Replacing Your Roof With Solar Panels Already Installed: A NJ Homeowner's Guide

If you have solar panels on your roof and your roof is starting to show its age, you're facing one of the trickier homeowner decisions out there: a fully functional solar array sitting on top of shingles that are nearing the end of their life.

You're not alone. We're getting more calls about this every month — homeowners with aging asphalt shingle roofs and solar systems that still have plenty of life left. The question every homeowner asks is the same one: what do I do now?

Here's the honest answer — and the good news is, we do this work all the time. We're one of the few contractors in NJ that handles both sides of the project in-house: we own a sister solar company, Solar Me, so the roofing and the solar R&R (remove and reinstall) are done by teams that work together every day. Whatever your situation — owned panels, leased panels, weird system, old hardware — we've seen it and we can make it easy.

Yes, the panels have to come off

There's no way to replace a roof underneath an installed solar array. The shingles directly under the racking have to be torn off and replaced along with the rest, and the racking itself is bolted through the decking. So the panels and all the mounting hardware need to come down, the roof gets fully replaced, and then the system goes back up.

This is industry-standard work, sometimes called an "R&R" (remove and reinstall) or a "detach and reset." Done right, your system comes back online producing power within a few weeks.

What the process actually looks like

A typical roof replacement with solar follows this sequence:

1. Pre-inspection of the solar system. Before anyone touches the panels, we document the existing system — panel layout, wiring, mounting locations, model numbers, current production. This protects you and us.
2. De-energize and disconnect. A qualified solar technician shuts down the inverter, disconnects the system from the grid, and confirms it's safe to handle. This is not a job for a roofer without solar training — and one of the main reasons our customers go with us, since we have certified solar techs on staff through Solar Me.
3. Panel removal. Panels come off first, then the racking and mounting hardware. Panels are carefully stored (ideally indoors or under cover) to prevent damage during the roof work.
4. Roof replacement. Full tear-off, decking inspection and repair if needed, ice-and-water shield, underlayment, new shingles or roofing material, flashing, and ventilation. Standard roof replacement work — usually 1-3 days for an average NJ home.
5. Reinstall the system. New mounting hardware (the old lag bolts and flashing are typically not reused), racking, panels, wiring, reconnection.
6. Recommission and inspect. The system is re-energized, tested, and — depending on your utility and town — re-inspected before going back online.

Plan on the panels being off your roof for 2 to 4 weeks total, depending on weather and crew scheduling. During that time, you'll be pulling power from the grid like a non-solar home, so expect a higher utility bill for that billing cycle.

What it costs

This is the question everyone leads with, so let's be direct.

For a typical New Jersey home with an 18-25 panel solar system, expect:

• Roof replacement alone: $10,000 – $20,000 for asphalt shingles on an average-sized home. More for larger, steeper, or more complex roofs, or for upgraded materials like architectural shingles or metal.
• Solar removal and reinstallation: roughly $200 – $400 per panel for the detach-and-reset, or around $3,000 – $7,000 for most residential systems.
• Combined total: most NJ homeowners with solar pay $14,000 to $28,000+ for the full roof-and-solar project.

Costs go up if your panels need new microinverters or optimizers, if mounting hardware needs to be upgraded to current code, or if there's damage to the panels themselves during removal (rare with experienced crews, but possible).

Sounds like a lot of variables — and it is. That's exactly why we give you a single, written, all-in estimate that covers the roof, the solar R&R, the permits, and any hardware updates. No surprise invoices, no separate bills from a solar subcontractor. One number, everything included.

The owned-vs-leased question

If you own your solar panels outright — either bought cash or financed — you have full control. You choose who does the work and when.

If you lease your panels or have a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), there's an extra step or two — but don't let that scare you off. We work with every major lease and PPA company in NJ — Sunrun, Tesla, SunPower, Sunnova, Vivint, Trinity, all of them. We deal with their paperwork, their requirements, and their R&R coordinators on a regular basis, and we know what each one expects.

Most leases require coordination with the original installer for any work on the system, and many charge a fee for R&R work — sometimes $5,000-$10,000+. But there are usually several paths forward, and the cheapest one isn't always obvious from the lease paperwork. Here's how we help you figure it out:

• We review your lease with you and explain the relevant clauses in plain English.
• We contact the leasing company on your behalf to get their R&R cost and timeline in writing.
• We compare that against alternative paths — including buying out your lease and having us do the full project, which often comes out cheaper.
• We give you a side-by-side comparison so you can make the call with all the numbers in front of you.

Give us a call before you do anything else. A 15-minute conversation can save you thousands and a lot of headaches. We've navigated every scenario you can think of, and we'll make it easy on you.

Warranty implications

Three different warranties are in play here, and you need to protect all of them:

• Panel manufacturer warranty — usually 25 years on output, 10-12 years on the panels themselves. Improper handling can void this. Make sure whoever touches your panels is qualified.
• Solar installation warranty — typically 10 years on workmanship. This is the one most likely to be impacted by R&R work, especially if a different installer does the reinstall.
• New roof warranty — your new manufacturer and workmanship warranties on the roof itself. These should not be affected by the solar work, as long as the solar reinstall doesn't damage the new roof.

The cleanest scenario, warranty-wise, is having a single contractor who's qualified to do both roofing and solar handle the entire project. One company, one warranty package, no finger-pointing if anything goes wrong.

That's exactly how we're set up. We do this work all the time — in fact, we own a sister solar company, Solar Me. That means our roofing crew and our solar techs are on the same team, working from the same plan, backed by the same warranty. You get one company, one point of contact, and one signature on the final job.

Why doing both projects with one company matters

We touched on this in our contractor selection guide, but it's worth saying again here specifically for the R&R scenario.

When you hire separate companies for the roof and the solar work, you typically end up:

• Coordinating two schedules (and dealing with delays when they don't sync)
• Paying mobilization and setup costs twice
• Filing two sets of permits
• Holding both companies accountable separately when something goes wrong

When one contractor handles everything:

• One project schedule, one timeline
• One crew on-site managing both pieces of work
• One contract, one warranty package
• Permit and inspection coordination is bundled
• And — practically — savings of $2,000 to $5,000 versus splitting the work

When it might make sense to wait

Not every situation calls for a full roof replacement just because the panels are getting old. If your roof has another 7-10 years of legitimate life left and the panels are healthy, we'll tell you that — we'd rather give you straight advice and earn your business when the time is right than sell you a job you don't need. Sometimes a targeted repair is the better answer, and we'll help you figure that out.

But if your roof is at the end of its lifespan — curling shingles, granule loss, recurring leaks, or visible decking issues — replacing it now is almost always cheaper than waiting. A leak under solar panels is one of the worst things that can happen to a homeowner. Repair access is limited, damage spreads, and what could have been a $15,000 project becomes a $25,000 emergency.

How to get started

If you're in this situation, the right next step is a free roof inspection. We'll look at your roof, evaluate your solar system, and give you a written, all-in estimate — the roof work, the panel R&R, permits, any extras. No pressure, no upsell, just an honest read on where you stand.

We've been doing this a long time, and between our roofing crew and our solar team at Solar Me, there isn't a scenario we haven't handled — owned, leased, PPA, weird old systems, brand-new arrays, all of it. Whatever your situation, we can make it easy.

Give us a call or send us a message through the contact form. We'd be glad to help.