Cape Coral Solar Service About Cape Coral Solar Service
Cape Coral Solar Service is an independently operated local service that keeps existing rooftop solar systems producing, permitted, and interconnected across Cape Coral, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Punta Gorda. Because Florida licenses this trade at the state level, you should ask anyone who works on your system, us included, for the license number and verify it. We do not sell new systems, leases, or financing, and nobody here is paid on a sales commission.
Why we exist
Southwest Florida has a solar problem that nobody built a business around: thousands of systems installed between roughly 2015 and 2023 that now need service, on roofs that are coming off, from installers that are gone. Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022 damaged or destroyed more than 19,000 Lee County structures by the National Hurricane Center’s count, and the state’s roof-age insurance rules under Florida Statute 627.7011(5) have insurers pushing replacement of roofs 15 years and older that cannot pass an inspection. Meanwhile SunPower (Chapter 11, August 2024), Titan Solar Power (closed June 13, 2024), Pink Energy (Chapter 7, October 7, 2022), Vision Solar (Chapter 7, December 28, 2023), and ADT Solar (exit announced January 24, 2024) all walked away from their Florida customers.
A homeowner in that situation calls the roofer, who will not touch the panels. Calls the installer, whose number is disconnected. Calls a solar sales company, which sends a rep to sell a new system. What they need is a service electrician who will come out, diagnose the system they already have, and fix it at a published price. That is the whole point of what we do.
How it works
Photo quotes first. Three photos (the array from the ground, the inverter label, your monitoring screen) show the panel count, racking, inverter type, and whether anything is producing. That is often enough for us to quote from the ranges on the pricing page without a sales visit. A diagnostic visit at $150 to $350 comes next only when the photos cannot answer the question.
Permitted and inspected. Lee County requires a Solar-Photovoltaic permit to add or modify any photovoltaic system, and the City of Cape Coral permits its own roofing, electrical, and solar work. Reinstalling an array after a re-roof needs signed and sealed wind-load documentation under the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023). Florida requires the permit to be pulled by a licensed contractor, and it closes after the 207 Solar Final and 305 Electrical Final or their city equivalents pass; ask whoever does the work, us included, to show you the closed permit. A closed permit is also what FPL and LCEC require before an interconnection is reactivated.
The utility paperwork is part of the job. FPL’s Tier 1 interconnection agreement requires a new application and agreement 30 calendar days before any modification that raises the system’s rated output. LCEC’s standard agreement requires the local building official’s certificate that the installation was permitted and approved. If your inverter changes, that update has to be filed so your net-metering credit does not lapse.
Honest about warranties. Manufacturer warranties on panels, inverters, and microinverters usually survive an installer’s bankruptcy, but the owner has to file the claim, the maker ships a part rather than sending a crew, and labor is excluded under most terms. Installer workmanship and roof-leak warranties are gone. We say that plainly on the orphaned system page, and any honest quote should say it again.
No upsell. If a $450 microinverter swap fixes it, that should be the quote. If a 15-year-old string inverter is at end of life and the honest advice is to plan for replacement rather than pay for a repair, we say that too, with the numbers on both paths.
Who does the work
Florida licenses this trade at the state level. Florida Statute 489.105(3) defines a solar contractor as one whose services consist of the installation, alteration, repair, maintenance, relocation, or replacement of photovoltaic systems and their equipment, and the state’s electrical contractor license covers the same work. Roof attachments and flashing can also fall under a roofing contractor’s license, which is why re-roof resets are coordinated in writing between the roofer and the solar crew. Ask any contractor for the Florida license the job requires and for proof of liability and workers’ compensation coverage. Ask us the same questions, and verify any license number you are given with the Florida DBPR.
Areas covered
Cape Coral is the center of the area. From there, Fort Myers is about 20 minutes over the bridges, North Fort Myers in about 25, Estero in under 30, Bonita Springs and Lehigh Acres in about 40 to 45, and Punta Gorda in under 50. Photo quotes make the drive irrelevant to price.
Start with the FAQ if you have questions, or send the three photos and get a number.