Residential solar crews spend hundreds of hours together putting in hard labor on rooftops. Validation usually comes from happy customers and positive reviews, but an installer in Michigan saw a chance for recognition on a national stage and found a creative solution to make it happen.

Karl Hercula, VP of field operations at Michigan Solar Solutions (No. 246 on the 2024 Top Solar Contractors List), participated in installation competitions in his former career as a roofer and was intrigued by Intersolar’s similar Solar Games, an annual tournament where solar contractors race to complete a rooftop solar installation, that was last held in San Diego in January.

“I saw that brought the camaraderie with my crew when I did roofing, and I thought it’d be a great thing to bring the camaraderie with the solar company I’m working with now,” Hercula said.

The only problem? How to cover the costs of transportation and lodging for four people to get to California. Intersolar offers selected teams $2,000 toward travel, but that still leaves a hefty balance with today’s inflated prices.

“I brought it up to my boss and I saw the look on his face,” Hercula said. “So, I went back home and was just looking around and something just popped up in my head, and I’m like, ‘Well, can we get a sponsor?’”

He reached out to a few companies MSS works closely with and found their supplier McNaughton-McKay was willing to give the team a $5,000 sponsorship to cover the rest of the costs. In exchange, the team included the distributor’s logo on their competition T-shirts.

Hercula and his three regular crewmates were set to hit the games. But he wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings for those who didn’t get to go, so he promised to distribute any prize winnings among all 35 workers at the company. First place won $10,000, second place received $3,500 and third got $2,500.

The competition proved to be the bonding opportunity that Hercula expected. MSS’s solid communication and hard work landed them second place in the competition and a $3,500 prize to split among the company when they got home. Hercula live-streamed the competition to keep everyone back in Michigan in the loop too.

“We found out that our communication within our team was better than the other teams,” he said. “You need to alert the guy of what’s going on ahead of you and what’s behind you, and make sure everybody’s safe and make sure people are following the rules.”

Although California-based company Aloha Solar won the competition for the second year in a row, two midwestern solar installers placed second and third.

“We had to represent the Midwest. We really wanted to put our foot out there and just show how hard we work,” Hercula said. “We don’t have the seasons like California does where it’s beautiful all year round. We have to deal with a lot of crap.”

Although everyone took the competition seriously, the teams got together for drinks afterwards in the Gaslamp Quarter.

“It was great to get to know the people on the other teams. They had as much heart as our team did,” he said.

Hercula is planning to get MSS out to San Diego to compete again in the Solar Games in 2025 — and maybe come home as the champions this time.

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This story was featured exclusively in our 2024 Top Solar Contractors issue. See the issue and full list of top U.S. solar installers here.