North Hills, Los Angeles, CA · October 2021 – February 2022 · LADWP / LADBS

Two corrections, and a clear final eleven days later

The array went on over two days in October. When the electrical final was called in at the end of January, the inspector wrote a correction. It was answered, the job was called back in, a second note followed, and that was answered too. On the seventh of February the file closed.

Written by the Cali Energy project team · California contractor license 1032379 · Updated September 2026

A solar final inspection in North Hills covers labeling, working clearances, conductor routing, grounding and the connection at the service, and a note on any of them means the job is called back in. On this array across two planes of a shingle roof, two corrections were issued and answered inside eleven days and the electrical file closed on the seventh of February. Cali Energy answers a correction the same week rather than letting it sit, because the elapsed time on a final is almost entirely the contractor's response time.

At a glance

Array

Two planes of a composition shingle roof

Inverter

One SolarEdge HD Wave string inverter, wall mounted

Service

Service equipment replaced

Installed

Over two days in October 2021

Corrections issued

Two

First call to closed file

Eleven days

Electrical file closed

7 February 2022

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

The modules arrived and were stacked against the block wall in the side yard on a Monday evening in October. By the following midday they were on the roof. The array runs across two planes: a long run on the plane facing the street and a second group on the plane above the rear yard, with a string inverter on the wall below and the service equipment replaced alongside it.

Post-installation photographs went across within days. In January the inverter label was asked for separately and sent the same morning. That is routine and worth doing properly: the label carries the model and the certification marks, and a package that does not have it is not complete when the inspector opens it.

The electrical final was called in at the end of January. The inspector came, and a correction was issued at the start of February.

This is the point where most people assume something is wrong with the installation. Usually nothing is. A solar final covers labeling at the disconnect and the service, the working clearances in front of the equipment, how the conductors are routed and supported, the grounding and bonding, and the connection at the panel. Any one of those can produce a note, and a note is an instruction rather than a verdict.

The note was answered and the job was called back in the next day. The inspector returned, and a second correction followed three days after the first. That was answered too, the job was called in again, and on the seventh of February the electrical file closed. Eleven days from the first call to a closed file, with two corrections in the middle of it.

What decides that elapsed time is not the inspector. It is how long the contractor takes to read the note, do the work and call the job back in. A correction answered the same week closes in days. The same correction left in an inbox turns a two-week final into a two-month one, and the array sits finished on the roof the whole time.

So the useful question to ask an installer is not whether their jobs ever get corrections. Every contractor's jobs get corrections. The question is how quickly the job goes back in after one, and what the gap looked like on their last few finals.

How it ran

Eleven days from the first call to a closed file. The elapsed time on a final is mostly the contractor's response time, not the inspector's.

What we did

• Installed the array across two planes and mounted the inverter and service equipment at the wall.
• Replaced the service equipment as part of the same installation.
• Supplied post-installation photographs and the inverter label for the project package.
• Answered the first correction and called the job back in the next day.
• Answered the second correction and called the job back in again.
• Saw the electrical file closed eleven days after the first inspection call.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your solar final has come back with a correction and you do not know what it means.
• You have been told your job needs a second inspection visit.
• Your array has been finished for weeks and the permit is still open.
• You want to know what an inspector actually looks at on a solar final.
• You are comparing installers and want to know how fast they answer a correction.

Cali Energy in North Hills

Frequently asked questions

Is a correction at a solar final inspection a bad sign?

Not by itself. A final covers labeling, working clearances, conductor routing, grounding and the connection at the service, and a note on any of them sends the job back for another visit. It is an instruction, not a verdict on the installation. What matters is how fast the note is answered: on this project two corrections were issued and cleared inside eleven days.

What does an inspector actually check on a solar final?

The things that make the system safe to live with rather than the things that make it produce. Labeling at the disconnect and the service so anyone arriving later knows what is there, the working clearance in front of the equipment, how the conductors are routed and supported, the grounding and bonding, and the connection at the panel. The modules themselves are rarely the subject of a note.

How long should a final inspection take from start to finish?

Days rather than weeks when corrections are answered promptly. This file ran eleven days from the first call to closing, with two corrections in the middle. The variable is almost entirely the contractor: the inspector returns when the job is called back in, so a note left unanswered for two weeks adds two weeks to the calendar and nothing else.

My array is finished but the permit is still open. What is holding it up?

Ask your installer whether a correction has been issued and what it says. An open permit after a finished installation almost always means a note is outstanding, and those notes are usually small: a missing label, a clearance, a support. The array is not the problem, and nothing about it needs to be taken apart to close the file.

Does Cali Energy service solar systems in North Hills?

Yes. Cali Energy works across North Hills and the rest of the San Fernando Valley on new installations, on panel and service upgrades, and on systems that need attention after they are running. On this project we were the installing contractor, and we answered each inspection correction the same week it was issued. License CSLB #1032379.

What this would look like on your roof

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