A family has solar panels on their roof and a loan payment due every month, but the system isn’t lowering their electric bill as expected. They don't know whether the problem is technical, administrative, or both. And to make matters worse, the installer who sold them the system has closed or stopped responding.
It’s at this point that a case often lands on someone's desk at GreenLancer.
“By the time someone reaches us, they're usually exhausted and angry, and honestly, they have every right to be,” says Max Harris, Quality Assurance Technician for GreenLancer. “They're paying a loan on a solar system that's doing nothing for them, sometimes for many months, and nobody has given them a straight answer. We treat that urgency like it's our own.”
This isn't an isolated story. Residential solar has experienced a significant shakeout over the past several years, driven by high interest rates, changing state compensation policies, financing challenges, and a string of high-profile bankruptcies, closures, and restructurings.
More recently, the expiration of the federal homeowner solar tax credit at the end of 2025 added further pressure. Reuters reported in February 2026 that rooftop solar companies were cutting jobs and restructuring as the industry adjusted to the policy change.
When an installer exits the picture, homeowners are often left without installer support or a clear path for pursuing labor and equipment warranty claims, unfinished installations, inspections, utility paperwork, or commissioning, and missing records and system history.
This is where GreenLancer's field services operation comes in. An internal team manages projects, customer communication, documentation, and interconnection work, all aimed at getting the homeowner's system fully operational and producing power. The team also coordinates with a national network of qualified contractor partners who perform inspections and repairs in the field.
But when families don't come to us directly, we often hear first from asset managers and solar financiers, who monitor their own portfolios for underperforming or non-operational systems. A stalled or incomplete system is a problem for the family living under it, but it's also a problem for whoever holds the loan, lease, or PPA behind it.
If an installer exits before utility comments are corrected or a final inspection is completed, the project can remain stalled indefinitely, even though the system appears finished from the outside.
"An orphaned solar system, especially one that never received PTO, is essentially a five-figure paperweight sitting on someone's roof,” explains Drew Duncanson, Field Services Manager at GreenLancer. “Many installers won't touch equipment they didn't install, and when major solar companies go under, homeowners are often left paying off loans for systems that don't even work. We bridge that gap every day, finding creative ways to bring these systems back to life."
No two projects follow the same path, but a case often includes four broad stages: intake and records review, field inspection and diagnosis, technical or interconnection resolution, and documentation and closeout. On-site, a technician might locate the inverter, verify serial numbers, and check for installation errors, while the interconnection specialist works out whether the remaining issue is electrical, paperwork-related, or tied to a utility approval.
Behind each site visit is our internal team coordinating the case from intake through resolution. Coordinators take the initial call or work order and piece together what's known about the system. Interconnection specialists review the utility record to determine whether an application was submitted and what's needed before Permission to Operate (PTO) can be issued.
Operations staff match the job with a qualified local contractor from GreenLancer's field service partner network, the electricians and technicians who inspect equipment, test wiring, and make on-site repairs. On any given day, a coordinator might be reviewing site photos, calling a homeowner, and following up on an unresolved utility application, often on several cases at once.
“Our field service coordinators are going a mile a minute on the phone and the GreenLancer platform all day long,” says Chris Seago, GreenLancer’s CEO & Chairman. “They’re resolving problems.”
A repair case rarely belongs to one department. Over the course of a single project, GreenLancer's internal team might coordinate with:
That combination makes the work broader than a typical customer support, installation, or engineering role. Because cases span customer support, field operations, and interconnection, employees regularly work across departments, giving them exposure to several parts of the solar project lifecycle rather than one narrow task.
When hiring for these roles, solar experience is highly valued, but depending on the position, experience in customer service, project coordination, construction, electrical work, or logistics can also be an asset.
More systems are aging, more installers have exited the market, and more homeowners, lenders, and asset managers need a reliable way to get incomplete or non-performing systems resolved. That demand is creating opportunities for coordinators, interconnection specialists, customer support professionals, and operations staff who can manage complex projects from intake through resolution.
"Coordinating the final steps to bring an abandoned system online, then sending the email telling a homeowner their solar is finally approved and producing power, is the most rewarding part of my job,” explains Donna Hartwick, Field Service Coordinator for GreenLancer. “Turning a stalled project into a real outcome for that homeowner is the most fulfilling work of my career."
For people who enjoy solving complex problems, coordinating across teams, and seeing the direct result of their work, solar field services offers a different path into clean energy. At GreenLancer, that work is helping ensure that systems already installed on homes fulfill the promise made to the people paying for them.
Solar deployment isn't just about selling and installing new systems. It's also about making sure existing systems actually work: that they produce power, pass inspections, receive PTO, and keep serving homeowners for years after the installation crew has packed up and moved on.
GreenLancer has grown by building capabilities around some of solar's most complex operational challenges—the work that begins when a project no longer follows the original plan. As residential solar matures, the industry needs more than sales and installation capacity. It also needs teams that can manage documentation, coordinate fieldwork, resolve utility issues, and keep existing systems operating.