How to Choose a Solar Installer in Brisbane

There are hundreds of solar installers operating in South East Queensland, and their quotes can vary by thousands of dollars for what looks, on paper, like the same system. That gap is rarely about panels. It is about who is doing the work, what happens afterwards, and whether the company will still exist when you need them.

Here is what actually separates installers, and the questions worth asking before you sign anything.

Start with accreditation

Anyone installing solar that claims the federal rebate must use a Clean Energy Council accredited installer. This is not optional — without it, your system does not qualify for Small-scale Technology Certificates at all.

Ask: who is the accredited installer on my job, and what is their accreditation number? You can verify it directly with the Clean Energy Council.

A salesperson holding accreditation is not the same as the person on your roof holding it. Ask specifically about the installer.

Find out who is actually doing the installation

Plenty of companies sell solar and subcontract every installation to whichever crew is available. That is not automatically bad, but it changes accountability. If something goes wrong in year three, you want one company responsible rather than two pointing at each other.

Ask: are your installers employees or subcontractors? Who handles warranty callbacks?

Understand the three separate warranties

Solar involves three distinct warranties, and companies sometimes blur them into a single impressive-sounding number.

Product warranty — covers the panel itself against defects, typically 12 to 25 years
Performance warranty — guarantees output over time, commonly around 85% at year 25
Workmanship warranty — covers the installation itself, and varies enormously between companies

The workmanship warranty is the one that reveals most about an installer’s confidence in their own work. It is also the one most likely to be five years when the advertising implies twenty-five.

Ask: what is your workmanship warranty specifically, and is it in writing?

Check they will be there to honour it

A twenty-five year warranty from a company two years old is worth what you can collect on it. The solar industry has a long history of operators appearing, undercutting on price, and closing before the warranty period matters.

Ask: how long have you been trading under this business name, and how many installations have you completed in Brisbane?

Local track record matters more than national advertising. Ask to see recent work in your area — our case studies document real installations across Brisbane suburbs with actual system sizes and measured results.

Look at how they size the system

This is the clearest signal of whether you are dealing with an engineer or a salesperson.

A proper quote follows questions about your electricity bills, when you use power during the day, whether anyone is home, and what is coming — an EV, a pool, a renovation, air conditioning.

A poor quote proposes the largest array that fits your roof, because larger systems mean larger invoices. Oversizing means exporting most of your generation at a feed-in tariff far below what you pay to buy power back.

Ask: why this size specifically, and what portion of my generation do you expect I will use myself?

Get the component list in writing

Quotes that name a system size but not the actual panel and inverter models leave room for substitution. “Tier 1 panels” is a financial classification about bankability — it is not a quality rating, despite how often it is used as one.

Ask: exactly which panel model, which inverter, and will these be what is installed?

If a supply issue forces a substitution, you want to have agreed in advance that you will be consulted rather than informed afterwards.

Understand what is included

Costs that sometimes appear after the quote:

Switchboard upgrades, which are common in older Brisbane homes
Meter reconfiguration and the retailer application
Tile roof access or two-storey work
Extended cable runs where the inverter sits far from the board
Monitoring hardware and setup

Ask: is this price complete, and what would trigger an additional cost?

Be wary of pressure

Rebates do step down — that part is real, and we have written about what changes in January 2027. But a genuine deadline months away does not require a decision this afternoon.

Warning signs worth taking seriously:

A price that is only available today
A deposit requested before you have seen a written quote
Reluctance to put anything in writing
Vagueness about which components will be used
Discouragement from getting other quotes

Compare quotes properly

Three quotes is a reasonable number. More than that tends to produce confusion rather than clarity.

Compare them on the same basis: identical or comparable system size, named components, warranty terms in writing, what is included, and the installer’s local track record. Price is one column among several, not the whole table.

A quote that is $2,000 cheaper and uses a lower-tier inverter with a five-year workmanship warranty is not cheaper. It is a different product.

Read reviews with context

A star rating on its own tells you very little. What matters is the detail underneath it, and whether it comes from people in a similar position to you.

Worth looking for:

Reviews from customers in Brisbane, not interstate
Comments about what happened after the install, not just the sales visit
How communication went when something needed fixing
Whether the quoted timeline actually held

A company with a handful of detailed local reviews is usually a safer bet than one with hundreds of one-line ratings from everywhere.

Check how they talk about rebates and savings

The rebate is real and it is worth having. What varies is how honestly it gets presented.

A quote worth trusting will:

Show the rebate as an itemised discount rather than folding it into a headline price
Give a payback range and state what it assumes about your usage
Keep the word guaranteed well away from any savings figure

Savings depend on how much of your generation you actually use, which nobody can know precisely before the system is running. An installer who says so is being straight with you.

The fourteen questions, in short

Who is the CEC accredited installer on my job?
Are your installers employees or subcontractors?
What is the workmanship warranty, in writing?
How long have you traded under this name?
How many Brisbane installations have you completed?
Can I see recent work in my area?
Why this system size specifically?
What self-consumption are you assuming?
Which exact panel and inverter models?
Is the price complete, and what could add to it?
Who handles warranty callbacks, and how quickly?
What monitoring will I have, and can I see it?
Can I see recent reviews from customers near me?
What payback are you assuming, and on what basis?

Getting a quote worth comparing

We are happy to be compared. A quote from us names the components, states the warranties, explains the sizing, and includes the rebate as an itemised discount rather than a vague promise.

Get a free quote →