How to Choose a Solar Installer in Brisbane

Find out who is actually coming to your house

This is the single question that separates most good outcomes from most bad ones, and almost nobody asks it.

A great deal of solar in South-East Queensland is sold by one business and installed by another. The company you spoke to, whose reviews you read, whose salesperson sat at your table, may never set foot on your roof. The crew who do turn up are subcontractors, often paid per job, sometimes meeting your system for the first time that morning. They are not necessarily bad at the work. But nobody in that chain carries the job from quote to warranty, and when something needs fixing in year three, the question of whose problem it is becomes genuinely difficult to answer.

Ask it plainly: will your own employees install this, or a subcontractor? A company that installs in-house will tell you immediately and usually with some pride. A company that subcontracts will talk about its accredited partner network. Both answers are useful.

Check the accreditation, not the logo

Two things matter in Australia and they are not the same.

The installer needs SAA accreditation to sign off a grid-connected system, and in Queensland they need a current electrical contractor licence. Accreditation attaches to an individual person, not to a company, so the right question is who specifically is accredited and will they be on site.

Separately, the retailer should be signed up to the New Energy Tech Consumer Code. Approved sellers commit to rules on how systems are marketed and quoted, on contracts, and on after-sales support, and they can be held to them. It is a meaningful difference and it costs you nothing to check — both registers are public, and any business that is genuinely approved will point you to its listing without hesitating.

What a good quote looks like

A quote should tell you what is going on your roof, by make and model, for every major part: panels, inverter, battery if there is one, and the mounting system. "Tier 1 panels" is not a specification. It is a finance term about the manufacturer's bankability and it tells you nothing about the product.

It should say what is included beyond the hardware. Who handles the Energex connection application. Whether the switchboard needs work, and whether that is in the price or a surprise on install day. What happens if the meter needs replacing. Whether removal and disposal of an old system is covered.

And it should be based on something. A quote produced without anyone looking at your roof, your switchboard, your meter box and your actual consumption is a guess dressed up as a number. Shading from a neighbour's tree, the condition of your roof sheeting, the capacity of your main switch, your tariff and when you use power all change the right answer. A design that ignores them is a catalogue price, not a design.

The questions worth asking

Five that get useful answers, and are hard to bluff.

Who installs it, employees or subcontractors? Covered above, and the most revealing of the five.

Who do I ring in three years, and will it be the same company? Solar businesses fold often. Ask how long they have traded under this name and this entity. A warranty is only as good as the business standing behind it.

What happens if my export is limited? Energex applies export limits across much of South-East Queensland, and on some connections the limit is dynamic. A good installer will have explained this before you asked, because it changes what the system is worth to you.

Can you show me a job you did near me? Not a stock photo. A real address, suburb, and ideally a customer willing to talk.

What is not included? The most honest answer you will get all day, and the one that predicts the invoice.

Warning signs

Pressure to sign today, or a discount that expires at the end of the visit. Real pricing does not evaporate overnight, and a business confident in its work does not need you to decide before you have read anything.

A price quoted over the phone, before anyone has seen the property. It will change, and the change will not be in your favour.

Vagueness about the equipment. If they will not name the inverter, there is a reason.

No written scope, or a one-page quote that is really an invoice. You cannot hold anyone to a number.

A salesperson who cannot answer a technical question and promises the installer will sort it out on the day. By then you have signed.

What happens after the install

Most of a solar system's life happens after the crew drives away, and this is where the differences show.

Find out who monitors the system, and whether anyone notices if it stops producing. Plenty of faults are invisible from inside the house — a system can sit at half output for a year and the first sign is a bill. Ask what happens when a panel or inverter needs a warranty claim: who lodges it, who pays for the labour to swap it, and how long the process usually takes. Manufacturer warranties generally cover the part, not the ladder and the two hours.

Ask for the paperwork too. You should finish with a compliance certificate, the connection approval, the manuals, and the serial numbers of what was installed. If a business cannot hand that over without being chased, it is a fair sign of how the next three years will go.

Where we stand

We install with our own team. No subcontractors, no labour hire, the same people who quote the job and the same people you ring afterwards. We are a New Energy Tech Approved Seller, we have traded under the same name since 2017, and the work on this site is ours, in suburbs you can look up.

That does not make us right for every house. If your load is small, or your roof is wrong, or you already have equipment worth keeping, we would rather say so at the kitchen table than sell you something you did not need. What it does mean is that there is one business responsible for the whole thing, and you always know who to call.

‍