Solar in Charleston has to survive salt, hurricane wind, and live-oak shade. A roof that looks open from the street may sit in shade by afternoon under an oak canopy on the peninsula or James Island. A newer roof in Mount Pleasant or Summerville may have a clearer plane and still face lift when a tropical wind comes inland. Metal and shingle both need attachments and flashing that will not rust into a leak. If the layout was drawn only from the sky, nobody has seen the soft deck, the chimney, or the electrical panel. Ask for a person on the roof.
The covering should be fit before mounts go down. Salt and heat age shingles, and wind has often already lifted an edge. Putting an array on that roof means the next leak disturbs every bracket. Ask how each penetration is flashed and who comes back if rain blows in at a mount. Ask how the array is tied down for coastal wind, and what happens to the modules when the roof is replaced later. A chopped historic roof and a simple suburban plane are not the same drawing.
Name the modules and the inverter. Ask whether the electronics live on each module or in one location, and who can see that production stopped after a storm or a quiet failure. Older peninsula services can be small. A panel never meant for a backfed breaker and a disconnect should be found on the first visit, not after the rails are up. Ownership belongs in the same conversation: who owns the equipment afterward, and who removes it if the deck has to be opened.
Permits and utility interconnection are part of the work, not a favor. Ask who files them, and whether it remains dark until the utility grants permission to operate. Shade, salt corrosion, and wind are the design facts that matter on this coast. Skip any pitch about a monthly account. The useful subjects are the roof structure, the flashing, the service, and the hardware names.
Say which Charleston neighborhood, how old the roof is, and whether oaks cover the sunny side. Solar on this coast is a wind-and-salt installation, not an inland copy. Call the number on this page.