Solar Panel Removal & Reinstallation

Arizona leads the nation in rooftop solar — which means thousands of roofs are now aging out underneath panel arrays that were installed on top of them. Roof work under solar requires removing and reinstalling the array correctly, and CraftBuilt provides that service as a specialty: solar detach and reset, coordinated with your roofing project from first quote to final inspection.

Why This Is a Specialty

A solar array isn't just panels: it's racking lagged into your rafters, wiring home-run to inverters, and a grid interconnection that must be shut down and recommissioned safely. Handled casually, detach-and-reset is where roofs get new leaks (every racking lag is a roof penetration), panels get microcracked, and system warranties get voided. Handled properly, it's a sequenced project: safe electrical shutdown, labeled disassembly, protected storage, roof work, then remounting on new flashed mounts and recommissioning.

Our Detach and Reset Process

1. System documentation before a single panel moves — layout, wiring, racking, and operating status, all photographed.
2. Safe shutdown and disconnection, coordinated with your solar provider where their scope requires it.
3. Removal and on-site protected storage of panels and racking.
4. The roof work itself — replacement, underlayment renewal, or repair — with every racking penetration flashed to roofing standards, not just caulked.
5. Reinstallation, torque-checked racking, and system restart with output verified against pre-removal baseline.

When You'll Need It

• Your roof needs replacement and panels are in the work area — re-roofing around an array is a false economy that leaves old roof under your newest equipment
• Storm or hail damage repairs where the array overlays the damage
• Insurance restorations, where we fold detach-and-reset costs into the claim documentation

What It Costs — the Honest Factors

Pricing scales with array size, racking type and condition, inverter architecture, and access. Rather than quote blind averages, we price detach and reset as a line item in your roofing proposal so you see exactly what the solar handling adds — and financing covers the whole project, panels included.

Will removal void my solar warranty?

It shouldn't, when handled correctly. Where your installer's warranty requires their participation in disconnect or recommissioning, we coordinate scopes with them rather than working around them — solar-heavy areas like Gilbert and Chandler have made that coordination routine for us.

Timing Roof Work Around Your Solar Investment

The economics of detach-and-reset reward planning. If your roof is within a few years of needing replacement and your panels are already up, watch the roof, not the array — re-roofing before underlayment failure means the solar work happens once, on your schedule. If you're adding solar to an aging roof, reverse the order: replace the roof first, because paying for detach-and-reset five years after the array went up is the most avoidable bill in roofing. And if storm damage triggers the work, the detach-and-reset belongs in the insurance scope from the first estimate — added later, it's a fight; documented up front, it's routine.

Will my system produce less after reinstallation?

It shouldn't. We baseline system output before shutdown and verify against it at recommissioning. Panels get handled and stored to manufacturer standards precisely because microcracking from rough handling is the classic cause of quiet post-reset production loss — the failure mode our process exists to prevent.

Do you coordinate with my solar installer?

Whenever their warranty or your interconnection agreement requires it, yes — some installers reserve electrical disconnect and recommissioning to themselves, and we sequence around their visits rather than jeopardizing your coverage. Where no such requirement exists, we handle the full scope and document every step.

What about my net metering or utility agreement?

Brief system downtime during roof work doesn't affect your interconnection status with APS, SRP, or TEP — production simply pauses and resumes. For multi-day projects we sequence the array work to keep downtime minimal.