How we evaluate solar professionals

What does HyreSolar check before any introduction?

1. Business identity. A registered legal entity, trading under the name it gives us, at an address that exists, checked against the secretary of state register in its home state.
2. Licensing. Where the state or locality requires a license for solar or electrical work, a current license in that name. Some states license solar as a specialty, some under electrical, some not at all.
3. Service area. The counties and zip codes the company says it covers, so a request is not sent two hundred miles from anyone who can attend.
4. Services offered. Whether it does the kind of work described (a battery retrofit, a repair on another installer’s system, a ground mount) rather than only new rooftop installs.
5. Insurance. General liability, and workers’ compensation where crews are employed, stated and evidenced. What can be independently confirmed varies by state.
6. Public records. Regulatory and complaint records where a state publishes them. A state that publishes nothing is not evidence of a clean record.
7. Operating history. How long the business has traded under its current entity. A company that dissolved and re-registered is a different risk from one with fifteen unbroken years.

How are licences and certifications checked?

Against the public register, not the company’s own website. A licence number on a proposal or a truck proves nothing until the issuing body confirms it.

• State licence lookup. We search the licensing board in the state where the work will be done, by licence number and by legal entity name, and record the classification, status, expiry date and the date we looked. Where a state licenses solar under electrical or general contracting, that is the register we search. Where a state issues no relevant licence, we record that and say so rather than treating it as a pass.
• Name match. The licence must belong to the entity that will sign the contract, or to a named qualifier employed by it. A licence held by an unrelated subcontractor does not count.
• NABCEP certification. Where a company says it employs a NABCEP-certified professional, we look the person up in NABCEP’s public directory of certified professionals and record the credential and its expiry. NABCEP certification is voluntary and is not a state licence; we never treat it as a substitute for one.
• Re-checked, not assumed. A licence or certification checked once can lapse. Each check is dated, and a lapsed result removes a company from consideration until it is current again.

You can run the same checks yourself: search your state licensing board for the contracting entity’s exact name, and look up any NABCEP claim at nabcep.org.

What does HyreSolar not check?

• Workmanship. We have not been on a roof they installed. No desk check substitutes for that.
• Finances. We cannot tell you whether a company will still be trading when its workmanship warranty is tested. Nobody can.
• Reviews. Online review scores can be gamed in both directions, so we do not use them as an input.
• Rankings. There is no HyreSolar rating, tier or badge. Publishing one would imply a method we do not have.
• The work itself. The contract is between you and the company. We are not a party to it and cannot enforce it.
• Conduct after the introduction. What happens once a company contacts you is between you and them.

Why is verification not the same as endorsement?

Verification checks facts; endorsement vouches for work. Our checks tell you something real but limited: that a business exists, is registered, is licensed where licensing applies, and says it covers your area.

That is worth doing. It is not the same as knowing a company will do good work on your roof, and nothing on this site implies otherwise. The companion page, how to choose an installer, is what you should check before signing.

What does HyreSolar ask of participating companies?

HyreSolar publishes guides telling homeowners how to vet a solar company, so it holds participating companies to the same advice.

• Registered and traceable. A registered business with a verifiable operating history.
• Licensed where required. Current licensing wherever the state or locality requires it.
• Insured. General liability, and workers’ compensation where crews are employed.
• Responsive. Prompt contact on requests they accept. A homeowner who is never called is one we have failed.
• Written proposals. System size, equipment, price, financing terms, and each warranty stated separately.
• No pressure tactics. No same-day-only pricing and no door-to-door contracting. We publish both as warning signs.

The same bar, written for the businesses, is on for solar professionals.

What are the limits of a desk check?

Every check here is made at a point in time, from records that may be out of date. A license current in March can lapse in June, and a company solvent this year can fail the next.

So the checks are a floor, not a substitute for your own. Before you sign, confirm the license with your state board, ask for a certificate of insurance in the contracting entity’s name, and read what the workmanship warranty covers. If the installer stops trading, here is where that leaves you.