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How to vet a solar installer
We don’t rate companies here. Ratings go stale and installer quality is intensely local. This is how to evaluate one yourself, which works anywhere and doesn’t expire.
The single most useful question: “Who honors the workmanship warranty if your company is no longer in business?” It is a fair question, it has a real answer, and how someone responds to it tells you more than any review site.
Why there’s no list of recommended installers here
Three reasons, and they’re worth stating plainly:
- Quality is local. A national company can be excellent in Phoenix and poor in Joliet, because it’s the local crew and the local manager that determine whether your roof leaks in four years.
- It changes fast. Companies get bought, crews turn over, and good firms decline as they scale. A list accurate today misleads next year.
- Recommendations are where money enters. Nearly every “top installers” page you’ll find earns a fee when you click. That’s precisely the arrangement this site exists to avoid.
A method you can apply yourself doesn’t have any of those problems.
The checks, in order
1. Licensing — do this first, it’s free
Solar installation is electrical work. In most states it requires a licensed electrical contractor, and many states also require a specific solar or roofing credential.
Ask for the license number and look it up on your state’s licensing board website, rather than accepting a number on a business card. You’re checking three things: that it exists, that it’s current, and that it belongs to the company that will actually do the work.
Ask directly: “Will your own employees install this, or a subcontractor?”
Subcontracting isn’t automatically bad — plenty of good companies do it. But you need to know, because it determines who is actually on your roof, whose insurance applies, and who you call when something goes wrong. A company that gets evasive here has told you something.
2. Certification
NABCEP — the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners — is the recognized certification in US solar. It’s voluntary, so its absence isn’t disqualifying, but its presence means someone passed a real exam and holds continuing education requirements.
Ask whether anyone who will be on your job is certified, not merely whether the company employs someone somewhere who is.
3. Time in business
This matters more in solar than in most trades, because the warranties are so long. A 25-year panel warranty and a 10-year workmanship warranty are both promises about the 2030s and 2040s.
A company founded eighteen months ago may do excellent work. It simply cannot credibly promise you anything in 2046. Weigh accordingly, and weigh it harder if their pitch leans on long warranties.
4. The warranty questions
There are several warranties and they come from different places:
| Warranty | Who backs it | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Panel product | Panel manufacturer | 25 years |
| Panel performance | Panel manufacturer | 25–30 years |
| Inverter | Inverter manufacturer | 10–25 years |
| Workmanship | Your installer | 2–25 years; 10 is a good sign |
| Roof penetrations | Your installer | Ask specifically — sometimes separate |
The workmanship warranty is the one that depends entirely on your installer still existing. Everything else is backed by a manufacturer who’ll outlive them.
So ask the question at the top of this page. Some companies carry third-party warranty insurance for exactly this scenario. Many don’t. Either answer is useful; a non-answer is more useful still.
5. References from the last twelve months
Ask for three local customers from within the past year. Recent matters, because it reflects the crew working now rather than the crew from 2019.
When you call, the questions worth asking aren’t about the sales process:
- Did the final price match the quote?
- How long between signing and switch-on?
- Has the system produced what they said it would?
- Have you needed support since — and did they answer?
- Any roof leaks?
That fourth one is the most revealing. Selling and installing is where the money is; answering the phone two years later is where companies quietly fail.
6. Complaint history
Free, and takes about ten minutes:
- Your state attorney general’s consumer complaint database
- The Better Business Bureau — read the complaint details, not the letter grade
- A plain web search for the company name plus “complaint” or “lawsuit”
- Your state contractor licensing board’s disciplinary records
One or two complaints against a company doing hundreds of installs is normal. A pattern — the same problem repeatedly, or unanswered complaints — is the signal.
7. A physical local address
Look it up on a map. A real office or warehouse is a meaningful commitment to the area. A mailbox address or an out-of-state headquarters with no local presence means that if something goes wrong in year three, there’s nobody nearby who wants to keep your business.
Things that sound like credentials but aren’t
“Certified installer” for a panel brand. Usually means they attended a training session or bought enough volume. It isn’t an independent credential.
“A+ rated” or award badges. Many are paid placements. Check what organization issued it and whether it costs money to display.
“Licensed, bonded and insured.” The minimum to operate legally, not a distinction. Ask for the numbers.
The short version
If you do nothing else, do these five:
- Look up the license on your state board’s site
- Ask whether the crew is in-house or subcontracted
- Ask who honors the workmanship warranty if they close
- Call three references from the past year
- Search the company name alongside “complaint”
Do that for all three of your quotes. It takes an evening, and it is the cheapest insurance available on a twenty-five-year purchase.
Sources
- NABCEP, North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.
- Better Business Bureau, Business search.
- Federal Trade Commission, Hiring a contractor.