Florida rules, plain words
Your roofer is not allowed to touch your solar panels.
This surprises almost everybody, including a lot of roofers. Florida treats taking an array down and putting it back as solar work, which needs a solar or electrical licence and a permit. Here is the rule and what it costs you when somebody ignores it.
✓Licensed & insured
✓Any roofer. Any installer. Any brand.
✓Orlando to Miami, one crew
✓Written quote before a panel moves
The rule
Why a roofing licence does not cover panels
Florida's contractor law defines solar contracting as the installation, alteration, repair, maintenance, relocation or replacement of solar panels and the equipment that goes with them. Lifting an array off a roof and setting it back down is relocation and replacement in the same job. That is solar work by definition, whoever is holding the wrench.
There is an electrical side too. Disconnecting a grid-tied array from the utility, even for a few days, and reconnecting it afterwards is electrical work. It needs an active licence. A roofing licence is a licence to build roofs, and it stops at the panel.
So the reinstall needs a permit, and in Florida that permit can only be pulled by a licensed solar contractor or a licensed electrical contractor. If nobody pulled a permit on your job, nobody licensed did the work.
Who does what
- Roofing contractor
- The roof itself: tear-off, deck, underlayment, shingles or tile, flashing on the roof he builds. Not the panels.
- Solar contractor
- The array: detach, store, new attachments, rails, panels, reconnection, permit and inspection. This is us.
- Electrical contractor
- Can also carry the disconnect and reconnect side. Some jobs use both, and that is fine.
- Nobody else
- Handymen, general labourers and a roofer's own crew are not licensed for any of it, however confident they sound.
What it costs you later
Four bills that show up after an unlicensed reinstall
The equipment warranty
Panel and inverter makers can refuse a claim on gear reinstalled by an unlicensed contractor. That is 10 to 25 years of cover, gone for a few hundred saved.
The roof warranty
A roofer will not warranty a roof with penetrations he did not make and did not inspect. Your brand-new roof ends up uncovered where it matters most.
The county
An unpermitted reinstall can be red-tagged. It usually surfaces at the worst moment, in the middle of selling the house.
The insurance claim
If the array is damaged in a storm, an insurer can ask who installed it and under which permit. There is no good answer to that if there was not one.
Protect yourself
Three questions before anyone climbs the ladder
What is your licence number?
Solar contractor or electrical contractor. Ask for it and look it up. A real one is handed over in seconds.
Who is pulling the permit?
There should be a name and a county. If the answer is that no permit is needed for a reinstall, that is the wrong answer.
Are the mounts new and flashed?
Old mounts belong to the old roof. New flashed attachments are what keep the roofer's warranty alive.
Art of Solar is a licensed and insured Florida solar contractor. We pull the permit, we meet the inspector, and every attachment on your new roof is new and flashed. Ask us those three questions too.
FAQ
Florida solar permits and licences: common questions
Can my roofer remove my solar panels in Florida?
Not legally, unless that roofing company also holds a solar contractor or electrical contractor licence, and most do not. Under Florida's contractor law the installation, alteration, repair, relocation and replacement of solar panels and the equipment that goes with them is solar contracting work. Taking an array off a roof and putting it back is exactly that. A roofing licence does not cover it.
Do I need a permit to remove and reinstall solar panels?
For the reinstall, yes, in practically every Florida county. Putting the array back means new structural attachments through a roof and reconnecting a system that feeds the grid, so the county treats it as new work: permit, plan, inspection. The permit can only be pulled by a licensed solar contractor or electrical contractor.
What licence should I be looking for?
A certified solar contractor licence, or a certified electrical contractor licence. Ask for the number, then look it up on the state licence search. Any legitimate contractor hands the number over without hesitating. Someone who talks around the question is telling you the answer.
What actually goes wrong if an unlicensed crew does it?
Four things, and they tend to arrive together. The panel and inverter manufacturers can refuse warranty claims on equipment that was reinstalled by an unlicensed contractor. The roofer will not warranty a roof with penetrations he did not make and cannot inspect. The county can red-tag an unpermitted reinstall, which surfaces when you sell the house. And your insurer can push back on a claim for a system that was never permitted.
The roofer says he does it all the time. Is that fine?
It is common, and it is still not allowed. A cottage industry of unlicensed crews has grown up around solar removal in Florida precisely because so many roofs now have panels on them. It usually looks fine on the day. The problems arrive later, at a warranty claim, a home sale or a leak.
Does a small repair need a permit too?
Swapping a like-for-like part on an existing permitted system often does not. Anything that changes the structural attachments, the wiring, or the way the system connects to the grid usually does. When we quote, we tell you which side of that line your job falls on before we start.
Who pulls the permit, me or you?
We do. We pull the solar permit, we file the paperwork, and we meet the inspector. You do not have to take a day off for a county appointment.
Where we pull permits
Permitted solar work across Orlando to Miami
Orange County
Seminole County
Brevard County
Indian River County
St. Lucie County
Martin County
Palm Beach County
Broward County
Do it properly
Licensed, permitted, inspected
Tell us the address and roughly how many panels. You get a written quote with the permit named in it, and a licence number you can look up.
Roofer says he will handle the panels?
Send him to us instead. Licensed solar crew, permit pulled, roof warranty intact. Orlando to Miami.