By The Roofing Brief Team. Last reviewed: October 2026.
To choose a solar installer, ask 14 questions and verify three things in writing before signing: NABCEP certification of the lead installer, the state contractor license, and the company that holds the workmanship warranty. Residential solar sales relies on W-2 and 1099 reps who knock on doors, sign homeowners to 20 to 25 year PPA or lease contracts, and hand the installation to a subcontracted EPC that never met the customer. Related: solar installation companies vetting.
The short version
- Verify NABCEP PV Installation Professional certification on the actual installer crew, not just on a project manager at headquarters.
- Verify the state-specific solar contractor license: CA C-46, FL ESC/ECC, etc. Generic electrical contractor license is not always enough.
- Insist on manufacturer authorization: SunPower Master Dealer, REC Certified Solar Professional, Tesla Certified Installer for that specific brand.
- Demand the EPC vs. dealer/installer distinction in writing. The dealer model means the company selling you the system did not install it.
- 14 questions: NABCEP, license, manufacturer authorization, years in business, who manufactures the panels, who installs them, who holds the workmanship warranty, lien rights, monitoring, expansion path, removal cost, decommissioning, cash vs. PPA vs. lease quotes side by side, what is the exact escalator clause.
The door-knocker problem
If a sales rep showed up at your door this month or called you out of the blue offering solar with no money down, you are talking to a dealer, not an installer (compare the solar installer models). Dealers (Sunrun, Sunnova, Trinity, Momentum, Lumio, Pink Energy before its collapse) operate large 1099 sales forces that find customers, sign them to PPA or lease contracts, and then hand the install to a subcontracted EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) crew that the homeowner never met during the sales process.
The dealer model is not inherently bad, but it has three problems. First, the salesperson does not own long-term install quality, so complaints route through a call center. Second, the financing structure (PPA or lease) typically locks the homeowner into a 20 to 25 year contract with annual price escalators of 2 to 3 percent, eroding the savings advantage over time. Third, the workmanship warranty is held by the dealer or financing entity, and when those companies merge, restructure, or fail (Pink Energy collapsed in 2022, Sunnova reorganized in 2025), the warranty obligations become a fight rather than a guaranteed service.
The alternative is a regional installer that does sales, design and installation in-house in a metro or state service area with a permanent crew. It can cost more upfront, but a single company holding the 25-year workmanship warranty is easier to hold accountable. The same pattern applies in how to choose a roofing contractor.
The 14 questions to ask any solar installer
Get the answers in writing; an installer who deflects, claims confidentiality or routes you to a follow-up call has answered anyway.
1. Are your installation crews NABCEP-certified? NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) is the residential solar industry’s primary credential. The PV Installation Professional certification requires field experience plus an exam; verify the individual in the NABCEP certificant directory. Ask whether the lead installer on your specific project will be NABCEP-certified, not just whether the company has any NABCEP-certified employees on payroll.
2. What state solar contractor license do you hold? Each state defines this differently. California requires a C-46 Solar Contractor license (or a C-10 Electrical license for systems under specific thresholds). Florida requires an ESC (Electrical Solar Contractor) or ECC (Electrical Class C) license. Arizona requires a CR-11 Solar/Wind license. Texas does not require a specific solar license but does require a Master Electrician sign-off on the electrical work. Verify the license number on the state contractor license board database (California’s is the CSLB) before signing anything.
3. Are you a manufacturer-authorized installer for the panels and inverter in my quote? SunPower Master Dealer, REC Certified Solar Professional, Q CELLS Premium Q.PARTNER, Tesla Certified Installer, and Panasonic Premium Installer are real designations with training and quality requirements. Manufacturer authorization usually includes extended warranty terms that non-authorized installers do not have access to. If your quote specifies SunPower panels but the installer is not a SunPower Master Dealer, ask why.
4. How long has the company been in business under the current name? Rebranding is common among solar installers, so a company that changed names 18 months ago warrants a check for lawsuits, complaint patterns or a restructuring. Pull the corporate registration history from the secretary of state, not the company website.
5. Who actually manufactures the panels you are quoting? Some quotes say “premium tier 1 panels” with no brand. Demand the exact model number (for example a Q CELLS Q.PEAK DUO BLK or a REC Alpha Pure-R), because the model fixes the warranty term, efficiency and degradation rate. If the installer will not name a panel in writing, walk away. We get into specific tier-1 brands in best solar panel brands.
