Solar Contract Document Checklist for Homeowners

When a solar concern develops, the information is often scattered across email, a sales portal, a lender account, utility records, and paper left after installation. Before deciding what happened—or which company is responsible—build one complete file.

You do not need every item on this checklist to start asking questions. The goal is to preserve what exists, identify gaps, and create a reliable timeline.

Do not upload sensitive records to an unfamiliar service. Redact Social Security numbers, bank information, passwords, and unrelated personal data before sharing documents, and confirm how a recipient protects files.

1. Signed sales and installation documents

Collect the complete version of every document signed during or after the sales process. Include all pages, exhibits, schedules, and signature records.

Look for:

Solar proposal or quote
Purchase or installation agreement
Scope of work and equipment list
Change orders
Cancellation notice or right-to-cancel form
Electronic-signature certificate or audit trail
Completion certificate
Permission-to-operate or activation acknowledgment

The final signed version matters. A draft proposal may show different equipment, price, savings estimate, or payment structure.

2. Financing, lease, or PPA documents

The payment agreement may be separate from the installation contract. Search the names of the installer, lender, loan servicer, lessor, and system owner in your inbox and files.

For a loan, gather the credit agreement, federal or state disclosures, payment schedule, account statements, payoff information, and servicing notices.

For a lease or PPA, gather the full agreement, payment or rate schedule, escalator, transfer instructions, buyout schedule, production terms, and end-of-term provisions.

Create a simple table with four columns: company, role, document, and contact information. A single solar project may have multiple businesses that should not be treated as interchangeable.

3. The proposal and sales representations

Preserve the materials that explain how the project was presented:

Savings or utility-rate projections
System production estimate
Cash-price comparison
Tax incentive statements
Financing illustrations
Equipment and warranty promises
Notes, flyers, screenshots, or presentation slides
Emails and text messages with the salesperson

Write down what you remember, but separate memory from documents. Note who made a statement, approximately when, where the conversation occurred, and whether anyone else heard it. Do not edit screenshots or messages; retain the original files when possible.

The Federal Trade Commission's solar consumer guidance lists contract subjects homeowners should compare with advertisements, proposals, and sales statements.

4. Project timeline and property records

A date-by-date timeline helps connect contracts to the physical project. Include:

First sales contact
Proposal and signing dates
Any cancellation communication
Site survey
Permit application and approval
Equipment delivery
Installation dates
Inspection
Utility interconnection
Permission to operate
First payment
First service or performance complaint

Gather permits, inspection results, interconnection records, photos taken before and after installation, roof records, and homeowners-insurance communications where relevant.

If property damage or a safety concern exists, protect people and property first. Photograph conditions when safe, avoid disturbing potential evidence unnecessarily, and contact an appropriately licensed contractor or emergency service.

5. Utility bills and production data

A high bill does not by itself identify the cause. Electricity use, rates, net-metering rules, weather, shading, outages, system size, and production can all matter.

Collect at least 12 months of utility bills from before installation if available, all bills after activation, monitoring exports or screenshots, inverter alerts, outage dates, and service tickets. Record major changes in household usage, such as adding an electric vehicle, pool equipment, or new occupants.

Compare like periods rather than a summer bill with a winter bill. Preserve the provider's original production estimate and any written guarantee separately from a general sales projection.

6. Warranty and service records

Solar systems can involve separate warranties for panels, inverters, batteries, mounting equipment, roof penetrations, workmanship, and production. Identify the company responsible for each one and the process for making a claim.

Keep:

Warranty certificates and terms
Manufacturer serial numbers
Monitoring alerts
Service requests and ticket numbers
Technician reports
Photos and videos
Repair invoices
Dates the system was offline or limited

After a call, send a short written summary asking the company to correct anything inaccurate. A consistent paper trail is easier to review than memory alone.

7. Home-sale, transfer, and payoff information

If you may sell or refinance, request the provider's current written process early. Gather any payoff quote, transfer packet, buyer qualification criteria, UCC or lien information, title request, appraisal note, and correspondence with the real-estate agent, buyer, lender, or title company.

Payoff quotes can expire. Label each quote with the date received and valid-through date. Do not assume “paid off,” “transferred,” and “bought out” mean the same thing.

8. Complaints and company responses

Maintain a contact log with date, time, company, representative, phone or email, reference number, what you asked, and what response was promised. Save complaints submitted to a lender, provider, licensing board, consumer agency, or other organization, plus every acknowledgment and response.

The U.S. Department of Energy's homeowner guide points consumers toward the Federal Trade Commission for business practices and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for financial-product complaints. The right channel depends on the issue and company role.

Build a review packet, not a data dump

Organize the final file into five folders: agreements, money, project, performance, and communications. Add a one-page timeline and a one-page company-role list at the front. Keep original files unchanged and work from copies when redacting.

That structure makes it easier to ask a focused question, see what is missing, and share only what is relevant.