Ilum Solar reviews
• last updated FEB 26, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
We found serious red flags that should give you pause. One homeowner discovered $1,800 in damage to their brand-new air conditioner after roofing tiles fell during installation, then spent eight months chasing the promised reimbursement that never arrived. Another customer watched panels sit warped and nonfunctional for months while promised fixes dragged on, racking up duplicate bills for both solar and grid power. Reviews show 10 customers reporting installation defects, missing repairs, or unmet promises about reimbursements. Communication breakdowns appear in multiple accounts: installers showing up without appointments, project managers going silent for weeks, and customers calling city permit offices themselves because no one at Ilum would update them. The workmanship score of 4.7 tells a different story, anchored by 59 mentions of careful installs and crews who painted conduit to match house colors. We noticed 35 reviews praising knowledgeable staff who sized systems accurately even for new homeowners with minimal billing history. But the pattern of slow or vanishing follow-up on defects, combined with explicit reports of brushed-off damage claims, suggests this company excels at the sale and install but falters when things go wrong.
If you're willing to bet that your install will go flawlessly the first time, Ilum's technical skill and speed may appeal to you. But if you want confidence that the company will chase down a roof leak or replace a bad inverter without months of silence, the track record here is too spotty to justify the risk.
Reviews That Shaped Our Verdict
Zachary M. started with a pleasant, no-pressure sales process and got the information he wanted, but the installation turned into a costly headache. He had walked through the roof-rise installation and agreed on an exterior location for the access panel, yet while he was at work the crew mounted the panel inside his garage on the only usable wall, taking up half the space he used for hanging tools and doing so without his approval. When he returned home, he discovered about $1,800 in damage to a brand-new HVAC condenser after concrete roofing tile fell on it during the install. When he raised the damage, the project overseer reacted angrily, blamed him for construction on the roof, and refused to take responsibility — all while Zachary was holding his one-year-old daughter. The assigned company contact eventually brushed him off instead of arranging repairs or talking to the HVAC contractor to restore things to how they were. The company offered a $250 Visa gift card for the damage, but eight months later nothing had been delivered. He still credits the initial sales rep and the project contact for being pleasant and helpful during the setup — each of them earned a star in his
Chris signed up in August 2022 for a residential solar installation and, after the company collected payment, crews rushed to install the array. He immediately discovered a string of problems: the mounting and trim paint didn’t match the house, several panels sat warped and uneven, and one panel produced no power at all. The company promised fixes would happen when they came for the inspector, but the technician showed up only to leave paperwork for the inspector and walked away without addressing the defects. The job then dragged on. An inspection failed because of an unrelated patio permit issue, and it took about a month to clear that hurdle. Chris called five minutes after his permit passed; by March 2023 the system finally passed inspection, but the dead panel still hadn’t been fixed. The company pledged reimbursement for months of lost production and for covering both his regular power bill and a solar payment while the system underperformed. They swapped the nonworking panel, but the replacement didn’t work either. The crew then blamed a faulty inverter and weeks slipped by with little action. Out of the blue, the inverter situation got resolved and the array began working
DJ R. hunted for solar on EnergySage and was about to sign with another installer when Tyler at Ilum called and changed everything. He accepted Tyler’s personal number after a few conversations because Tyler promised two things that removed any doubt: Ilum would install the full solar-plus-battery system and get it inspected before the Dec. 31 federal tax-credit deadline (it was already November), and if first‑year production fell short of their estimate they would add panels at their expense until output met expectations. He signed, and crews were on his ranch-style roof the following Wednesday. The installers worked quickly and courteously—so much so that he bought them pizza the first day and left them to use the garage when no one was home. The physical install wrapped up in a little over a week and the city inspection cleared two weeks later, well before the tax-credit cutoff—a timeline other companies told him was impossible because of permitting. Post-installation troubles centered on the battery configuration; Ilum’s team admitted many of their installs hadn’t included storage, so a few setup steps were missed. Every time he called, the company treated the problem as a
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 74
Clean Record
Unauthorized Activities
Passed screening
Misleading Claims
Passed screening
Background Check
Serving customers for 10 years
Operating longer than most installers in the market.
BBB Rating: D-
Poor BBB standing. Significant complaints.
Natural Review Patterns
Reviews were posted naturally over time.
Contractor License
License information could not be confirmed.
What You Can Expect
Allen R. moved into a new house last year with only a couple months of utility bills and a wife set on buying a hot tub, so he worried they couldn’t correctly size a solar system with so much unknown. Ilum Solar researched the neighborhood, put together a sensible plan that accounted for those uncertainties, and the family moved forward with the install. The sales, technical and installation teams stayed engaged throughout, patiently answering the many detailed questions he had as an engineer. A year later he received the True Up bill — just $100 — proof that Ilum had nailed the system sizing close to their actual annual usage. The standout detail: despite limited historical data and an extra water‑heater load from the hot tub, the system performed as planned. His wife gets the hot tub and he gets the small bill — a tidy, memorable outcome.
Michelle F. moved into a slightly larger single-family home in Murrieta and, despite having only a few months of utility history, ended up with a solar system Ilum Solar designed around her real usage. Narice dug into the household’s past energy use from their previous home, scaled the array for the new house’s size, and even asked about future plans—so the system would still cover usage if they added a jacuzzi later. She signed on, the install ran smoothly, and Betina walked her through each step while keeping her updated as the project progressed. After nearly a year with the panels, Edison bills run about $8–$10 a month (Narice had been upfront that taxes would still apply). A switch in Hemet to Western Community Energy moved their anniversary to October instead of the calendar year, but because they had banked more energy than they used, no true-up bill arrived. She appreciated running the AC all summer without fear of a huge bill, and she’s already referred two family friends to Ilum and received the referral credit. The detail that stuck with her: a custom-sized system planned for both present needs and future additions that delivered very small monthly bills and avoided a tr
Mike B. recently wrapped up a residential solar installation that presented several tricky challenges. He singled out lead installer Mono and his crew as the reason the job went so smoothly: they communicated clearly, paid meticulous attention to detail, and worked to make the installation as visually neat as possible — even painting all conduit and junction boxes to match the house paint. He also praised sales rep Isaac Roth for sizing the system to their needs and staying responsive to questions; Isaac came across as personable and easy to work with. The detail that stuck with him was how the crew treated the rooftop like a finished project rather than a rough install, leaving the system integrated with the home’s look.