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Hiring a solar installer: 5 red flags and 10 questions, checked against solar permits in 41 cities

To hire a solar installer, check three things: a license that covers solar or electrical work in your state, a solar or electrical permit pulled in the installer's own name, and a permit history in your city that mostly reaches a final inspection. In New York City, 87 firms pulled 19,067 solar permits in three years, 84.2% of those a year or more old reached a final, and the usual one was filed at $37,400. 14 of those firms (16.1%) now hold a license that is no longer active.

By Contractor Records · data through October 17, 2026

Who licenses solar installers in the states we cover

We hold solar permits for 41 cities in 20 states. Only a few states have a solar class; in the rest, the electrical license is the one to check.

State License to ask for Look it up
Arizona ROC license whose class covers solar ROC Contractor Search
California CSLB C-46 Solar, or C-10 Electrical for the electrical side CSLB Check a License
Colorado DORA electrical registration for the wiring; Boulder adds a city license DORA Verify a License
Florida DBPR solar contractor; electrical work under the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board MyFloridaLicense
Hawaii DCCA contractor license with a classification covering the work; C-13 for the electrical side PVL search
Illinois No state contractor license; in Chicago, a city electrical trade license Chicago trade contractors
Massachusetts Licensed electrician (Board of State Examiners of Electricians), plus HIC registration for owner-occupied homes eLIPSE
Minnesota DLI electrical contractor license DLI iMS
Missouri Statewide electrical license is optional; St. Louis licenses electrical contractors City of St. Louis Building Division
North Carolina NCBEEC electrical contractor for the wiring; NCLBGC general license for projects of $40,000 or more NCBEEC search
New Mexico CID license; EE-98 or ER-1 for the electrical side CID
Nevada NSCB license with a monetary limit at least the contract price NSCB search
New York City DOB Master Electrician DOB electricians look-up
Ohio OCILB electrical license, through city registration OCILB lookup
Oregon CCB license plus a BCD electrical license CCB, BCD
Pennsylvania HIC registration statewide; Pittsburgh Electrical Trade License HIC search
Texas TDLR electrical contractor (solar wiring) TDLR License Search
Utah DOPL S202 Solar PV, or an electrical class DOPL Verify a License
Virginia DPOR contractor license with a specialty covering the work, plus the electrician's tradesman license DPOR License Lookup
Washington L&I electrical contractor license (solar wiring) L&I Verify

In California, also search the CPUC's public watch list of non-compliant solar providers before you sign.

Ten questions to ask a solar installer, and how to check each answer

Ask A good answer How to check it
1. What is your license number, and which class? A number in the firm's name, in a solar or electrical class The board in the table above
2. Are you the installer, or a sales company that subcontracts? A plain answer, with the installer's name if different The permit's contractor field shows who actually filed
3. Who pulls the permits? "We do", for every permit the city requires The permits on the city portal
4. How many solar permits have you pulled here in three years? A number The firm's page here: search by name
5. How many passed final? Near your city's share (table below) Finished share on the firm page
6. Who books the final inspection and the utility hookup? "We do" Days to final on the firm page
7. Is this a purchase, loan, lease or PPA? A plain answer in the contract Solar lease vs buy for what each means
8. Which tax credit are you counting? No federal homeowner credit for systems placed in service after 2025 (IRS) IRS.gov Residential Clean Energy Credit
9. What is the deposit? Small; the FTC warns against "large upfront payments or deposits"; in California no more than $1,000 or 10% The contract (B&P § 7159.5)
10. Which warranties come with it, and who honors each if you close? Three, in writing, each with a length: the equipment maker's product warranty, the maker's production (performance) warranty, and the installer's workmanship warranty The model numbers on the quote; whether the firm is still filing permits (red flag 5)

Red flags the permit record can show

City Solar permits Firms Usual filed value Usual days to final Reached final 10th-percentile firm Firms under 70% finished
New York City 19,067 87 $37,400 144 84.2% 61.7% 9 of 50
Honolulu, HI 16,068 110 $27,500 102 83.4% 64.3% 8 of 44
Chicago, IL 5,027 58 $17,784 57 74.6% 54.2% 14 of 29
Sacramento County, CA 2,001 236 $25,200 50 86.5% 74.8% 1 of 23
Cape Coral, FL 1,034 88 $30,378 49 97.9% 94.5% 0 of 17
Seattle, WA 1,858 69 $15,040 43 97.0% 91.1% 0 of 19

Solar is concentrated: in Honolulu 110 firms filed 16,068 permits, and the five busiest held 63.0% of them. Cape Coral and Seattle count solar with batteries.

1. A door-knock, a "free panels" pitch or a government badge. The FTC's solar alert lists salespeople who promise "free rooftop solar panels at no cost to you", who say you will never pay another electricity bill, who claim to be from the government, and who rush you to sign on a tablet without seeing the full agreement (FTC, read October 2026). None of that shows on a permit; all of it happens before one exists.

2. The installer on the permit is not the company you signed with. Search your address after the permit is issued. If a different firm filed it, look that firm up too: its license, and its own finished share.

3. Its finished share is below its city's 10th percentile. That line is 61.7% in New York City and 54.2% in Chicago, where 14 of 29 solar firms with 10 or more permits finish under 70%.

4. The price is far from what the city's installers file. In Sacramento County the middle half of solar firms have a usual filed value between $14,505 and $32,507; in New York City, $28,989 to $44,647. Cape Coral and Seattle file batteries in the same category, so compare like with like, and treat filed values as what the firm told the city.

