Most solar installers are not rated a perfect 5.0. What to do about it this week.
Solar ratings run lower than most home services because installs take months. What the rating numbers show and four things an installer can do this week.
Solar has a rating problem that has nothing to do with bad installs. The customer signs, then waits weeks for permits, then waits again for the utility, and somewhere in that gap a frustrated homeowner leaves three stars. The panels end up working fine. The review stays.
Here is the number, what it means, and what to do about it before the week is out.
The number
Across 32,440 solar companies on Google in our data, only 38.6% of rated listings hold a perfect 5.0. The average rating is 4.6, 77.5% sit at 4.5 or above, and 10.8% fall below 4.0.
That is lower than you see in a lot of home services where the job finishes the same day and the customer is happy before you leave. Solar is different because the customer experience is long, and every week of waiting is a chance for something to go sideways.
The full spread is on the benchmarks page.
What it means for you
Two things.
A 4.6 is not a weak rating in solar. If you have been losing sleep over not being a perfect 5.0, look at the category. Homeowners comparing three installers will often see three ratings in the mid 4s. What separates you is not the decimal. It is what the reviews say and how you answer the bad ones.
The low reviews almost always cluster in the same place. Read your own one, two and three-star reviews. When we read solar reviews, the complaint is usually about the wait or about not hearing from anyone during it, and much less often about the panels. That is good news, because communication is fixable this week. Equipment problems are not.
Four things to do this week
1. Answer every review under 4 stars
Go to your Business Profile and reply to each low review that does not have a response. Keep it to three or four sentences. Name the cause, say what you changed, and offer a direct line.
"Thank you for the honest review. You are right that the utility approval took longer than we told you, and we should have kept you updated every week instead of waiting for news. We now send a status text every Friday until the system is on. If anything is still not right, please call me directly."
The person who wrote it may never read it. The next homeowner comparing you to two other installers will.
2. Start a Friday status text
Silence is the complaint we see most in solar reviews. Fix it with a weekly text to every customer between signature and permission to operate:
"Hi Linda, Friday update on your system. Permit was approved Tuesday. We are now waiting on the utility to approve the interconnection, which usually takes two to four weeks in your area. Nothing you need to do. We will text again next Friday."
Even "no change this week, still waiting on the utility" is better than nothing. Customers mostly want to know nobody forgot them. The missed calls and speed to lead guide covers the tools that can automate this.
3. Ask the happy customers you skipped
Pull the list of every system turned on in the last six months. Anyone who did not leave a review gets one short text this week, timed around their first or second bill:
"Hi Tom, it has been a few months since your system went live. If you are happy with it, would you mind leaving a Google review and mentioning roughly what happened to your bill? It helps other homeowners in Mesa pick a local installer. Here is the link: [link]"
The review guide explains why the second ask, at the first bill, outperforms the ask at install day.
4. Set the wait on day one
Most low reviews are about a timeline that slipped against what the customer was told. At signature, give the realistic range, not the best case. Put it in writing:
"Most of our installs go from signature to a working system in 8 to 14 weeks. The two parts we do not control are the city permit and the utility approval. We will text you every Friday so you always know where it stands."
A homeowner told 14 weeks who gets a working system in 11 leaves a different review than one told 6 who waits 11. The pricing and proposals guide covers what else belongs in the proposal.
What not to do
Do not buy reviews, offer discounts for five stars, or ask employees and family to review you. It breaks Google's review rules, Google can remove the reviews or suspend the profile, and competitors do report it. Do not argue in public replies. Do not copy and paste the same reply on every review.
How you will know it is working
Check your profile in 60 days. You are looking for three things: every low review has a reply, new reviews mention communication instead of silence, and your count has grown. The rating itself may barely move, and that is fine. In a category where perfect scores are this rare, a steady 4.7 with recent detailed reviews and thoughtful replies beats a stale 5.0 with eight reviews.
If you want the weekly status texts and review requests set up for you, the free 14-day trial covers any service with no card. Text or call (801) 751-4071 or start on the free trial page.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, solar installers among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor