Solar Brokers Face New Scrutiny from California Contractors Board

On December 12th, the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) issued a bulletin that places new limits and restrictions on entities that refer to them themselves as “solar brokers”. What is a solar broker? It is a company or entity that gets paid to find contractors to complete a homeowner's solar project. Their pitch tends to be that finding a solar contractor is complicated and difficult, and they will do all the work for you, the homeowner, for a price.

The CSLB ruling now states that these solar brokers must either hold their own contractors license, or have a “Home Improvement Salesperson” (HIS) registration. At Sullivan Solar Power, a C-10 licensed solar installation firm with 15 years of solar experience, every Project Developer must obtain their HIS registration before entering the field.

This is an important ruling, because the only way to truly change the way we generate electricity and move towards a renewable energy future is if people and institutions that go solar have the best possible experience. Misinformation, lack of transparency and unmet expectations on a solar project produces a negative customer experience, thus less people will be willing to make the change to solar energy. It is our mission to create solar advocates, through quality customer service and quality installations, in order to truly change our world.