Your Solar Installation Handover Pack: Every Document You Should Receive

A finished solar installation should come with a specific set of documents, not just an invoice marked paid and a working system on the roof. Knowing what a complete handover pack actually contains makes it possible to ask for what's missing, rather than discovering a gap only when you need it, at claim time, sale time, or years down the line.

What documents should you actually receive after a solar installation?

A complete pack covers six distinct pieces: the signed Certificate of Compliance, SP Group's grid connection confirmation, an as-built electrical diagram, warranty certificates for each major component, the commissioning test report, and setup instructions for your monitoring app and DC isolator. Each one serves a different, specific purpose later, not just a general proof-it-was-done function.

Most established installers hand these over as a matter of course. Confirming the full list explicitly before final payment, rather than assuming an invoice and a verbal assurance covers it, is worth doing regardless.

What does the Certificate of Compliance actually prove?

The Certificate of Compliance, signed by your Licensed Electrical Worker on SP Group's standard form, is the specific document certifying your installation was tested and found electrically safe before being switched on. It's the piece of paperwork SP Group requires on file before activating your export registration and credit.

Keep the signed copy itself, not a generic completion letter, since a future warranty claim, insurance question, or home sale may specifically ask for proof the installation passed this independent check.

What does SP Group's grid connection confirmation actually cover?

This is the separate administrative approval permitting your system to formally export electricity and begin earning SCT or ECIS credit, distinct from the LEW's safety sign-off. Your export rate and how it reaches you both depend on this registration being correctly in place.

Ask your installer to confirm this was filed on your behalf and to share the confirmation once it comes through, rather than assuming it happened silently in the background.

What should the as-built diagram actually show?

An as-built diagram records how your specific system was actually wired, not the generic design drawing used to quote the job, including panel layout, string configuration, and the location of every isolator and junction point. Real installations sometimes deviate slightly from the original design during actual construction, and the as-built version is what reflects reality.

This becomes genuinely useful years later, for a future maintenance visit, a fault diagnosis, or an addition like a battery, when whoever is working on the system needs to know how it was actually built, not how it was originally planned.

What warranty documents should be in the pack, and for which parts?

Panel and inverter warranties are the two most valuable, typically covering a long span for panels and a shorter one for inverters, and each needs its own manufacturer registration confirmation, not just a line item on the original quote. The different warranty types and what each actually covers is worth understanding before assuming a warranty is comprehensive.

Your installer's own workmanship warranty, covering installation quality specifically rather than equipment defects, is a separate document again and equally worth keeping on file.

What commissioning test results should be included?

Ask for the actual insulation resistance reading and, where performed, the IV curve tracing results, not just a summary statement that testing passed. What these specific tests measure and why they matter is worth understanding before you review your own results.

These numbers are the closest thing to hard evidence your specific installation, not just the equipment model, was verified safe and performing correctly at the moment it was switched on.

What if an installer doesn't proactively hand any of this over?

Ask for it directly, in writing, before final payment rather than after, since a pack assembled after you've already paid in full carries much less leverage. A reputable installer should have every one of these documents ready without needing to track them down from a subcontractor or reconstruct records after the fact.

An installer who resists providing a specific document, rather than simply being slow to compile the full set, is a genuine warning sign worth taking seriously rather than dismissing as ordinary paperwork friction.

What should you actually do with the pack once you have it?

Keep physical or digital copies somewhere durable and easy to locate, not scattered across old emails, since a future buyer, insurer, or maintenance technician may ask for specific pieces of it years after your installer's own workmanship warranty period has ended. Knowing where your DC isolator is and how to operate it is also worth confirming as part of this same handover conversation, not a separate topic for later.

Run the full solar buyer checklist before signing a contract in the first place, and the Sunnify solar estimate to start planning your own installation.