Professional solar panel & inverter installation.

Before the crew arrives

A fitting job is not a plant price.

This page is for the home, factory, or building that already owns the modules and the inverter. The equipment may have come from an online seller or from another supplier. ZeroEB then does the work on the roof and the wall: civil work, the mounting structure, wiring, testing, and commissioning. A full plant, with modules and an inverter chosen for the electricity bill, is a different job. That figure is written after a free visit from the Madipakkam office. It is not quoted as a rate per panel.

Who this work is for.

People reach us in three common situations. The modules and inverter are already at the building, still in their boxes, and the roof has not been marked. A builder left a structure and the electrical work was never finished. Or a larger roof needs the same crew, with a longer string and a heavier civil job. Independent houses and villas are the usual residential fit. An apartment terrace is possible only when the association has given written permission to use the roof. A balcony is not a place we mount.

The office is at No.5, MSP Complex, F-3, Medavakkam Main Road, opposite Kumaran Theatre, Madipakkam. The desk is open Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 19:00. Call +91 9042517415 or write to and ask for a site inspection. Photographs of the terrace help, but they do not replace the visit. Shade, the tank, and the path of the cable only become clear when someone stands on the roof.

What we check before anyone drills.

A Chennai terrace is rarely an empty rectangle. The overhead tank, the stair cover, a neighbour's wall, and the parapet all take space and throw shade, especially after mid-afternoon. We mark the clear patch that is left, and we leave a walkway so the roof can still be used. Each hole in the slab is drilled, anchored, and sealed, so rain does not travel into the room below. The inverter needs a wall with room to breathe, not a closed loft. The cable route from the array to that wall, and from the wall to the distribution board, is walked before the rails go up.

Frames, clamps, and cable glands are chosen for humid, salty air. That matters near the coast, and it still matters inland, because a Chennai summer and the monsoon both sit on the same steel. If the modules and the inverter you bought are a poor match for each other, we say so before the work starts. We do not invent a size from a module count. The bill, the clear patch, and the equipment you already own have to agree.

On a factory, warehouse, school, hospital, or hotel, the same questions apply at a larger scale. The visit has to see how materials will reach the roof, where the inverter room sits, and whether the building can allow a shutdown while the AC side is connected. A larger building is not automatically a suitable roof. The sheet, the purlin, and the permission to load it are checked on site.

What the labour rate covers.

Residential fitting starts at ₹3,000 per kW when the modules and the inverter are already yours. That rate is the essential labour: civil work for the mounting base, assembling the structure, fixing and aligning the modules, AC and DC wiring, earthing and cable dressing, electrical safety checks, testing, commissioning, and leaving the site clean.

It does not buy the equipment. Solar panels, the inverter, structure steel, and cables stay outside the rate. So do MC4 connectors, MCBs, SPDs, isolators, and other protection devices, the transport of those materials, the net-meter application, and subsidy processing. If a quote from somewhere else looks lower, ask which of those lines were left out. A cheaper labour figure often reappears as steel, cable, or a second visit.

Eligible homes can receive up to ₹78,000 with DCR modules and an approved file. The amount and the approval follow current scheme rules. That assistance is not folded into this labour price, and a cheaper module can cost more once the assistance is given up. For a complete rooftop plant, including help with the papers, see solar installation in Chennai.

How the day on the roof is spent.

The crew starts from the marked patch, not from the edge of the terrace. The base is aligned and levelled. Rails and clamps go on, fasteners are secured, and the modules are torqued to the standard printed by the manufacturer. Strings are configured and the connectors are made up. DC cable is dressed so it is not lying in water or pulled tight across a sharp edge. The inverter is mounted, the AC and DC terminations are done, and the earthing is connected. Where lightning protection is already on the building and can be used, it is tied in. It is not assumed to exist.

Before anyone leaves, the tests are the point of the day: voltage, polarity, insulation resistance, and earthing. The inverter is started and watched. Where the inverter supports it, mobile monitoring is set up so you can see generation from the phone. The roof is cleared of offcuts and packing. If a test fails, the system is not treated as finished.

What to send before the visit.

Four things make the inspection shorter. The module datasheet and the inverter datasheet, so the string design matches what you bought. A recent electricity bill, so the use of the building is visible. Photographs of the terrace, the parapet, the tank, and the wall where the inverter might go. And a note on access: the stair, any locked terrace door, and whether the association has to be told.

In the enquiry, name the area of Chennai, the type of building, and the size you already purchased, for example 3 kW or 5 kW. If the boxes have not arrived, wait until the exact model can be confirmed. A visit based on a catalogue picture often has to be done again. Bring the serial numbers if the cartons are already open, so the equipment on the roof is the equipment on the invoice.

How to read a fitting quote.

Compare the scope, not the headline number. Ask whether each drilled hole is sealed, who supplies the steel and the cable, whether earthing is included, and who stays until the inverter has started. Ask what happens if the terrace is smaller than the module count you ordered. A row that does not fit is not solved by squeezing the walkway out.

Also ask where the crew comes from. ZeroEB works from Madipakkam and installs across Chennai. A visit from that office is free. The written scope after the visit is what you approve. Nothing on this page is a full-plant price, and nothing here is a rate for one module.

Questions people ask before booking.

Can you install equipment bought elsewhere?

Yes. That is the purpose of this service. The modules and the inverter can come from an online order or from another supplier. We still inspect the roof, and we still read the equipment paperwork, before the crew starts.

Does ₹3,000 per kW include the panels?

No. The figure is labour only, for a home where the modules and the inverter are already yours. Panels, the inverter, cables, and structure steel are supplied by you unless we have agreed otherwise in writing. There is no printed rate per panel.

Is a shared roof or a balcony acceptable?

A balcony is not a place we mount. A shared apartment roof needs written permission before any hole is drilled. Without that permission, the job does not start.

Are the subsidy and the net meter part of this rate?

No. Net-meter application and subsidy processing sit outside this labour price. Eligible homeowners can still receive up to ₹78,000 where the scheme and the equipment qualify. Amount and approval follow current scheme rules. A complete plant, with support for those papers, is arranged from the Madipakkam office after a visit.