Answers
24 questions with short answers, in five groups: before you decide, choosing an installer, quotes and contracts, the system itself, and after it is on the roof. No prices and no payback periods, because those depend on your roof, your consumption and your utility’s rules, and a made-up figure is worse than none.
Solar Installer Guild publishes 24 short answers to common homeowner solar questions for the United States, grouped as Before you decide, Choosing an installer, Quotes, contracts and finance, The system itself, After it is on the roof. Each page gives a direct answer in one or two sentences, then the practical detail. Incentives, net metering rules and contractor licensing are set federally, by state and by each utility, and all of them change, so the pages name the mechanism and send the reader to the authority that publishes the current value.
Before you decide
- Is my roof suitable for solar panels?Orientation, shade, roof age and structure decide it, roughly in that order. What rules a roof out and what only reduces output.
- How big a solar system do I need?Sized from your own consumption and your utility's rules, not from your roof area. What the design should be based on.
- How much do trees and shade affect solar panels?More than the shaded area suggests. Why a single obstruction matters, and what module-level electronics do and do not fix.
- What solar incentives am I eligible for?Federal, state, utility and local programs stack differently everywhere and change with legislation. Where to check rather than what to believe.
- What is net metering, and why does it keep changing?How your utility credits exported energy is the single biggest variable in solar economics, and it is being rewritten state by state.
- Do I need a battery with solar?Two different reasons to buy one, and only one of them is about money. Which applies to you.
- Should I buy solar, lease it, or sign a power purchase agreement?Three arrangements with very different consequences for ownership, incentives and selling the house. What separates them.
Choosing an installer
- How do I check a solar installer is licensed and accredited?Electrical licensing, contractor licensing and industry certification are three different things. What each one is and where to check it.
- What should I ask a solar installer before signing?Twelve questions whose answers you can check against the contract. Most are about who is responsible rather than about the panels.
- Should I use a local solar company or a national one?The trade-off is between local accountability and institutional durability, and both fail in different ways.
- How do I read a solar company's reviews?The average hides the shape. What the distribution and the recurring complaints say about how your installation will go.
- What are the warning signs in a solar sales pitch?Pressure, a monthly payment instead of a price, and a savings figure with no assumptions shown. What each one conceals.
Quotes, contracts and finance
- How do I compare solar quotes that look completely different?Put them in the same units first. Price per watt, system size, predicted production and warranty terms, before incentives.
- What warranties come with a solar system?Three or four separate documents from different companies, with different lengths. Which one covers the failure you are most likely to have.
- Will solar panels damage my roof?A properly flashed mount does not leak. What good detailing looks like and who is responsible when it does.
- Should I replace my roof before installing solar?If the roof has under about a decade left, almost certainly. Why the sequencing costs more than anything else in this decision.
The system itself
- Microinverters, optimisers or a string inverter?Three architectures with different behaviour under shade, different failure modes and different service implications.
- Will my solar panels work during a power outage?Not without a battery and the right switching. Why a grid-tied system shuts down, and what it takes to change that.
- Do solar panels need maintenance?Very little mechanically, and the monitoring is the part people skip. What to actually do, and how often.
- Is it worth paying to have solar panels cleaned?Sometimes, and it depends on what is on them. The production history answers it before anyone quotes.
After it is on the roof
- Why can't I switch my solar system on yet?Installed is not the same as operating. What has to happen between the two, and why the wait is often not the installer's fault.
- My solar system is producing less than promised. What now?Establish whether it is underperforming or the estimate was optimistic. The evidence to gather before making a claim.
- What happens if my solar installer goes out of business?The workmanship warranty generally goes with them. What survives, and what to keep so somebody else can help.
- What should I do once solar is installed?Five things in the first month that make the next twenty years easier, and the habit that catches a silent failure.
The four longer guides cover choosing an installer, reading reviews, comparing quotes and living with the system in depth.