A Guide to expanding into Solar for Roofing Contractors

The renewable energy market is growing. Grow your roofing company with it!

Expanding into the solar industry as a roofing contractor can help you expand your business by offering additional services to your roofing customers. 

Reasons to expand into solar

1) Solar and Roofing businesses are complementary to each other.

Roofing customers are potential solar customers and solar customers are potential roofing customers.  A huge barrier to selling solar is just getting in front of the customer and gaining their trust. As a roofer, you’re in an excellent position to convert that happy roofing customer into a solar customer.  On the other side of the coin, potential solar customers often run into the problem of wanting to install a PV system only to realize that their roof is getting close to the end of its life, allowing you to offer a roof repair or replacement before installing the solar PV system.

• If selling and installing systems is not something you’re looking to take on there are still potential ways of making money through solar.
  • Partner with a local company and offer them leads generated from your roofing company
  • Offer to do site assessments for companies to obtain the necessary on-site data required to design the solar PV system.
  • Provide the roof installation work to Solar/Electrical contractors that are comfortable with the Electrical work associated with solar installations but do not want to install the racking system.

2) Your Employees already have much of the Knowledge and skills needed.

Much of the work associated with solar installations is roof work such as installing the racking and modules onto the roof.  Racking is typically attached using flashed attachments which roofing contractors already have the knowledge of how to install.  This is one of the most important aspects of an installation since the consequence of doing it wrong can lead to a water leak into the customer’s home.

3) Most of the costs associated with starting a solar company are already covered.

Starting a business from scratch can be expensive. As a roofing contractor, you most likely already have much of the larger upfront costs covered, such as a warehouse, employees, insurance, Trucks, ladders, tools etc.

How to Get Into Solar as a Roofing Contractor

1) Check the requirements of the AHJ’s Authority Having Jurisdictions in your installation area:

Educate yourself on the regulatory and permitting requirements for solar installations in your area.  Depending on your location this can vary. Start at the top and work back to see what the requirements for each are. You can check this website to get started Sunspec AHJ Registry

• State
  • State electrical license requirements
• County
• City
  • Many cities will have different permitting requirements. Check with the local planning and zoning office.
• Utility
  • Utilities will provide you with design, installation, and distributed generation interconnection guidelines.

2) Hire an Electrician or team up with a local contractor to do the electrical work, permits, and interconnection.

Having a good electrician is key to having a successful installation company. Someone who knows code, and how to properly install hardware will make your life easier. Many AHJ’s will require a Master Electrician to apply for the electrical permit.

3) Find a reputable solar/electrical supplier that can assist you with design.

When you’re just getting started picking products and designing systems can be some of the biggest barriers. Many suppliers are full-service these days. Meaning they can assist with design/permitting, as well as product selection and quotes.

4) Get yourself and your employees educated!