
Why Your ChatGPT Solar Panel Research Is Probably Wrong
A customer sent me a solar panel comparison this week. He had built it using an AI chatbot as his research tool (it was pretty obvious). The chatbot named a
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Florida Solar Design Group stands out as the premier solar panel contractor and installer in Southwest Florida, prioritizing education and consultation for solar electricity, grid-tied battery backup, off-grid solar solutions, and innovative solar pool heating strategies.
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional (PVIP)
Top Solar Electricity & Solar Pool Heating Dealer
Jason Szumlanski, the only NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional (PVIP) in Southwest Florida, epitomizes industry standards with his deep knowledge, lengthy experience, and business integrity.
Dominick’s extensive solar consulting experience ensures precise product selection for our customers’ energy needs, with a focus on finding the right solution for the client’s specific situation.

Solar panels can power your entire home or reduce your electricity bill by offsetting utility usage, saving you money year-round with or without battery backup.

Grid-interactive solar needs battery backup during low solar output. Compatible batteries offer uninterrupted power solutions.

Solar panels and a heat pump can efficiently heat a pool, saving money and reducing carbon footprint.

Solar panels warm your pool economically all year, providing comfortable water temperature as it passes through, without added costs.













A customer sent me a solar panel comparison this week. He had built it using an AI chatbot as his research tool (it was pretty obvious). The chatbot named a

I trimmed a bush on Cayo Costa last week and added roughly 800 watts to a solar array. Not a theoretical 800 watts. Real watts, measured by the inverter, on

Every hurricane season the same question lands on my desk: should I install a whole home propane generator or a solar plus battery system? It is one of the most

Imagine a car lease that runs 10 years. The full useful life of the car. You pay every month, and those payments cover every dollar of depreciation plus interest for

Somebody knocked on a client’s door last week and told her she could have solar panels for zero dollars down, zero dollars out of pocket, and zero change to her

The wife wanted air conditioning at night. The husband wanted to deliver on that promise. Their ten-year-old off-grid solar system would not let them, and worse, they had no way

The EcoFlow Ocean Pro has impressive specs and looks great on a wall. So why won’t we install it? A NABCEP-certified solar contractor’s honest take on why serious solar pros are sitting this one out.

FPL’s budget billing program is designed to smooth out your electric bill across twelve months by averaging your usage. It’s a comfortable program if you have a predictable consumption pattern.

An email arrived from FPL this week for one of our clients. “You may now begin operating your private solar system.” Those words are the finish line on a process

