Encino, CA · November 2019 – December 2019 · LADWP / LADBS

Two permits, one house, twenty-eight days.

A 6.4 kilowatt system in Encino with the roofing done inside the same project. The interconnection application went in before the permits were issued, and the net meter was set four weeks later — through the middle of December.

Roofing and solar do not travel on one permit. They are two permits, two inspection tracks and two trades, and the only thing that keeps them from adding up in sequence is running them together under one contractor. On this project the interconnection application was filed first, so the utility's review was already moving while the roofing and solar permits were issued on the same day. Permission to operate came twenty-eight days after the application.

At a glance

System size

6.4 kW AC-CEC recorded by the utility

Permits

Roofing and solar, issued the same day

Application filed

2 December 2019

Site evaluation

17 December 2019

Interconnection review complete

23 December 2019

Permission to operate

30 December 2019

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The order of operations on this project is the whole of it. The site was assessed in November. The interconnection application went to the utility on the second of December. The roofing permit and the solar permit were both issued on the eleventh. The plan set was confirmed with the owner on the sixteenth, the utility completed its site evaluation on the seventeenth, its review closed on the twenty-third, and the net meter was set on the thirtieth.

Twenty-eight days from application to permission to operate, in December, with roofing inside the same project.

Start with why there are two permits. Roofing and electrical are different trades under different license classifications, and the building department treats them as different scopes of work with their own inspections. One contractor can hold both — that is what a general classification alongside the roofing and electrical ones is for — but the paperwork does not merge. Anyone who tells you their solar permit covers the re-roof is describing something that does not exist.

What can be merged is the schedule. Two permits issued the same day means the roofing work and the solar work run to one plan rather than negotiating with each other across a month. It means the array is designed for the roof it is actually going onto, and the mounts land in the new covering rather than in something about to be torn off.

The second thing that made four weeks possible: Cali Energy filed the interconnection application before the permits were issued, not after the work was finished. The utility's review is a queue that runs on its own clock. Its early steps — confirming the application, evaluating the site — need nothing from the building department, so there is no reason to hold them behind it. By the time the construction was done, the utility had already finished the parts it could do without a final release.

The plan set went to the owner for confirmation before installation, which is not a formality either. It is the moment the layout stops being a drawing: where the modules sit, where the equipment goes on the wall, which slopes get used. Changing any of that after the mounts are in means opening the roof again.

The counterweight is that twenty-eight days was this house, this utility queue and this December. The same sequence on a project that needs a service panel replacement or a plan-check correction takes two to three months, and nothing about doing roofing and solar together shortens the utility's part. What the sequence does is stop the two halves from adding up end to end.

So the question worth asking any contractor quoting both trades: when do the two permits get pulled, and when does the interconnection application go in relative to them? If the answer is that the utility paperwork starts after the work is finished, the project has a month in it that nobody needed to spend.

How it ran

Twenty-eight days from application to permission to operate, with roofing inside the same project. This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path.

What we did

• Assessed the roof and sized the system before any permit was pulled.
• Filed the interconnection application ahead of the permits so the utility review ran in parallel with construction.
• Pulled the roofing permit and the solar permit on the same day and worked both scopes to one schedule (B, C-39, C-10).
• Confirmed the plan set with the owner before installation.
• Carried the utility review through site evaluation to the meter set.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your roof needs replacing and you are considering solar in the same year.
• You have been told one permit covers both the roofing and the array.
• You are trying to understand why a solar project takes a month after the work is done.
• You want to see the layout before anybody drills into your roof.

Cali Energy in Encino

Frequently asked questions

Does Cali Energy pull both roofing and solar permits in Encino?

Yes. Cali Energy holds the general, roofing and electrical classifications, so both permits are pulled under one contract and the two inspection tracks run together. On this Encino house they were issued the same day and the meter was set four weeks later. Twelve completed Encino projects are documented on our projects page; our license is CSLB #1032379.

Can roofing and solar go on one permit?

No. They are separate scopes with separate inspections, and each carries its own permit. One contractor can hold both if the licensing covers both trades, and the permits can be pulled the same day, which is what keeps the schedule from running end to end. But the paperwork itself does not merge.

Why file the utility application before the permits are issued?

Because the utility review is its own queue, and its first steps — confirming the application and evaluating the site — do not depend on the building department. Filing early means those weeks run alongside construction instead of after it. On this project that ordering is most of the difference between four weeks and two months.

Is twenty-eight days to permission to operate normal?

It is fast, and it was this house, this queue and this December. A project that needs a service panel replacement, a plan-check correction or a meter crew visit in a busy month takes two to three months. What is repeatable is the sequence, not the number.

Why confirm the plan set with the owner before installation?

Because that drawing fixes where the modules sit, which slopes are used and where the equipment goes on the wall. Those decisions are cheap on paper and expensive once the mounts are through the covering. Ten minutes with the layout is the last comfortable moment to move anything.

What this would look like on your roof

Related

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• The roof, the panel, the array. One contractor Sylmar, CA · roofing, service and solar Solar
• Sixteen days from application to switch-on Winnetka, CA · 7.7 kW AC-CEC · 2020 Solar
• Fourteen days from filing to switched on Studio City, CA · 4.01 kW · filing to permission to operate in two weeks Solar

This timeline reflects this property and this permitting path. Updated September 2026.