Cost of removing and reinstalling solar panels during roof replacement

[YellyYeti]

My homeowner's insurance company is making me replace my 18 year old asphalt shingle roof. I have a 14.7 kW (51 panel) solar system on it right now. I called the original installer, and they quoted me $12,629 to take off, then re-install the panels. Does this sound right? The original system was $30K to install in 2017. This would push out my payback period an additional 6 years or so, the original one was around 10 years. I should have had the foresight to replace the roof before putting the panels on but too late now.

What other options do I have? Should I get quotes from other installers? Will they touch another company's install, and what would that do to my warranty?

How easy/cheap is it to just remove the panels (and sell them)? Solar prices seem to have dropped since I got this system so I could maybe wait and buy a brand new system at a later date, maybe with a powerwall or 2, with new tax incentives I think I would get close to this price.

I clicked through the estimator for a Tesla Solar Roof that that was saying $180K with 2 powerwalls

Finally, my roof probably has some wind and hail damage from a recent storm, so an insurance replacement of the roof is possible. Would they pay to remove and reinstall the solar panels?

 

[ChrisPDX]

I'm going through a similar situation. I've had my panels for nearly 10 years and needed a new roof. The original installer has since gone out of business and I was only able to get two companies to reply back to me with a quote. Both said it would be $4-6k for my 14 panels and depends if they could reuse the railing system. I picked one that charged $1k up front to remove the system. They confirmed the railing system was not available anymore and because no anti-seize was used (it's all stainless steel and aluminum which weld nicely together over time), it could not be removed without damaging it. They then upped the estimate to wanting $6k to reinstall the old panels with new railings.

At that point, I decided to just get them replaced. New Tesla panels with 1.5kW additional capacity is $7k after tax rebate (other installers were about $10-12k and only wanted to do even larger systems I don't need). So I'm going to spend the extra $1k after rebate and get an upgrade in capacity. I am going from micro-inverters to a single large inverter, so that is a slight downgrade, but I should be OK with that. I still have my old panels, but I'm not sure how easy they are to sell. Lower capacity by today's standards. Same with the micro-inverters which only handle about 215w each.

Seems silly replacing them so soon and with the previous panels still working. But with no tax rebate for reinstalling used panels and only select installers willing to install existing panels, getting a new setup is my only good option. At least it's a smaller setup and has already paid for itself, but still sucks I have to start over again (and loose out on the pure profit I would have made).

 

[nwdiver]

My homeowner's insurance company is making me replace my 18 year old asphalt shingle roof. I have a 14.7 kW (51 panel) solar system on it right now. I called the original installer, and they quoted me $12,629 to take off, then re-install the panels. Does this sound right? The original system was $30K to install in 2017. This would push out my payback period an additional 6 years or so, the original one was around 10 years. I should have had the foresight to replace the roof before putting the panels on but too late now.

What other options do I have? Should I get quotes from other installers? Will they touch another company's install, and what would that do to my warranty?

How easy/cheap is it to just remove the panels (and sell them)? Solar prices seem to have dropped since I got this system so I could maybe wait and buy a brand new system at a later date, maybe with a powerwall or 2, with new tax incentives I think I would get close to this price.

I clicked through the estimator for a Tesla Solar Roof that that was saying $180K with 2 powerwalls

Finally, my roof probably has some wind and hail damage from a recent storm, so an insurance replacement of the roof is possible. Would they pay to remove and reinstall the solar panels?

We billed ~$9500 to remove and reinstall a 26 panel 9.5kW system a year ago so ~$12k is about right. It was fully covered under the home owners insurance.

 

[eagleray]

My homeowner's insurance company is making me replace my 18 year old asphalt shingle roof. I have a 14.7 kW (51 panel) solar system on it right now. I called the original installer, and they quoted me $12,629 to take off, then re-install the panels. Does this sound right? The original system was $30K to install in 2017. This would push out my payback period an additional 6 years or so, the original one was around 10 years. I should have had the foresight to replace the roof before putting the panels on but too late now.

What other options do I have? Should I get quotes from other installers? Will they touch another company's install, and what would that do to my warranty?

How easy/cheap is it to just remove the panels (and sell them)? Solar prices seem to have dropped since I got this system so I could maybe wait and buy a brand new system at a later date, maybe with a powerwall or 2, with new tax incentives I think I would get close to this price.

I clicked through the estimator for a Tesla Solar Roof that that was saying $180K with 2 powerwalls
i will reommend you a company try this out restonroof
Finally, my roof probably has some wind and hail damage from a recent storm, so an insurance replacement of the roof is possible. Would they pay to remove and reinstall the solar panels?

According to EnergySage, “On average, residential installations tend to cost somewhere between $1,500 to $6,000 to remove and reinstall. (This is not inclusive of the cost required to replace your actual roof.)