New house plans landed in my inbox this week (like most weeks). The homeowner is building from scratch and wants a grid-interactive solar and battery system designed in before the
A very professional and knowledgeable service throughout. I have worked with a lot of contractors and this company is first rate. I thoroughly recommend anyone considering Solar to them. Prices... ... were competitive and they respond immediately to any communications.
I am not sure I can fully convey my satisfaction with Florida Solar Design Group and its owner Jason, but I will try. I began my solar 'adventure' while... ... constructing my new house, I thought I could 'do it myself' after all I was building my own house. Long story short after purchasing panels and inverter online and keeping them in storage before I was anywhere near to starting I wisely decided its not a DIY project, at least not for me. I wish to share my full experience, but not everyone maybe interested, if you feel inclined read on to the end. When looking to install Solar at a minimum do yourself a favor and speak to Jason. I highly recommend speaking with him after (or better - before) any sales pitch from another vendor - he will not give you a 'sales pitch' he will listen to your wants, tell you what is possible and at what cost. What is 'realistic' and what isn't. I think we have come to expect that solar is just something easy to do, slap some panels on a roof and your golden, but if you want more than just something offsetting your power, like solar power when we lose power (and who doesn't want that in SWFL) battery backup etc. it gets pretty complicated quickly. Experience and knowledge matters, not everyone can do it or has gained the knowledge to do it SAFELY. From my experience with Jason he has probably forgotten more stuff than some other installers even know, and his crews have many years of experience also. Always call Jason & FSDG you will learn a lot - and learning and being knowledgeable is very important when going solar to make sure you have a satisfactory experience and no regrets. So now for the full story of my install, Back in May of 21 I reached out to some installers and Jason was 1 of 2 that came to my construction site. I was immediately impressed with Jason's knowledge and he was frank and honest about what I had purchased, what was 'missing' (a fair bit) and what I could expect, of course this was less than my initial expectations. We kept in touch as the house was built, I sent some equipment back and with Jason's instructions ordered some other parts. My house construction was not going the smoothest (covid etc.) and the electrician just wasn't understanding what my plans were but we had sold our old home and needed to move in quickly so we finished up the house 'standard' then after another meeting with Jason came up with an electrical plan for what we really wanted which included adding panels for a larger system (my first pool home and I had no idea what those suckers run especially when heating them). After some further delay (NOT FSDG related) about a month ago we were ready for Jason and his crew. Jason came back out again (I think that may have been 6th time and there were countless emails) to confirm everything was ready and all the parts (his and mine) were ready, he got us on his schedule almost immediately. On a very hot Monday one crew ran the wiring in the attic while another was on the roof setting up and wiring the racks. It was a REALLY hot day on a metal roof, the wiring and inverter were ready to go but it was just too hot (southern and western exposure of course) to finish in one day - the poor guys probably lost 10lbs in water weight. Next morning bright and early they were back to finish the panels 50 of them in total. Jason came by a little later to supervise the final installing and hook ups and to make sure everything was right then by 12:30 he allowed me to turn it on - I don't think I have ever been happier to do almost nothing - its kind of surreal seeing the screen on inverter showing solar power and no grid power coming in. No noises of machinery, no bells and whistles just silent power to run all the other noisy stuff. I have batteries for partial backup and I look forward to figuring out my usage and getting ready for when I know the power will go out at some point - I am ready and in no small part thanks to Jason and FSDG. Thank you Jason & FSDG
Florida Solar Design was great throughout the job. Starting with my call for an estimate—to the last day when they finished up and helped orient us to the new system—the... ... crew was knowledgeable, professional and efficient. Great experience!
Our neighbors had ADT put in their solar panels months before us and they are still not up and running. Our system is working great! Jason and Dominick... ... are badass...
Florida Solar Design Group was selected as the installer for the SWFL solar co-op. They had a great package. They weren't pushy at all. Answered all my questions.... ... When I finally decided to move forward, installation was quick and easy. They handled everything!
I was calling around to find a contractor in the area that could help one of our clients troubleshoot an issue with their system. I work with a contractor out... ... of state and we are no longer in FL. Not many people were willing to take this on for us. I spoke with Jason and he was very professional and helpful. Even in their busy schedule, he was able to help our customer out in a timely manner and was very transparent with us about the whole process and what needed to be done. Would definitely recommend them!
Great system, and great people who continue to respond in a timely manner to all questions.
These guys are the best of the best. My battery install came out clean and professional. They even corrected all of the issues the original installer created. Overall, great price... ... with amazing installers. Can't go wrong.
This company is the best....I sent a message thru their website on a Saturday because I needed a new valve actuator installed. Jason called me back within 15 minutes (never... ... expected that) and told me he was in my area and could be here in 10 minutes. He came and installed the valve and my solar is up and running. That was the greatest thing that happened to me since the hurricane. Incredible customer service.