6. Will your own employees do the install, or are you subcontracting it? Some installers have a sales arm with no crews and subcontract everything to a separate EPC. That is acceptable if disclosed in the contract with the EPC named; hidden, the subcontractor’s warranty may differ from what the sales pitch implied.
7. Who holds the workmanship warranty, and what does it cover specifically? The workmanship warranty paperwork should name the company on the hook and define coverage scope (roof penetrations, racking, wiring, labor for warranty repairs, roof leak coverage). A 5 to 10 year workmanship warranty is the low end; look for 12 to 25 years. We detailed the warranty side in solar roof warranty.
8. What happens to my workmanship warranty if your company goes out of business? The good answers are: (a) we carry third-party warranty backstop insurance (SolarInsure, Power Production Services (see our what solar installation services include guide), OmniShield); (b) we are part of a manufacturer-administered installer program (SunPower Complete Confidence, REC ProTrust) that takes over labor coverage on certified installer failures. The bad answer is silence or “we have been in business 15 years and we are not going anywhere.”
9. What lien rights does your subcontractor have on my house? Electricians, roofers and equipment suppliers who are not paid by the prime contractor can place mechanic’s liens on your property. Ask for unconditional lien waivers from every subcontractor before final payment, and put the lien-release process in the contract.
10. What monitoring platform comes with my system, and who pays for the data plan? Enphase Enlighten, SolarEdge mySolarEdge, and Tesla Solar App are the major platforms. Each requires either home WiFi or a cellular modem. Ask whether the cellular plan is included for life (some installers cover the first year and then bill the homeowner $5 to $10 per month forever) and whether the homeowner has direct portal access or only the installer can see production data.
11. Can I expand the system later, and what does that cost? Adding panels in years 3 to 10 is common as electric vehicles and heat pumps raise household demand. The inverter, racking or electrical service may need upsizing, so get the per-panel expansion price in writing as a fixed-rate addendum. Microinverter systems usually expand more cleanly than string inverter systems.
12. What does it cost to remove and reinstall the array if I need to reroof in 10 years? Asphalt shingles last 20 to 30 years. Solar panels carry 25 year warranties. If your roof was already mid-life when you went solar, you will likely need to remove and reinstall the array for a reroof before the panels die. Removal and reinstall costs $2,500 to $7,000 depending on system size. Get the price quoted in writing now. Some installers include free removal and reinstall in extended workmanship warranties; many do not.
13. What is the decommissioning cost at end of life, and what happens to the panels? At year 25 to 30, the system will be at the end of its useful life. Removal, panel recycling, and roof patching cost $2,000 to $5,000 in 2026 dollars. Some leases and PPAs require the homeowner to fund decommissioning. Read the contract for this clause.
14. Can I see cash, loan, lease, and PPA quotes for the same system, side by side? The honest installer prepares all four. The cash quote is your baseline (total system cost, minus any state or utility incentives you have confirmed, equals out-of-pocket; homeowner-owned systems installed after December 31, 2025 no longer get the 30 percent federal 25D credit, per the IRS). The loan quote shows monthly payments and total interest. The lease quote shows fixed monthly payments with annual escalator. The PPA quote shows per-kWh price for production with annual escalator. Our guide on how to get and compare solar quotes walks through the same side-by-side math, and the four numbers reveal the real economics of each financing structure. If the installer pushes only one option, they are optimizing for their commission, not your savings. We covered the financing side at roof financing options.
Decision table: answer to action
| If the installer | Then |
|---|---|
| Cannot name the lead installer and their NABCEP certification | Treat the NABCEP claim as unverified and ask again in writing |
| Offers a 1 to 4 year workmanship warranty | Ask for 12 to 25 years or a third-party backstop |
| Quotes only a lease or PPA | Request cash and loan quotes for the same system |
| Quotes a 3 percent or higher escalator | Calculate the year-25 payment: at 2.9 percent it is roughly double year 1 |
| Is a dealer with no named EPC | Require the installing company named in the contract before you sign |
| Wants a signature at your door | Wait; the FTC cancellation window is midnight of the third business day (16 CFR 429.1) |
Reading the lease and PPA contract for escalator and end-of-term traps
If you are considering a lease or PPA, the two clauses that matter most are the escalator and the end-of-term option. The escalator is the annual percentage increase in lease payment or PPA per-kWh price. Aggressive escalators (3 percent or higher) compound over 20 to 25 years and erode the savings advantage. A 25-year contract at a 2.9 percent escalator results in a year-25 payment that is roughly double the year-1 payment. A 0 percent escalator (fixed payment for life) is rare and worth a premium.
