Solar panel install failed inspection, city code caught me off guard

Had panels put on my roof in March, contractor said all good. County inspector showed up May 12, flagged the whole setup. Panels too close to the ridge line, fire code wants 18 inches of clearance. We had maybe 6. Contractor never checked local amendments, just used the national standard. Cost me $900 extra to have the racking shifted and two panels moved. Plus lost a month of generation, maybe 300 kWh. Now I ask every single contractor about local code specifics before signing. Has anyone else gotten burned by rule differences between city and county? What did you do about it?

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drew79125d ago

So the national standard is basically just a suggestion and every tiny town has its own special twist on the rules? That 18 inch clearance thing probably varies block by block depending on which inspector woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I got hit with a setback rule my city added that wasn't in the state code, cost me two weeks and a bunch of new mounting hardware. My new move is making them put the exact code section in the contract so there's no finger pointing later.

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