Solar and home insurance in Florida

Florida home insurance and rooftop solar collide on the roof. Insurers already ask about roof age, covering, and wind mitigation. An array is more equipment attached to that roof. Ask the carrier before you sign, not after a claim.

What to ask

Ask whether the carrier requires notice before installation. Ask whether they want the wind-design documents. Ask whether a roof replacement is a condition of keeping the policy, because a solar contract on a roof the insurer will not cover is a bad sequence. Ask who is responsible if the array causes a leak. The installer's workmanship promise and the homeowner policy are different contracts.

We will not tell you that your premium will fall. We have not seen your policy. Anyone who promises a statewide discount is guessing.

Order of work

If the roof is near the end of its life, replace it first or price removal and reinstall of the array in writing. Coastal counties and inland counties do not share a design wind speed. Miami, Tampa, and Tallahassee are different construction conversations even when the sales brochure is the same.

After installation

Keep the as-built drawings and the equipment list with your policy file. If you sell the house, the buyer and their insurer may ask for the same papers. Owned solar and a leased system produce different paperwork. Know which one you signed. The lease versus buy guide is the ownership split.