How Solar Connect Vets Installers Before Adding Them

When a marketplace tells you the installers in their network are "vetted," that word can mean almost anything. Some marketplaces vet only that the installer has a phone number and a website. Some run background checks. Some require contractor license verification. Some inspect actual install quality from prior projects. Here is exactly what vetting means at Solar Connect, item by item. If you are evaluating us against another marketplace, this is the list to compare. Every installer in the Solar Connect network is verified for license status, insurance coverage (general liability and workers' comp), NABCEP or state certification where applicable, equipment manufacturer authorization, BBB and contractor-board complaint history, and references from completed installs. We do not accept installers without a verifiable physical office and a track record of at least 50 completed residential installs. We re-verify license and insurance status quarterly and remove installers who lose either. Licensed and insured (verified at intake and quarterly) The first check is the contractor license. Every state regulates electrical and solar installation differently. We pull each installer's license from their state's licensing board (CSLB for California, DOR for Washington, TDLR for Texas, and so on) and confirm the license is active, in good standing, and covers the type of work they will be doing on your home. We also verify two types of insurance: General liability insurance. Covers damage to your property during the install (a dropped panel, a roof leak from improper flashing, accidental damage to your gutters). Minimum coverage we require is $1 million per occurrence. Workers' compensation insurance. Covers injuries to the installer's crew while working on your roof. This matters to you because without workers' comp, if a crew member gets hurt on your property, you can be liable. Required for any installer with employees. License and insurance status get re-verified every quarter. Installers who lose either status get removed from the network immediately, not at the end of the year. 2. Certification standards (NABCEP and state-specific) The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) is the closest thing residential solar has to a professional certification. We require either: - At least one NABCEP-certified PV Installation Professional on staff, or - An equivalent state-recognized solar contractor certification The NABCEP requirement is not legal in most states (contractor license is the legal requirement) but it is a meaningful quality signal. NABCEP-certified installers have demonstrated knowledge of code, design, and safety that exceeds the minimum bar. 3. Equipment manufacturer authorization A panel installer can buy panels from a distributor. A panel installer authorized by the manufacturer has direct relationship status, which usually means warranty service runs through them. We verify each installer's manufacturer authorizations for the panels, inverters, and batteries they regularly install. This matters when something goes wrong years later. An installer who is not an authorized partner with the panel manufacturer can have a harder time getting warranty claims processed. For batteries specifically, we require Tesla certified installer status for Powerwall installs and Enphase certified installer status for IQ Battery installs. These are the two most common residential batteries and the certification process is meaningful. 4. Track record check We do not accept installers without a track record of at least 50 completed residential solar installs. Newer installers can be excellent. But the quality and reliability signal from 50+ completed installs is hard to fake, and homeowners deserve to know that the installer has actually run the install process more than a handful of times. We verify the install count by checking installer-submitted job lists against state-permitting records (where available), utility interconnection databases, and references from completed installs. 5. Complaint history review Before accepting an installer, we check three sources of complaints: - The Better Business Bureau (looking at complaint volume, pattern, and how they were resolved) - The state contractor licensing board (looking for license discipline, lawsuits, or unresolved complaints) - Public review aggregators (looking for systemic patterns rather than one-off bad reviews) Installers with patterns of unresolved complaints (especially around pressure sales, contract disputes, or workmanship issues) do not get into the network. Installers with a clean history with isolated complaints get in but get watched. 6. Pricing transparency requirement Every installer in the Solar Connect network agrees to a pricing transparency requirement. They must provide: - A clear cash price separate from any financed price - All dealer fees stated explicitly (not buried in the system price) - All warranties (product, performance, workmanship) in writing - All equipment specifications with model numbers (not category descriptions) Installers who try to obscure their pricing get reminded once. After that, they get removed. 7. No-sales-call commitment This is the structural difference. Installers in the Solar Connect network do not get your contact information when they submit a quote. All communication, quotes, messages, and follow-up coordination runs through the Solar Connect platform. Your phone number stays with us, not with an installer's sales pipeline. What vetting does not do Worth being honest about. Vetting reduces risk. It does not eliminate it. A vetted installer can still do poor work on a specific install. A licensed installer can have a bad crew on a specific day. A NABCEP-certified company can still have one rep who promises something the company cannot deliver. What vetting does is filter out the worst actors and reduce the variance. Every installer in the Solar Connect network has been screened for the things you cannot easily check yourself. That does not replace your own due diligence on the specific quote and installer you are considering. It just means we have done the basic homework so you do not have to do it for every installer separately. How to use this When you compare quotes through Solar Connect, you are comparing installers who have already cleared the bar above. Your job becomes choosing between qualified options based on price, equipment, and which one feels right to work with. Not separating the legitimate from the sketchy. For tips on what to look at once you're past the credentials check, see our guide on comparing solar quotes apples-to-apples. If you want to verify any specific installer's status yourself before signing, every installer in the network has a profile page that links to their state license, NABCEP certification, and contact information. Browse the full installer directory or California installers specifically. You can spot-check anything you want. That is what "vetted" means at Solar Connect. Not a marketing word. A specific list of things checked.