We were so lucky to find Florida Solar Design Group. They are professional, courteous and clean up all the mess ( not that they made a mess). After the initial... ... installation, it wasn’t “take the money and run”. I, of course, had more questions and the owner came to my home to go over all of it again. That’s a plus in my book. I highly recommend this company 100%
Super company! The customer service couldn't have been better. They made everything run smoothly and were very responsive to any of our questions.
I wanted to throw a shout out to/for Florida Solar Design Group ~~ locally owned & based right here in Gateway. My husband & I decided to invest in solar... ... panels for our roof to alleviate the ever-increasing FPL bills over the long haul as well as ensure we’ll have power during any future power outages. I cannot say enough things about FSDG’s owners ~ Jason & Dominick ~ who were honest, transparent, and extremely knowledgeable throughout the process — from initial meeting to permits to install & beyond, as well as Susan who helped make sure things continued to flow administratively throughout the process. They listened to our needs, offered a couple of options to consider, then based on our decision, they designed & installed a system that would meet our current & future needs, as we’re having a pool built this fall. They did not try to sell us something we did not need, but were extremely helpful suggesting alternative, more useful options to what we *thought* we’d want/need. Dominick even provided suggestions for pool equipment specs to look for so we’d get the most out of our solar energy year-round vs. the partial-year, single purpose thermal pool water heater. Installation went flawlessly, our system has been up & seamlessly producing energy for a few weeks now. And we’re seeing the energy production daily through the intuitive app for the system. We’re REALLY looking forward to the next FPL bill which should be next to nothing. It’s comforting to know that — if the power grid goes down while the sun is shining — we’ll still have power thanks to the way FSDG designed our system. Absolutely NO regrets! Thank you FSDG!
I did a deep dive in researching solar companies that do business in Southwest Florida. Florida Solar Design Group rose from the very convoluted pack as the best. Only after... ... the installation was complete did I realize that they have to be THE very best. I'm very happy with my decision to choose Florida Solar Design Group.
We recently moved into our forever home In Babcock Ranch and hired Florida Solar to design and install a solar system four our new home. Florida Solar took care... ... of the permitting including dealing with our fussy HOA's and scheduled the installation. Their communication was excellent. The installation took less than a day and by the time the crew left we were producing electricity. Now that we are hooked up to the grid we have been producing a little more power than we are using and that is running to AC's. I am very pleased with our solar panels through Florida Solar Design Group and would definitely recommend them to anyone considering going solar.
Jason and his team have been a pleasure to deal with throughout the process. As with any system of this complexity, there were a few glitches (mainly enphase related) however... ... Jason worked through start up process directly with factory and resolved all issues. Their team has responded promptly and professionally throughout. One of those vendors that you find now and then that you wish all others we like. We are 110% pleased with the system and end results. Be prepared to wait on FPL for permit approvals, etc. but in the end, it will get done!
I am writing to highly recommend Florida Solar Design Group. My wife and I had a new system installed recently by another installer. It uses Enphase inverters and includes an... ... app to track system performance. We began to realize that the system probably wasn't performing correctly and reached out to our installer. Who ignored our repeated calls and emails. Over a frustrating few weeks we learned that our installer had cut corners. Looking for the best way forward, we contacted Florida Solar Design Group. Jason Szumlanski returned my initial call to their office within an hour or so. He is easy to talk to because he listens well and then responds clearly and directly to what he hears. He is intelligent, articulate and informative and his expertise became clear very quickly. After about 10 minutes of talking, Jason said that he was pretty confident that he understood the problem and the solution, and he said he would call me back soon. Within the hour, he called back and confirmed that he had been able to tweak our system remotely to correct the issue that we had identified. He then explained that we would be wise to have him look over the install to ensure that there were no other problems. He said that he would not charge for his time, only for materials that might be needed. We agreed (of course!) On site, Jason assured us that the installer had provided a good system, but he also showed us how the workmanship was somewhat sloppy and that it also revealed their lack of experience with the Enphase equipment. Spending about two hours on site, Jason reinstalled the consumption metering hardware, double checked the rest of the install and then completed the software update so that the system was, finally, fully functional. I am very grateful for Jason's assistance. More than that, I am amazed that he took the time to do this, for free, simply because he wanted to help. From the beginning of our first phone call to the end of his visit to our house, his intention was to solve our issues. The whole experience was amazingly good: he returned calls just as promised, he arrived at our house on schedule, he was thorough on site with great attention to detail, and through it all he was efficient but unhurried, committed to quality, informative and pleasant. I urge anyone who is looking into solar installations to include Florida Solar Design Group in their list of people to speak with.