A roof with solar on it is a two contractor job. The roofing company replaces the roof. A separate solar crew takes the panels down, stores them, puts them back on new mounts, and gets the system producing again.
So the short answer to who to hire for solar detach and reset is that you hire both, and you hire them on purpose. One roofing contractor for the roof. One solar contractor for the panels and the electrical work. Then you make the two of them share a single schedule, in writing.
We are the solar half of that pair. Greeley Solar Reset detaches, stores and resets arrays across Weld and Larimer counties, and we do not do roofing or siding. Whether a roofing crew should be touching panels at all is settled in can roofers remove solar panels. This article is about what comes after that decision: choosing two contractors and keeping them pointed at the same calendar.
Who to hire for solar detach and reset: two scopes, one roof
Most of the confusion on these projects starts because nobody said out loud where one scope ends and the other begins. Here is the clean version.
The roofing contractor owns the roof. Tear-off, deck repair, underlayment, new shingles, and the flashing and detail work that belongs to the roof itself. They also own the dump trailer, the roof warranty and the weather delays.
The solar contractor owns everything that makes power. Shutting the system down safely at the inverter and the disconnect, labeling and lifting the panels off, taking down the racking and the old mounts, storing the panels, then setting new mounts and flashing into the new roof, rebuilding the racking, remounting the panels, reconnecting the electrical side, and confirming the array is producing again.
Two trades, two scopes, one schedule. Nobody is in charge of both halves unless you have hired a company that genuinely performs both, and that is rarer than the advertising suggests.
Why one written scope beats two verbal promises
The most expensive version of this job is the one arranged entirely by phone, where each contractor assumed the other was handling the panels.
It plays out the same way every time. A homeowner in Evans gets a roofing quote after a hail storm. Somebody says “we’ll take care of the panels” and nobody writes it down. Tear-off morning arrives, the roofing crew is on site at seven, the array is still bolted to the roof, and now there is a decision to make with a full crew standing in the driveway.
Get both scopes in writing before either crew is booked. Not a text message. A quote or a work order from each contractor that names what they are doing and what they are not doing. Ask both companies for a current certificate of insurance while you are at it, which is ordinary practice and nobody reputable minds.
That paperwork is also what you point at when the two schedules drift, and they will drift.
What a detach and reset quote should itemize
Hold any quote you get against this list. Every line should be visible on the page:
- Panel count. The number of modules coming off, written down. This is the base the whole price is built on.
- Detach and storage. Where the panels go while the roof is open, and for how long. Storage through a normal reroof is usually included.
- New flashed mounts and hardware. New attachment points and flashing set into the new roof, not the old feet dropped back into old holes.
- Racking reassembly. Rails, clamps and grounding rebuilt on the new mounts.
- Electrical reconnection. The system wired back and brought up, which is included in a reset.
- Commissioning and a production test. Proof the array is making power again. Panels bolted back down is not the same thing.
- Disposal. Old mounts, old flashing and any hardware that is not going back up.
A lump sum with no itemization is how flashing quietly falls out of a job. If a quote is one number and one line of description, you have no way to tell whether new mounts and new flashing are inside it, and that is precisely the line a thin bid trims. Ask for the breakdown, or assume the cheapest quote is cheap for a reason. The pricing spread has its own article, why detach and reset quotes vary, and it is worth reading before you compare two numbers side by side.
For rough calibration while you read quotes, most detach and reset work runs $200 to $500 per panel. A small 8 to 12 panel array usually lands between $1,500 and $2,500. A typical 20 panel array runs around $3,500. Large or complex arrays, steep pitch, multiple roof planes or awkward access, run $6,000 to $8,000 and up.
On a covered hail claim the detach and reset is typically paid as a line item in the roof claim rather than out of pocket, which is one more reason the itemized version matters: an adjuster can actually read it. The claim side is covered properly in does insurance cover solar detach and reset.
Six questions for the solar contractor
Ask these before you sign anything.
- Who physically handles the panels, your own crew or a sub? You want to know whose hands are on the glass.
- Where do the panels get stored, and for how long? A garage, a locked trailer, a rack on the ground, a shop across town. Get the location and the number of days.
- What happens if the roof runs long? Weather and deck surprises stretch reroofs, so ask what extra storage days cost, if anything.
- Is new flashing included? Say the word flashing out loud and listen for a straight answer rather than a reassuring one.
- Who tests the system afterward, and what do I get? Ask for a production reading at reset, not a thumbs up from the driveway.
- What happens if a panel is damaged while it is in your care? Ask how that is covered and who pays.
