy at the company they're at, they feel like they're stuck in that, that same dead end, job that's not going anywhere. I'd say you know, make sure people were finding a job finding a company that, you know, trains you, appreciate you and wants to help build you and grow you. I think, you know, that's a key for anybody. If someone told me that years ago, I probably would have made some better job choices in my past. But you know, it got me to where I'm at now. So yeah, now I wish anybody joined the solar trade, you know, best of luck and always reach out for any advice. Awesome, awesome.

Eric Girouard  12:59  

You're kind of like one of the leading charges of kind of, you know, one you got pretty badass named solar Slayer, which is which probably worth some money unto itself. But you know, I saw we'll talk about more at the end. But I said you got your own book and all that stuff. So obviously in the positives are the world's going towards it? What are some of the pitfalls or some of the uglies industry? You know, people screw people over doing shitty jobs are what are kind of some of the things to watch out for? And, you know, you're kind of bringing the industry in a positive light. But what are some of the things for young folks to watch out for to make sure they're not joining the wrong type of people, the wrong groups are on companies that could give the industry kind of a bad reputation.

Brian Buzbee  13:34  

Yeah, and that's the beauty of the past 10 years. And today, we're fixing jobs that are installed 10 years ago, because there was guys just slapping stuff up, no training, even back then there was no real protocol of how to do things, you know, the NEC Code Book is the solar section in the past, I think three versions is grown probably two or three fold. So you know, it was kind of wild west back then. So I would saying you know, people just need to, you know, make sure they're not looking for companies that just want to slap solar up as quickly as possible. Find a company that's, you know, focused on their quality and their safety. The biggest thing is the guys that you go home at the end of the day, so make sure you're being taken care of make sure they're providing the right safety gear and all that a lot of companies will try to skimp there. And yes, that's your your number one. Number one thing that you got to provide for the guys make sure they get home at the end of every day. So make sure your company is providing safety and make sure that they care about good quality looking jobs.

Jeremy Perkins  14:29  

Are there any independent solar installers? Or is it all national organizations? Do you have to be partnered versus like any, you know, five man electrical company getting into it? No,

Brian Buzbee  14:42  

I mean, there's tons of smaller you know, electrical companies get into it, the money is there, the money is great. I think the problem with the smaller companies getting into it is they don't necessarily have the knowledge that everyone else has been doing it as long you know, that we have so they're kind of just figuring it out as they go whereas we figured out, you know, the larger corporations kind of figured it out as we went for the past 10 years and had a lot more heads on it.

Jeremy Perkins  15:05  

It also made me think about training does industry put on training? So does Tesla give you training? Or is it kind of they give you more of a manual and then you just do the install?

Brian Buzbee  15:16  

No, no. So a lot of the larger ones that Tesla's the Sun Runs the, you know, Titan solars, they do provide like a onboarding and the training usually about two to three days or a week training. And it's usually pretty intensive, they usually have, you know, mock roofs built in their warehouse somewhere, they'll get the guys you know, harnessed up, put them on a roof, show them how to map a roof out, show them how to drill it out. So there is very hands on training, classroom training before you're just thrown into the field that you know, a lot of the smaller companies don't necessarily have the the resources to provide. So

Jeremy Perkins  15:48  

high level takeaway there is the fact that if you wanted to get into the solar industry and be part of the electrical sustainability revolution, that you can join one of these large companies with little to no experience and work your way to the top and everything, all the tools and everything that you need, well will be at your disposal, as long as you're a go getter.

