CLAYTON STAUFFER
Job Title: Lead Installer
Company: Capital City Solar Electric
Location: Roseville, Calif.
Age: 24
Years on the Job: 3
Interests: Traveling with his wife, spending time with family, and hanging out with friends. He also enjoys building different things for his house, watching movies, trap shooting, hunting, and camping.
Clayton Stauffer has always been interested in working in the trades. While working for a general contractor, he discovered his passion for electrical work. His father-in-law is also an IBEW electrician, and he often asked him about his job.“He told me I would make a great electrician,” he says.
Stauffer, who was born in Ohio but moved to California when he was two years old, and has taken many different training sessions from vendors along with classes at WECA for the last three years while working full-time.
“All the training has prepared me for different jobs and installs we do at the company, and how to install them properly and safely,” he says. “With the constant evolution of batteries and solar panels, it feels like a never-ending cycle of training to keep up on.”
As a crew lead/foreman, his day starts at 6:30 a.m. in the shop, where he reviews the job folder and prints. He shows up 30 minutes before the crew to get a jumpstart on the day. During that time, he makes a list of tasks that need to get done and then delegates them to the crew as they arrive. After heading to the day’s job, his day typically ends at 3:30 p.m.
His key responsibilities are keeping the crews busy and the shop organized, keeping updated on the material order list, and making sure photos are uploaded from jobs.
“My responsibilities have changed a lot from when I was first hired as an installer,” he says. “I was just someone to help and do what was asked of me, and now I have all sorts of different responsibilities.”
His company is currently working on a lot of large photovoltaic system removal and repairs. He is serving as the lead on these projects and making sure information is getting relayed to the office about materials needed, progress updates, and finding solutions to issues that arise throughout the process. In five years, he sees himself with his journeyman card.