5. The firm went quiet or its license lapsed. 9 Sacramento County and 8 Chicago solar firms with 5 or more permits filed none in the last 12 months; in New York City 14 solar firms hold a license that is no longer active. A workmanship warranty is only as good as the firm behind it.

See every Sacramento County solar installer by permit record →

What a clean record does not prove

A final inspection means the system met code and was safe to energize. It does not check the equipment against the quote, so get an itemized quote that names the panel and inverter models, with the warranty split into product, performance and installation, as pv magazine's homeowner guide advises (August 2025). Nor does it check the production estimate in the sales proposal, the financing terms, whether a lease transfers when you sell, or what happens to the roof warranty. Honolulu's file stops in June 2025, and Chicago and Honolulu firms carry no license status here; check the board yourself. Our copy updates about monthly; the city portal is the live record.

How we know this

Counts, usual filed values and days to final come from each city's solar permits over its three-year window (Honolulu July 2022 to June 2025; Cape Coral from January 2025; the others October 2023 to September 2026). "Reached final" is the share of permits a year or more old that the city closed with a final; days to final is the median from issue to final. The 10th-percentile and under-70% columns use solar firms with 10 or more permits; the filed-value range uses firms with 3 or more. License status is matched to DOB (New York City), CSLB (Sacramento County), DBPR (Cape Coral) and L&I (Seattle). FTC and IRS statements were read 20–21 October 2026; state rules are quoted from the boards and statutes under Sources and our state guides, read 20 October 2026.

Numbers come from NYC Department of Buildings permits and DOB NOW filings on one- and two-family homes (NYC Open Data); City & County of Honolulu building permits (DPP); City of Chicago building permits (Chicago Data Portal); Sacramento County building permits on single-family, duplex and townhouse homes in the unincorporated county (the County's Accela permit layer); City of Cape Coral building permits (the city's open permit table starts January 2025); City of Seattle (SDCI) building, trade and electrical permits on single-family and duplex homes (the city's open-data exports), data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.

Questions

  • What license does a solar installer need?

    It depends on the state. California has a C-46 Solar class (a C-10 electrician may also do the electrical side), Florida a DBPR solar contractor license, and Utah an S202 Solar PV class. Most other states on this page license the wiring: Texas through TDLR, Washington through L&I, North Carolina through NCBEEC, New York City through DOB's Master Electrician license.

  • Can I still get the 30% federal tax credit on solar?

    Not for a system you own on your home that is placed in service in 2026. IRS.gov says the Residential Clean Energy Credit is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. An installer who counts it for a system going in now is wrong; solar lease vs buy compares lease, PPA, loan and cash.

  • How long does a solar permit take to close?

    The usual solar permit reached its final in 43 days in Seattle, 49 in Cape Coral, 50 in Sacramento County and 144 in New York City. Ask the installer who books it.

  • What if my solar installer goes out of business?

    Ask before you sign, in writing, who honors the workmanship warranty if the installer closes, and which warranties come from the equipment makers. A firm that has stopped filing permits is the early sign: 9 Sacramento County solar firms with 5 or more permits filed none in the last 12 months of the window.

  • Is a solar salesperson from the government?

    No. The FTC warns about salespeople who say they are from or affiliated with the government, and about pitches of free panels or never paying another electric bill.

Build your own list

Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.

New York City solarHonolulu solarChicago solarSacramento County (unincorporated) solar & batteryCape Coral solar & batterySeattle solar & battery

Related guides

For one city

All guides →

Sources
  1. pv magazine Homeowner Guide: Top tips and red flags to home solar (2025-08-14; read 2026-10-21)
  2. Solar energy is rising in popularity. So are the scams — FTC Consumer Alert (September 2024; accessed 2026-10-21)
  3. How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam — FTC Consumer Advice (accessed 2026-10-20)
  4. Residential Clean Energy Credit (IRS) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  5. Public Watch List of Non-Compliant Solar Providers (CPUC) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  6. Licensing Classifications — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  7. Check a License — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  8. California Business and Professions Code § 7159.5 (2025 edition, via Justia) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  9. Contractor Search — Arizona Registrar of Contractors (accessed 2026-10-20)
  10. Verify a License — Colorado DORA (accessed 2026-10-20)
  11. Construction Industry FAQs — Florida DBPR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  12. Verify a License — Florida DBPR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  13. PVL public license search — Hawaii DCCA (accessed 2026-10-20)
  14. Licensed Trade Contractors — City of Chicago (accessed 2026-10-20)
  15. eLIPSE occupational license search — Massachusetts (accessed 2026-10-20)
  16. License and registration lookup (iMS) — Minnesota DLI (accessed 2026-10-20)
  17. OSEC contractor FAQ — Missouri Division of Professional Registration (accessed 2026-10-20)
  18. License search — NC Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors (accessed 2026-10-20)
  19. 14.6.6.8 NMAC classifications — New Mexico (accessed 2026-10-20)
  20. License Search — Nevada State Contractors Board (accessed 2026-10-20)
  21. Electricians look-up — NYC Department of Buildings (accessed 2026-10-20)
  22. OCILB License Lookup — Ohio Department of Commerce (accessed 2026-10-20)
  23. License Search — Oregon CCB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  24. License search (plumbing, electrical) — Oregon Building Codes Division (accessed 2026-10-20)
  25. Home Improvement Contractor search — Pennsylvania Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
  26. License Search — TDLR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  27. Verify a License — Utah DOPL (accessed 2026-10-20)
  28. License Lookup — Virginia DPOR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  29. Electrical Contractor — Washington L&I (accessed 2026-10-20)
  30. Verify a Contractor — Washington L&I (accessed 2026-10-20)