The end-of-term option defines what happens after the lease or PPA expires. Common options are: (1) buy out the system at fair market value, defined in the contract; (2) extend the lease for another 5 or 10 years at a renegotiated rate; (3) decommission the system at the homeowner’s expense. The contract should specify which options exist and define fair market value (typically a depreciation schedule).
Hidden traps include early-termination clauses that require the homeowner to pay off the remaining lease term plus a removal fee if the house is sold to a buyer who refuses to assume the lease. This can run $25,000 to $50,000 on a partially elapsed 25-year lease. Read the assignment and assumption clause carefully.
Verifying the installer’s track record
Beyond the 14 questions, three additional verifications are worth the time. First, check the BBB profile and state attorney general consumer complaints filings for the specific company name and any prior names. Solar dealer complaints typically cluster around door-to-door sales misrepresentation, warranty denial, and system underperformance. Patterns in complaint history matter more than a single grievance.
Second, check SolarReviews and EnergySage for installed-customer reports on the specific company. Filter for reviews from the last 2 years and look at any reviewer that documented a warranty claim outcome. The hardest test of an installer is what they do when a panel fails in year 4. The reviewers who lived through that experience are the most useful data source.
Third, ask for 3 reference installations within 30 miles of your home, completed 3 to 5 years ago. Drive by and look at the array. Look for sagging panels, discolored racking, exposed wiring, leaking penetrations, or vegetation growing through the rails. Call the homeowners if they will talk and ask about warranty service experience. We applied a similar reference-verification framework in questions to ask any roofing contractor and red flags from a roofing contractor.
What a good quote looks like
The deliverables a real installer provides before you sign: (1) site survey report with shading analysis using a Solmetric Suneye or similar tool, showing per-month production estimates; (2) production estimate with PVWatts or equivalent simulation, broken out by panel and orientation; (3) system one-line electrical diagram showing inverter, optimizers or microinverters, monitoring equipment, and main panel interconnection; (4) racking layout with attachment points overlaid on the roof, showing rafter-mount versus solid-deck mount and how penetrations are flashed; (5) net cost calculation in cash, loan, lease, and PPA scenarios, including state incentives, SREC market value, and net metering policy, with no federal 25D credit assumed for an owned system installed after 2025; (6) warranty package with all three warranties named and durations confirmed; (7) installation timeline including permitting, AHJ inspection, utility interconnection, and PTO (permission to operate) milestones.
If a quote is missing any of the 7 items, request them or move to a quote that includes them.
The dealer-versus-installer disclosure question
One direct question forces honesty: “Are you the entity that will hold the workmanship warranty, do the installation, and be on the contract, or are you a sales agent for a different EPC?” The dealer answers: “We work with a network of installation partners.” The installer answers: “Yes, our crews install, our warranty, our contract.” Both are legitimate business models, but the homeowner needs the disclosure to evaluate who is on the hook for the next 25 years.
Sunrun, Sunnova, Trinity Solar, Lumio, and similar national brands operate primarily as dealers or hybrid dealer-installer models. Regional installers (NJ Solar Power, A1A Solar Contracting, Sunworks, ION Solar in some markets, Solar Energy World, Baker Electric Home Energy, and dozens of others in major metros) generally do their own sales, design, and installation.
The bottom line
The 14 questions filter the door-knockers and dealers from the real installers in roughly 30 minutes of conversation. Verify NABCEP certification, state license, manufacturer authorization, years in business, and the warranty backstop. Demand cash, loan, lease, and PPA quotes side by side. Read the lease or PPA escalator clause and end-of-term option carefully. Drive by 3 to 5 year old installations from the same crew and verify the workmanship held up. The 25-year financial outcome of a residential solar system depends on the installer’s competence and longevity more than on the panel brand or the inverter choice.
For installer cost comparison, see solar installation cost in 2026. For the warranty paperwork that the installer should provide, see solar roof warranty. For inverter architecture choice within a quote, see microinverter vs string inverter. For solar economic context, see net metering explained and solar tax credit status in 2026. For broader solar shingles versus rack-mount panels comparison, see solar shingles vs panels. The full Solar cluster index is in the learning hub.