Exploring Life & Business with Ralph Ciarlanti of South Face Renewables LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ralph Ciarlanti

Hi Ralph, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I received my BSBA from Cal State San Marcos in 2010. I spent the earlier years of my career working in hospitality, and inbound sales with Dish TV. I held my series 7, 63 and 3 licenses with Charles Schwab where I worked on an options trading desk.

I spent a few years working with a family business that was involved with commercial solar & battery energy storage projects in California. This provided me the opportunity to mesh electrical knowledge that I had acquired when I was younger, with the business skill set I honed over my career.

I launched my electrical contracting company in 2022. My first year in business for myself was very challenging on multiple fronts. Year two is when we really started to grow, and land some very unique projects which included off grid cabins and battery storage projects. As I look at our pipeline for year 3, we are working on building the largest off grid system for a single family residence in Summit County. This system will have 76kw of solar production, 268kw of battery storage, and a 100kw standby generator.

I currently wear many hats, which include project foreman, business development, marketing, and quick books.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My Father was in business for himself most of his life. He used to say “there are two problems that never go away in business. You never have enough time, and you never have enough resources”. That could not be more true. As an entrepreneur you have to be willing to take risk. I was set on growing my business without taking out high interest small business loans. What that looked like for me in year 1 of business, was landing projects before I had a field crew to perform the installations. I would collect material money up front, and not get paid until we passed our final inspections. This meant that initially I had to float payroll expenses. Each project I completed made this task a little easier financially.

We faced challenges attracting quality personnel, learning individual AHJ guidelines, and finding time to keep new business coming in while we serviced our existing customer base.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are an electrical contractor. Our specialty / knowledge base is in residential solar & battery storage systems. What sets us apart is our ability to design projects that aren’t “cookie cutter” grid tied homes. We travel to remote locations that larger companies don’t service. We offer our customers a single point of contact for every phase of their project. Our customers tell us how much they enjoy not getting a receptionist who lacks technical knowledge to answer their questions when they call in. Our phone is answered by a licensed Journeyman Electrician, who can answer client questions with a single phone call.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Two people in my life deserve a lot of credit for what I have built. My Father had a work ethic unmatched by other people I have ever worked around. When I was younger I used to think it was excessive, but as a small business owner I now understand how essential his work ethic was to his success.

The second person who deserve a lot of credit is my wife Jayne of 11 years. She financially supported our household the first year that I operated my business. I had to dump every dollar we made into tools and equipment so that we could continue to take on larger projects with varying scopes of work. If it was not for her love and faith in me, I would never have gotten this far.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SouthFaceRenewables.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southfacerenewables/