Woodland Hills, CA · January – March 2022 · LADWP / LADBS

The bolts were too short. The crew stopped.

Fourteen modules, under five kilowatts, on a Woodland Hills roof. It should have taken a day. It took two months, and every one of the decisions that cost time was made before the crew arrived.

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

When several companies share a job, the crew on the roof is the last line of defense, and the only thing it controls is whether to proceed. Fasteners that do not reach the framing are not a detail to improvise around: an array is a structural attachment carrying wind uplift for twenty years, and a short bolt is a failure waiting for weather. On this Woodland Hills roof Cali Energy stopped work on the installation day, named the exact fastener and quantity within hours, declined to substitute something available, and waited again later for a stamped revision rather than working to an unapproved drawing.

At a glance

System size

4.76 kW DC

Modules

14 × Q CELLS Q.PEAK DUO BLK-G6 340 W

Inverters

14 × Enphase IQ7+ microinverters

Framing spacing

About seven feet between members

Fastener required

Thirty bolts, 5/16 by 10 inches

Time lost

Two months

Final inspection

Passed, on the first visit

Utility / AHJ

LADWP / LADBS

The story

This is a small system. Fourteen modules, a microinverter under each, under five kilowatts. On an ordinary roof it is a day's work. We were the installing contractor for another company, which held the customer, the permit, the drawings and the materials.

The crew arrived on the installation day in the middle of February and stopped within the hour.

Two things were wrong. The framing members on this roof sit about seven feet apart rather than the closer spacing an ordinary attachment assumes, and the hardware that had been supplied was nowhere near long enough to reach them. The correct fastener was a bolt five sixteenths of an inch across and ten inches long, and the job needed thirty of them.

Here is why that stops a crew. An array is a structural attachment. For the next twenty years it carries wind uplift into the frame of the house, and every one of those loads goes through the fasteners. A bolt that does not reach the framing is not a compromise, it is a defect that nobody will see until the weather finds it. There is no version of this job where you use what is in the van and write it up afterwards.

So we reported it the same morning, and then the project stalled somewhere else entirely.

The company holding the job could not find the bolts. Not through the electrical distributor that had supplied the rest of the material, and not through any trade channel it tried. It asked us for suggestions, and within a few hours we sent a specific listing for the exact part in the exact quantity. Two weeks later the project manager was still asking whether anyone had found them. In the end the operations manager bought the very listing we had sent, from a consumer marketplace, because no supplier had the part.

Then the tracking put delivery somewhere between the ninth and the fourteenth of March, and rather than send a crew that might be turned away a second time, the decision was taken to wait. The bolts landed on the seventh. The crew was booked for the eighth.

And on that same day a third firm, brought in to redraw the plans, issued a revised set with a changed layout.

The homeowner, entirely correctly, refused to let anyone resume work on a drawing that had not been stamped again by Building and Safety. Our answer to that was one line: then we will wait for the stamps. It is the only answer. A stamped drawing is what the inspector measures the installation against, and a crew that works ahead of one is building something that may have to come apart.

Work resumed on the eleventh, the final inspection passed on the sixteenth, and the completion photographs were handed over two days later.

There is something here a homeowner cannot see from the ground. On a job that several companies share, almost everything is decided before the crew arrives: who specified the hardware, who sourced it, who drew the layout, who stamped it. What the crew on the roof controls is a single decision, taken twice on this project, and it is whether to carry on anyway. Ask about that decision before you sign anything.

How it ran

The physical work on this project was two days. Everything else was waiting for a part and for an approved drawing.

What we did

• Stopped work on the installation day rather than fastening an array with hardware that could not reach the framing (C-10).
• Identified the exact fastener, diameter, length and quantity within the same morning.
• Sent a specific source for the part within hours, when it could not be found through the usual trade channels.
• Declined to substitute an available fastener for the one the attachment required.
• Agreed to wait for a re-stamped drawing rather than resuming work on a revised layout that had not been approved.
• Completed the installation in two days once the correct hardware and approved drawings were in place, and passed the final inspection.

System specifications

Is your project like this one?

• Your project has stalled and nobody can tell you which company is waiting on what.
• Your roof framing is spaced unusually and standard hardware may not reach.
• Your installer wants to proceed on drawings that have been revised but not re-stamped.
• Your installation date keeps moving and nobody will tell you what it is waiting on.
• Your Woodland Hills property is served by LADWP, while permits are handled by LADBS.

Cali Energy in Woodland Hills

Frequently asked questions

Why does fastener length matter so much on a solar installation?

Because the array is a structural attachment. For twenty years it transfers wind uplift from the modules into the frame of the house, and every one of those loads passes through the fasteners. A bolt that stops short of the framing holds in the deck alone, which is not what the calculation assumed. Nothing about it looks wrong from the ground until the weather finds it.

What should a crew do if the supplied materials are wrong?

Stop, and say exactly what is needed. The useful version of stopping is specific: the part, the dimension, the quantity, sent the same day, with a source if one can be found. What is not acceptable is substituting whatever is in the van and writing it up afterwards. On this project the crew stopped within an hour and the correct part was named the same morning.

Can work continue on revised plans that have not been re-stamped?

No, and a homeowner who refuses is protecting himself correctly. The stamped drawing is what the inspector measures the installation against. Building to a revision that has not been approved risks a failed final and work that has to come apart. Waiting for the stamp is slower and it is the only answer that ends with a passed inspection.

What changes when the installer is a subcontractor?

Most of the decisions move away from the roof. Another company specifies the hardware, orders the materials, holds the permit and talks to you. The installing crew controls one thing, which is whether to proceed with what it has been given. If you are buying through a company that subcontracts, ask who the installer is and what happens when they find a problem.

Does Cali Energy install in Woodland Hills?

Yes, across both Woodland Hills ZIP codes. On this Woodland Hills roof Cali Energy installed fourteen modules and fourteen microinverters, stopped the work when the supplied fasteners could not reach the framing, specified the exact part, and waited for a re-stamped drawing before resuming. The final passed on the first inspection. California contractor license number 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.