How to check a solar installer's track record before you sign

What a track record can tell you

Reviews tell you how customers felt. Installation records tell you what the company actually did: how many systems it connected to the grid, where, and when. That history is reported by installers and customers to state incentive programs, interconnecting utilities and permit offices, and much of it is public.

From those records you can answer questions a sales call usually will not:

• Volume: has this company installed tens of systems or tens of thousands?
• Recency: is it still installing, or did its recorded installs stop years ago?
• Geography: does it work in your county, or would your job be far from its usual area?
• Price: how does its median price per watt compare with your state's median?
• Business model: does it mostly sell leases and PPAs, or systems the homeowner owns?

Look the company up in PanelCensus

1. Find the company in your state's installer directory, or browse the largest installers nationally.
2. On its profile, check recorded installs, first and last recorded install and the install volume by year chart. A steady line of recent years is a stronger signal than a burst followed by nothing.
3. Check service geography and busiest cities to see whether your area is part of its normal territory.
4. Compare its median price per watt with the median on your state solar page.
5. Check the third-party owned share. A high share means much of its business is leases or PPAs, where the company or a financier owns the system.
6. Look at also appears as. Company names are matched exactly after cleanup, so the same business can appear under more than one spelling; check the variants before concluding it has little history.

Reading the numbers carefully

Recorded installs are a floor, not a market total. Coverage depends on which states publish installation-level records, and states report with a lag, so a company that works mostly in a state without a reporting program can look smaller than it is, and the most recent year is often incomplete.

In PanelCensus, 37,750 installer names resolve to distinct profiles; 9,682 have at least five recorded installs and a routable home state, and 2,358 have at least 100. Of the 9,682, 4,364 have no recorded install after 2022. That does not prove a company closed, but it is a reason to ask who will honour the workmanship warranty and who you call for service.

Price comparisons work best like-for-like. Berkeley Lab found that among the 100 largest residential installers in 2023, company-level median prices ranged from $2.6 to $5.9/W, and that batteries, system size and equipment choices each move prices noticeably. A higher median is not proof of overcharging if the company mostly installs batteries or premium equipment.

Check the license and complaint history

Installation history does not replace licensing checks. The Federal Trade Commission recommends checking a company's history with your state and local consumer protection agencies and your state contractors licensing board, confirming it holds the licenses, certificates or bonding required by your state, county and city, and searching the company name with words like "complaints" or "reviews".

Most states have an online license lookup. California's Contractors State License Board, for example, lets you search by license number, business name or personnel name and shows complaint disclosures. The Department of Energy's homeowner guide points to the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) as the industry certification for solar installers.

Compare written bids and the contract

The FTC advises getting detailed bids from several companies, each stating:

• the system size and how much power it is expected to produce
• the full cost of installation, including building and electrical permit fees
• any energy production guarantee
• the warranties on the equipment and on the installation workmanship

Before signing, the FTC suggests confirming the contract's length and payment terms, whether payments rise and by how much, who handles maintenance and repairs, early termination fees, who receives tax credits and incentives, and what happens if you sell your home. Walk away from anyone who pressures you to decide quickly, will not give you time to review the contract, or asks for cash.

If you sign at your home, the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule generally lets you cancel for a full refund until midnight of the third business day after the sale; the seller must refund your money within 10 days of cancellation.