Hillsborough · Pinellas · Pasco · Manatee
Your roofer may not be the one taking your panels off and putting them back. Often it's whoever the salesman knows. This guide tells you what a legitimate detach and reinstall looks like in Florida, and gives you a scorecard to run on any company before you sign.
The rubric
Twelve points total. The weights reflect what goes wrong most often on Tampa Bay reinstalls, and what it costs you when it does.
Roofing licenses (CCC) don't cover solar. The company touching your panels needs an electrical (EC) or solar (CVC) license of its own. A roofer's crew doing it under the roofing license puts the roofer's license and your warranty at risk. Check any license at myfloridalicense.com.
Reinstalling a PV array is permitted work in all four counties. No permit means no inspection, and an unpermitted array can hold up your insurance claim or your home sale.
The flashings and mounts that penetrate your new roof should never be the old ones. Rails can usually be reused if they still meet code. Attachments cannot. Reused attachments are the number one source of leaks after a reinstall.
Ask who, specifically, will be on your roof and whose workers' comp covers them. A side crew lined up by a salesman is usually uninsured, and if someone gets hurt on your property, that becomes your problem.
Detach happens before tear-off, reinstall happens after the roof passes inspection. Without one person coordinating roofer and solar crew, panels end up stacked on your new roof or in your yard for weeks.
Photos of every attachment, the rails, the wiring, and the system back online. It's your proof the work was done right, and what you'll need if a warranty question ever comes up.
Scorecard
Answer with what they've told you in writing. If you don't know, say so. "Don't know" is a question you still need to ask.
Send yourself the scorecard and we'll call to walk through it. No charge, and we'll tell you if the company you're scoring is fine as-is.
Verified partners
These roofers have agreed to the six criteria on every detach and reinstall. We list them because we've done the work with them. We don't rank or review anyone else; use the scorecard for that.
First to refer customers through this program. Scheduling runs through one coordinator so panels are never left on the roof.
Solar partner of Fuze Inc. Roof replacement and the solar reinstall are coordinated as one job.
Partners are not charged for a listing. A partner that stops meeting the criteria is removed.
For roofing companies
If a homeowner thinks the solar guy is your guy, then as far as the customer is concerned, he is. A Fuze Verified Partner listing gives your customers a licensed, insured, permitted reinstall with one scheduler, and gives you a line item on every roof with panels.
Call (813) 686-9896 or email [email protected]
Questions homeowners ask
They have to come off. A roof can't be properly torn off, dried in, and reshingled under a mounted array, and any roofer offering to work around panels is going to leave the old attachments and the old underlayment under them.
Usually the length of the roofing job plus inspection. Detach is a day or less for a typical residential array. Reinstall is scheduled once the roof passes its final inspection, and the system is tested and turned back on the same day.
That's a different job. Mounting hardware for metal and tile is different from shingle, and it's priced differently. Anyone quoting you a flat per-panel number without asking what the new roof is hasn't looked at the job.
Usually yes, if they still meet current code. The attachments into the roof deck should always be new. Ask for both answers separately.
If a licensed solar contractor does the work and documents it, yes. If an unlicensed crew does it, your equipment manufacturer and your original installer can both decline warranty claims on the array.
When the roof replacement is a covered claim, the solar detach and reinstall is normally part of the claim. Your adjuster will want a licensed contractor's invoice and a permit number.
Search any Florida contractor at myfloridalicense.com. Look for an active EC (electrical) or CVC (solar) license held by the company doing the solar work, not just a CCC roofing license.