When to remove or reinstall solar panels: roof work, a sale, a lease end and who does the job

Three reasons panels come off

The first is the roof. If the roof under the array is going to be replaced, the panels come off and go back on, and that removal and reinstall is its own job with its own cost line. Roof age and solar covers the order of work: replace the roof first, or plan the removal and reinstall.

A change of ownership is the second. A sale raises two questions: whether a lease or PPA can pass to the buyer, and which papers go with the house. Solar and a home sale covers both.

Last comes the end of a lease or PPA term, or of the system itself, when the panels come off the roof for good. That’s a different job from a reinstall, and each state has its own page for it: the Michigan solar removal page and the California solar removal page.

What the job involves

A removal and reinstall means someone disconnects the array and takes it off, the roof work happens, and then the array is mounted and reconnected. Each of those steps has an owner, and the quote should name who it is. The service pages for Michigan and California list what a visit includes.

Don’t do any part of it yourself. That means no disconnecting an inverter, no opening equipment and no climbing on the roof. If you see smoke, smell burning or see fire at the inverter, the panels or the wiring, call 911.

Michigan: who may do the work, and what paperwork follows

Michigan’s licensing law, MCL 339.5701, defines an electrical contractor as a person engaged in installing, altering, repairing, servicing or maintaining electrical wiring, and it defines electrical wiring to include generating equipment. Because the definition covers generating equipment, ask the company for its electrical contractor license number before it touches the array. How to check a Michigan electrical contractor license shows where to look it up.

An owner-occupied single-family homeowner is exempt from the license under MCL 339.5737(3)(g) for installing, altering or repairing electrical equipment in the home and its outbuildings. That exemption doesn’t remove the city permit, the inspection or the utility interconnection.

On the roof, Michigan’s rule R 408.30521a amends the Michigan Residential Code to say a rooftop system is installed per the manufacturer’s instructions, with roof penetrations flashed and sealed. The rule speaks of installing, so ask in writing who reseals the penetrations after a reinstall and what warranty covers that work.

LARA’s electrical permit form asks for the contractor’s state license number, which means a permit is pulled under the contractor’s license. The cities print their own permit forms and fees, set out in how solar permits work in Michigan, and none of those pages says whether a reinstall needs a new permit, so ask your city’s building office before the roofer is booked.

On the utility side, the MPSC says customers must interconnect before operating. For a new application, DTE says it tells you within 10 business days whether the file is complete and that “the interconnection process takes approximately six weeks.” Ask your utility what, if anything, a reinstalled array needs before it’s switched back on.

The MPSC’s consumer tips say to ask about warranties and for three customer referrals. For this job, ask for a warranty that names the removal and reinstall work as well as the equipment.

California: who may do the work, and what the contract must show

CSLB’s Solar Smart page says the licensees who can legally install photovoltaic systems hold an A (General Engineering), B (General Building, within the definition of Business and Professions Code section 7057), C-10 (Electrical) or C-46 (Solar) license. C-46 covers installing, modifying, maintaining and repairing thermal and photovoltaic solar energy systems, while C-4, C-36 and C-53 cover only solar heating work. Ask a company for its CSLB number and class, and look it up.

CSLB’s bulletin 20-22 says “the installation of a residential solar system is considered home improvement,” so the home improvement contract rules apply to an installation. Those rules cap a down payment at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. Apart from that, no payment may exceed the work performed or materials delivered. Price and progress payments are stated in dollars and cents, and the contract needs an approximate start date and completion date. The bulletin speaks of installation, so ask the company in writing how its contract treats a removal and reinstall.

Business and Professions Code 7169 puts the Solar Energy System Disclosure Document on the front or cover page of every solar energy contract, with the total cost including financing, the complaint route and the cancellation right. Under section 7159 you can cancel within three business days, or five if you’re 65 or older on contracts since January 1, 2021. CSLB takes solar complaints at 800-321-CSLB (2752).

For the sale case, Revenue and Taxation Code section 73 excludes a new active solar energy system from reassessment only for systems completed before January 1, 2027, and systems that qualify stay excluded until a change in ownership.

Sequencing with the roofer

A roof job puts two companies on the house, the roofer and the solar company. Ask for one written order of work: the day the array comes off, the roofing days, the day it goes back up and the day it’s reconnected. Ask where the panels are kept in between and who answers for them there. After the reinstall, write down the inverter display reading or save a monitoring app screenshot with the date, and keep it with your warranty papers.

Questions to put in writing

Get these from the company before you agree to the job:

1. The license number: electrical contractor in Michigan, CSLB number and class in California.
2. Who disconnects, removes, stores and reinstalls the array, and who’s responsible for it while it’s off the roof.
3. Separate line items for the removal and for the reinstall, before any incentive.
4. Who tells the utility and the building office, and when.
5. The warranty on the reinstalled array and on the roof penetrations.
6. The start date and the expected completion date.

If the panels are leased or under a PPA, ask the company that owns them for the contract clause on removal before you book a roofer.