- Licence to checkC-46 solar (or C-10 / B in scope)
- Verify atcslb.ca.gov — takes 90 seconds
- Get quotes from3–4 vetted companies
- Best single question“Can I call your last two customers?”
Building a shortlist that is worth having
You do not need to talk to every solar company in Sacramento. Three or four is enough, and the quality of the shortlist matters far more than its length.
Two sources are worth more than the rest. Referrals from neighbours who have lived with a system for a few years tell you things no website will — whether the company answered the phone in year three, whether the production matched the estimate, whether anything leaked. And the companies that publish real technical information rather than savings promises are, as a class, more likely to be engineering-led than sales-led.
A referral still needs interviewing. A company that did a straightforward job on a simple Natomas roof is not automatically the right choice for a complex shaded Carmichael one.
1. Licensing, bonding and insurance
The CSLB licence
Solar installation in California requires an appropriate contractor’s licence. The specialty classification for solar is C-46; general electrical contractors holding C-10 may also perform solar work, and a B general building licence has its own scope. Licences are issued to individuals and qualifying individuals, not abstractly to brands.
Look the company up on the Contractors State License Board website before you sign anything. It takes ninety seconds and it tells you the licence status, the classification, the bond, the workers’ compensation coverage and the complaint history. Do this for every company on your shortlist, including us.
Insurance
General liability and workers’ compensation both matter, and for the same reason: if somebody is injured on your roof and the contractor is uninsured, you may find the problem becomes yours. Ask for a certificate of insurance. A real contractor will produce one without hesitation.
2. Who is physically doing the work
This is the question that separates installers from sales organisations, and it is worth asking plainly: “Will your own employees be on my roof, or a subcontractor?”
Subcontracted installation is not automatically bad — some excellent companies use long-standing subcontract crews. What matters is that you know, that the workmanship warranty is clear about who honours it, and that nobody is vague about it. Vagueness here is the signal.
Be particularly careful with lead brokers. A significant share of solar advertising in Sacramento comes from companies that do not install anything at all — they collect your enquiry and sell it, sometimes to several installers at once. The tell is usually a website full of savings claims and stock photography with no named crew, no local address and no licence number.
3. Equipment, named in writing
Any proposal should state the exact panel model, the exact inverter or microinverter model and the racking system. “Premium 400 W panels” is not a specification. “Or equivalent” is a clause that lets the equipment be substituted after you have signed, and it is worth striking out.
Once you have model numbers you can pull the datasheets and compare properly — efficiency, temperature coefficient, degradation rate and the two panel warranties. Our guide to reading a panel datasheet covers which numbers actually matter in a Central Valley climate.
4. The warranty that is actually theirs
Three of the four warranties on a solar system come from manufacturers and follow the equipment regardless of what happens to the installer. The fourth — workmanship — is written by the installer and is worth exactly as much as the installer’s continued existence.
Ask three things about it: how long, does it explicitly cover the roof penetrations, and does it cover the labour to fit a warranty replacement part. See the four warranty types for what good looks like.
5. What a serious proposal contains
- A layout drawing on your roof planes.
- System size in kW DC and the annual production estimate in kWh.
- The assumptions behind that estimate — azimuth, tilt, shade loss, degradation.
- Exact equipment model numbers.
- Total installed price and price per watt.
- A clear list of what is excluded — panel upgrade, re-roof, trenching, tree work.
- Which utility tariff was modelled, and the export rate assumed.
- The workmanship warranty term, in writing.
A proposal missing several of these is not a proposal; it is a sales document.
6. Red flags
- Today-only pricing. Solar equipment prices do not change hourly.
- Door-to-door pressure. Legitimate companies do canvass; legitimate companies also leave when you ask them to and never ask you to sign on the doorstep.
- Monthly payment with no system price. Makes comparison impossible, which is usually the point.
- Production estimates well above the competition. Same roof, same sun. Ask what assumptions produced the difference.
- Outdated incentive claims. Anyone still quoting a 30% federal homeowner credit in 2026 is working from stale information.
- No physical local address. A PO box and a call centre is a different business from a company with a Sacramento yard.
- Reluctance to name the panel model. There is only one reason for that.
The eight questions to ask every company
- What is your CSLB licence number and classification?
- Will your own employees install, or a subcontractor?
- Exactly which panel and inverter model are you quoting?
- What is the total installed price and the price per watt?
- How long is your workmanship warranty, and does it cover roof penetrations?
- Which utility tariff did you model, and what export rate did you assume?
- What is not included in this price?
- Can I have the addresses of the last two systems you completed, and permission to contact those homeowners?
That last one is the most revealing question on the list, and the one fewest companies expect.
Written by the Sacramento Solar team for Sacramento-area homeowners. We install solar; we are not tax advisers, accountants or financial advisers. Figures are ranges current as of early 2026 and are offered as orientation, not as advice about your own situation. Verify current programme rules with your utility, the relevant agency or a qualified professional.