That last question deserves an answer before the work starts rather than after it. If something does get broken once the project is underway, who pays when a roofer damages solar panels walks through how responsibility usually gets sorted out.
Four questions for the roofer
When do you need the roof completely clear? That date, not the date you sign the contract, is what the solar detach gets scheduled against.
How many days between tear-off and finish? A straight reroof might be one or two days. A deck repair, a hidden second layer, or a rain delay adds more, and every one of those days is a day your panels sit in storage and your system is not producing.
Will you work around anything left on the roof? The answer you want is no. Panels left up mean shingles going in around and under an array that is still bolted down, which is where leaks and callbacks come from a year later.
Will you accept a schedule tied to two separate solar visits? A roofer who has done this before says yes without blinking. One who hesitates has probably been handling panels himself, and that is the arrangement you are trying to avoid.
The order the work happens in, and who sets the calendar
The sequence is not complicated, but it only works in one order:
- Get both quotes, roofing and solar, in writing.
- Book the roofing date first.
- Book the solar detach for the day before tear-off.
- Roof gets replaced.
- Solar crew returns for the reset: new mounts, racking, panels, reconnection.
- Commissioning and a production check confirm the system is back.
The roofer’s calendar drives all of it, and after a serious hail event in Weld County that calendar is a backlog. Crews get booked out for weeks and the start date you were given may move more than once. Solar visits get scheduled around the roof, not the other way round. Anyone telling you to lock the solar dates first has not worked a hail season here.
The physical work is quick. A detach is typically one day and a reset is typically one day, with the roof work in between, so total solar downtime is usually under a week when the two trades coordinate. How long a detach and reset takes breaks that timeline down day by day.
Red flags you can see before you sign
Four things you can observe without knowing anything about solar.
A roofer who offers to handle the panels himself. It sounds helpful and it saves you a phone call, and it is the most common way these projects go sideways.
A quote with no panel count on it. If the number of modules is not written down, nothing else in the price can be checked against anything.
A refusal to put storage or flashing in writing. Both are cheap to promise and expensive to skip. When a contractor will say it but will not write it, believe the paperwork.
Pressure to skip the commissioning test. “It’ll come back on by itself” is not a test. Arrays come off a roof fine and come back up in a fault state, and finding that out in November when the bill arrives is the bad version. What to do when a system is offline after a roof replacement exists because it happens often enough to need its own article.
If you want the solar half quoted properly, ask for a written detach and reset estimate in Greeley with the panel count on it, then hand a copy to your roofer the day you book the tear-off.
Greeley Solar Reset provides solar detach and reset, panel removal, and storm-damage service across Greeley, Evans, Windsor, Johnstown, Eaton, Firestone, Fort Lupton, and the rest of Weld and Larimer counties. Free written estimates. Licensed and insured. Call (970) 286-3417 or request an estimate.
FAQ
Should I hire my roofer or a solar company to take the panels off?
Hire a solar contractor for the panels and a roofing contractor for the roof. The solar crew handles the electrical shutdown, the removal, the storage, the new mounts and the reconnection. The roofing crew handles the roof itself. Two separate written scopes, one shared schedule. That split is what stops flashing, warranties and responsibility from falling into the gap between two trades.
Which contractor should I book first, the roofer or the solar crew?
The roofer. In Northern Colorado, especially after a hail event, roofing crews carry the longest backlog, so their start date sets everything else. Once you have that date, book the solar detach for the day before tear-off and the reset for after the new roof is finished. Booking the solar visits first usually means rescheduling them.
What should be itemized on a detach and reset quote?
Panel count, detach and storage, new flashed mounts and hardware, racking reassembly, electrical reconnection, commissioning with a production test, and disposal of the old hardware. A single lump sum with no breakdown leaves you no way to tell whether new flashing is included. Most work runs $200 to $500 per panel, with a typical 20 panel array landing around $3,500.
What happens if the roof job runs longer than planned?
Your panels stay in storage and the reset moves back. Storage through a normal reroof is usually included, but ask the solar contractor in advance what happens if the roof stretches an extra week, and get that answer in writing. Weather and deck repairs found after tear-off are the usual reasons a reroof runs long in Weld County.
Can one company do both the roof and the solar work?
Some do, though fewer than the yard signs suggest, and hiring one company does not remove the need for a written scope covering both halves. Ask specifically who performs the electrical disconnection and the recommissioning, and whether that work is done in house or subcontracted. If the answer is vague, you are back to two trades with one invoice.