Two former executives of the defunct company Sigora Solar have since started a new solar sales enterprise. One local subcontractor says she was never paid commissions promised for jobs she secured for the business. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Last summer, Lexington resident Jennifer Sheppard was looking for jobs on Indeed when she saw a posting that caught her eye.
JENNIFER SHEPPARD: A sales position, like a sales consultant, door-to-door type thing.
It was called a "setter" position for residential solar installations – knocking on doors and networking to find potential customers. Sheppard went through a Zoom orientation and shadowed another salesman to see how pitching worked. But she never went through a formal hiring process.
SHEPPARD: There was no paperwork whatsoever. As I perceived it, it was more of a situation of, if you decide to keep this job, and you make a sale, then we'll give you paperwork.
Sheppard thought this was odd, but she was new to the industry, so she didn't question it. She worked most closely with a man named Dana, a.k.a. Dane, Dodd – who texted her frequently through June and July 2025 to discuss clients, selling strategies, and the commissions that were to make up her entire compensation for this work. One message reviewed by WMRA reads, "just calling to let you know that you made about $3,500 - $3,800 today."
SHEPPARD: And that blew my mind.
That job was one of three clients Sheppard says she secured. But to this day, she's only received $500 for that work.
She was initially under the impression she worked for Trident Solar – a Virginia Beach-based company that installed the panels she was selling. But after she pressed them for payment, Trident's owner told her she didn't work for them – she worked for a business called TL3 Enterprises. That is the solar sales company that wired her two $250 payments marked as "commission advance." But as she – and WMRA – have tried to unravel this tangled web, the question of who was responsible for paying her remains opaque.
TL3 Enterprises was founded by two former Sigora Solar executives – Logan Landry and Tad Luttrell. Sigora was a solar company launched in Waynesboro in 2011, that grew exponentially before folding in 2023 amid accusations of embezzlement, withheld paychecks, and unfinished jobs. Landry was its CEO for roughly five years, until 2022 – around the same tumultuous time that Luttrell was terminated. They registered TL3 Enterprises as an LLC in Wyoming last April, and are now doing business under the name Hmeworx, as Landry explained.
LOGAN LANDRY: We have built out a home services program. Currently it is solar and roofing, roofing more predominantly than solar, and it is essentially a platform that allows sales organizations to sell the products and services, and qualified installers to perform the work, so, similar to a marketplace.
They advertise solar power systems available for lease or purchase, with loan financing available, in –
LANDRY: Predominantly Florida, and opening some markets in the Northeast and Midwest. … A little bit in Virginia.
He said that TL3 was never responsible for paying Sheppard, even though they did send her the two commission advances.
LANDRY: We had no formal relationship with Jennifer. … She explained that she was brought on board as a setter by a gentleman named Dane, Dana. … Now I cannot speak to what he told her, what was promised, if they had any contractual agreements between themselves, again, not my concern. … He has no relationship with us. He was an independent contractor.
HAGI: Okay, but that has ended?
LANDRY: Yes. That ended towards the beginning of the year, I would say probably somewhere around March.
HAGI: Okay, can you tell me what happened there?
LANDRY: I can't. That would be violating NDA and confidentiality agreements that are in the contract, but I will give you as much as I can, which would be, there was a violation of the agreement on his part.
As for those two advances –
LANDRY: I don't think that's taking responsibility for paying her. We did that on behalf of the contractor, as I indicated earlier. … We have plenty of sales organizations, businesses that are partnered with us, that what they then do within their own organization as far as hiring, I would have no visibility into and it's not my concern.
WMRA reached out to Dane Dodd multiple times and has not heard back. A LinkedIn page for Dodd still lists him as "vice president" of Hmeworx.
Three other people who worked for TL3 did not respond to WMRA, or declined an interview.
Landry said Hmeworx and Trident Solar went their separate ways around the beginning of the year. Trident's owner declined to discuss the partnership with WMRA.
I also asked Landry why they registered the business in Wyoming. He said it was based on a legal recommendation, but he didn't remember the specifics. The office address listed on their website and incorporation documents was one of three locations written up in The Sheridan Press earlier this year as being used as the official addresses of more than 100,000 LLCs, thanks to lax registered agent requirements in the state.
While Dodd sent Sheppard a chart of commission rates based on the size and cost of solar installations, she says nobody was ever direct with her about how much she was supposed to make on each job. In an email exchange with her in January, Landry acknowledges she should have gotten commissions on two sales that went through HmeWorx, totaling more than $2,000 – minus the advances. But, he wrote, "since you were not officially on record as a contractor with HmeWorx, all commissions were paid to the salesperson on file."
SHEPPARD: I still haven't gotten paid.
A former coworker sent her a spreadsheet outlining the finances of one solar job. Sheppard is listed in one row as splitting the sales commission 50-50 with another associate. But another line reads "Jennifer Sheppard - $0 NO LONGER HERE."
I asked Landry why she wouldn't have been paid if she fulfilled her role for a job. He wrote back, "In many cases, you must be employed by or active with the company … when commissions are earned to receive the commissions. I am not stating that's the situation here because I don't know and it could be a multitude of things."
To get a sense of how common these practices are in the solar industry, I spoke with Patrick Feucht – co-owner and business manager of Baseline Solar Solutions in Christiansburg. Their team of about 20 full-time employees design, install, and service solar in the New River Valley region. Feucht didn't want to comment on any particular company, but spoke generally about the field.
PATRICK FEUCHT: I think especially in the sales role, when you pay a commission, you're paying for sales – you're rewarding, "hey, make a sale, I don't care what it takes. Make a sale." … But when you pay a salary, you are paying for happy customers, which is the goal of our whole organization.
He said it's not inherently bad for a company to pay commissions, use door-knockers, or only do sales, and not the actual installation – but he has seen "many bad actors" use these methods.
FEUCHT: I think there's a break in the incentive there to deliver and generate a happy customer, if you are only selling and then you just pass it off to some other company to install. … Solar's a great technology. It works well, and there's lots of great companies out there offering solar installations, and finding a company near you, that you can trust, that you can go and talk to the people, is always a good move, versus just finding somebody on the internet.
SHEPPARD: In all honesty, I absolutely still believe in solar. That's why I did it. But I believe in people being treated fairly. At this point … I don't care if I ever get the money.
Sheppard said she just wants these business practices to "come to light."