 

[eagleray]

My homeowner's insurance company is making me replace my 18 year old asphalt shingle roof. I have a 14.7 kW (51 panel) solar system on it right now. I called the original installer, and they quoted me $12,629 to take off, then re-install the panels. Does this sound right? The original system was $30K to install in 2017. This would push out my payback period an additional 6 years or so, the original one was around 10 years. I should have had the foresight to replace the roof before putting the panels on but too late now.

What other options do I have? Should I get quotes from other installers? Will they touch another company's install, and what would that do to my warranty?

How easy/cheap is it to just remove the panels (and sell them)? Solar prices seem to have dropped since I got this system so I could maybe wait and buy a brand new system at a later date, maybe with a powerwall or 2, with new tax incentives I think I would get close to this price.

I clicked through the estimator for a Tesla Solar Roof that that was saying $180K with 2 powerwalls

Finally, my roof probably has some wind and hail damage from a recent storm roofers of arlington, so an insurance replacement of the roof is possible. Would they pay to remove and reinstall the solar panels?

A question for any roofers on here, just a quick ballpark cost figure for replacing a roof and putting right any solar panel damage (sagging timbers etc?) basically. House in question is an average sized 3 bed semi, solar panels are fitted to one side only and cover approx 3/4 of the width the roof.

The reason for asking is we are in the middle of buying a house with leased solar panels fitted so getting rid (our preffered option) is probably not going to be possible. When viewing the house we were not made aware that the panels were leased, nor did we know to ask the question, we just assumed that they were owned, we were not aware of these lease schemes at the time (we now consider ourselves experts on the subject!

) its only when we have had eyes on the property information pack that we have spotted it and then looked into what it all entails, so we are a bit narked, also we didnt consider the damage a badly designed installation could do. assuming we can even still get a mortgage on the property we are considering pulling out, our other option is renegotiate the price of the house to reflect, in our eyes at least, the drop in value due to the lease and also to cover ourselves, either fully or partly for the cost should the roof need replacing in 5 - 10 years etc time.

I appreciate its tough to call without seeing the job, im not looking for quotes, just a ballpark so I have some ammunition to go back to the estate agents with

Many thanks

 

[h2ofun]

A question for any roofers on here, just a quick ballpark cost figure for replacing a roof and putting right any solar panel damage (sagging timbers etc?) basically. House in question is an average sized 3 bed semi, solar panels are fitted to one side only and cover approx 3/4 of the width the roof.

The reason for asking is we are in the middle of buying a house with leased solar panels fitted so getting rid (our preffered option) is probably not going to be possible. When viewing the house we were not made aware that the panels were leased, nor did we know to ask the question, we just assumed that they were owned, we were not aware of these lease schemes at the time (we now consider ourselves experts on the subject!

) its only when we have had eyes on the property information pack that we have spotted it and then looked into what it all entails, so we are a bit narked, also we didnt consider the damage a badly designed installation could do. assuming we can even still get a mortgage on the property we are considering pulling out, our other option is renegotiate the price of the house to reflect, in our eyes at least, the drop in value due to the lease and also to cover ourselves, either fully or partly for the cost should the roof need replacing in 5 - 10 years etc time.

I appreciate its tough to call without seeing the job, im not looking for quotes, just a ballpark so I have some ammunition to go back to the estate agents with

Many thanks

Maybe want to back out since seems not disclosed. And with house prices going down more it seems, ....

 

[dhrivnak]

My homeowner's insurance company is making me replace my 18 year old asphalt shingle roof. I have a 14.7 kW (51 panel) solar system on it right now. I called the original installer, and they quoted me $12,629 to take off, then re-install the panels. Does this sound right? The original system was $30K to install in 2017. This would push out my payback period an additional 6 years or so, the original one was around 10 years. I should have had the foresight to replace the roof before putting the panels on but too late now.

What other options do I have? Should I get quotes from other installers? Will they touch another company's install, and what would that do to my warranty?

How easy/cheap is it to just remove the panels (and sell them)? Solar prices seem to have dropped since I got this system so I could maybe wait and buy a brand new system at a later date, maybe with a powerwall or 2, with new tax incentives I think I would get close to this price.

I clicked through the estimator for a Tesla Solar Roof that that was saying $180K with 2 powerwalls

Finally, my roof probably has some wind and hail damage from a recent storm, so an insurance replacement of the roof is possible. Would they pay to remove and reinstall the solar panels?

As one data point my insurance paid for a roof replacement and added $4k to take off an replace my 39 solar panels. And I managed to be slightly under budget. So I would call around. That said some roofs are on the easy side and some are downright dangerious. So as with most things it depends.

 

[eagleray]

Hello All,

What is the rough cost of a full replacement of roof tiles on a terraced 2-storey town house in the Haringey area?

Can my insurance company building cover the cost of replacement as it's recommended to replace after 20 years?

Also to provide more insulation and reduce heating bills as part of a drive to global warming? Are there any government incentives to help with costs?

Thanks

 

[eagleray]

@dhrivnak thank you so much for your suggestion