Brian Buzbee  16:10  

Oh, absolutely. Yep. Me, I recommend that to people all the time. They say, you know, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to get started. And I say, start with a large company, they'll bring you under their arms, they'll teach you everything you need to know. And they usually take really good care of their employees as well. So

Eric Girouard  16:23  

awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so obviously, you know, a lot of your time man geez, not only spent out out in the field on the job, probably thinking about it, obviously, written your own book, which we'll talk about, but when you're able to kind of put solar down and out of your head for a minute, which may be impossible. What some of the stuff that you'd like to do in kind of your personal time, so we get some of our folks so a little insight into the man behind the scenes. Well,

Brian Buzbee  16:51  

my personal time I like to DJ that's probably like the number one thing I like to do a snowboarder skateboarder I got a one wheel so I love ripping that through my neighborhood all the time. Oh, yeah. So, you know, that's pretty much anything recreational hiking, biking, things like that, like just like to get outside

Jeremy Perkins  17:07  

DJ, what genre you played? Are you doing the EDM? Electric Forest? Are you? Yeah,

Brian Buzbee  17:14  

yeah, no, I know. Definitely big EDM fan. I actually started DJing 2003. Four. So you know, been doing that a while I probably started you know, old school vinyl turntables records. First couple records. I had, you know, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre. So started with old school hip hop. You know, over the years, I've done everything from weddings to Bike Week. So I've had to play, you know, ZZ Top for 12 hours straight. So you know, when people ask me, What kind of music do I like, I tell them everything you pick is on? Well, you put it on? I'll listen to it. So I played it the people, you know, nice.

Eric Girouard  17:47  

Awesome, awesome. Can you tell us a little bit about kind of the book I saw the other day? What's his backstory to that? And what can our listeners kind of get out of that?

Brian Buzbee  17:54  

Yeah, for years, I've been, you know, kind of running with this idea in my head, like, hey, there needs to be a simple book that kind of tells people what the basics of solar is, but also wanted a book where guys that are out there in the field. I mean, we all get brain farts from now and then. So it's something that they could just, you know, pull out of the glove box and reference if there's something that they forgot. So I kind of incorporated a bunch of stuff that I've learned over the past eight years, and everything that you know, you'll see on a typical install day and what you need to get started on a typical solar install. Nice. Where can people find this but is on my website of the solar Slayer, calm, the solar Slayer calm and someone took solar slayer.com Make sure there's only one, so make sure you put the V in front of it.

Eric Girouard  18:39  

Well, this is a perfect time for Jeremy to let you know we've got solar Slayer calm and he's willing to sell it to you. No, that's awesome. Okay, then we'll tag you and all this stuff. But anything else you want to plug of anything that for folks to get in contact with you or follow along and kind of your journeys that are helpful other than maybe then us you know, tagging your Instagram in your book and your size? This is an interesting topic. I mean, this is cutting edge this is new electricity is the thing of the future. And yeah, I mean, definitely want to know more information. If anybody wants to take a deep dive, just let us know where we can find you. Yeah,

Brian Buzbee  19:13  

so yeah, the source calm on the new website I just put up and I'm gonna start keeping that updated. On there, I have the links to my Instagram, my tic tock and as well as my YouTube channel, I just started so I actually am starting to record more reviews as well as training videos putting up on YouTube. So that way, if you know anything is confusing for my book or in the field, you can just pop up my YouTube channel and kind of see what you need to know I'm gonna put some troubleshooting tips on, you know, things that I encounter when you know we're testing at the end of the day and something's not you know, working right or you got panels that aren't showing up. So I'm going to put in all the little tips and tricks I've learned over the years into the YouTube channel. So be on the lookout for that. Start subscribing now, so the more subscribers I get, the more motivation I get to make more videos Uh huh.

Jeremy Perkins  20:00  

That's what it's all about. Right. That's it. That's it.

Eric Girouard  20:03  

Awesome. Awesome. Well, thanks, Brian. We really appreciate you taking the time out of sounds like a very busy schedule and sharing kind of the world and this kind of New Age world even though you've been in for years, but generally New Age and in kind of long history of trades. I know our listeners are gonna appreciate this for now and long time to come.

Brian Buzbee  20:20  

Awesome. You know, thank you guys so much for having me. I really appreciate both y'all as well.