Incorporating a solar & EV installer: the licence, the key person and the roof

Incorporate, then licence, in that order

An Electrical Contractor Licence is issued to the business. It must also name a Master Electrician of record who takes responsibility for the electrical work performed under it. Applying in a sole proprietor's name and then transferring the business into a new corporation later means reapplying. We therefore incorporate first, and apply for the licence in the corporation's name from the start. HST works the same way: a business selling and installing systems is a registrant from its first taxable sale. There is no small-supplier grace worth losing, either, when your first purchase order is a pallet of imported panels carrying recoverable input tax credits.

What the corporation shields, and the one risk it does not

A corporation stands between you personally and most contract and product-liability claims. Examples include a fire investigation years after a bad connection, a supplier dispute, or a customer lawsuit over a system that never performed as sold. That protection matters in a business where a single failure can mean a house fire rather than a leaky faucet. It does not, however, fix the licence's key-person exposure. If the Master Electrician named on your licence leaves the company, the corporation typically has a limited window to name a replacement. After that window, its authority to perform electrical work lapses. That can stop every job on the schedule, regardless of how many other employees you have. Structuring around that risk belongs in the incorporation conversation, not an afterthought once it happens. That structuring can mean a retention plan, a documented succession candidate, or a relationship with a second licensed contractor who could step in.

• WSIB. Executive officers are covered persons in construction since 2013 unless the single non-working-officer exemption applies, and installing on roofs draws a meaningfully higher premium rate than office work.
• Source deductions and HST. Directors remain personally liable for payroll remittances and net HST the corporation fails to send to CRA, subject to a due-diligence defence.
• Personal guarantees. Equipment distributors and financing partners will often want a personal guarantee behind the corporation's, at least in the first few years.
• Workmanship warranty. A multi-year warranty tail follows the entity that sold the job. If that entity is ever wound down, an insurance-backed warranty product is the usual way the promise survives it.

If you plan to keep some systems rather than sell them

Selling a completed system outright is a straightforward installation contract. Retaining ownership under a financing or power-purchase arrangement is a different business. There, the homeowner pays you over time for electricity or system access, rather than buying the equipment. It carries the underlying debt, the asset, and the long-term collection risk, rather than a one-time sale. Businesses doing both usually keep the install operation and the asset-holding side in separate corporations. That way, a dispute or a bad debt on a retained system stays contained. It does not put the installation contracts, the licence, or the operating cash of the install business at risk, and the reverse is also true.

Day one for a solar installation corporation

The set-up list runs longer than a typical small business. It starts with articles filed with share classes that leave room for a future partner. A minute book and shareholders' agreement follow if there is more than one owner, along with CRA program accounts for corporate tax, HST and payroll. It also means WSIB registration for the corporation and its executive officers, and the Electrical Contractor Licence application naming your Master Electrician. Liability insurance with the corporation as the named insured also has to be in place before the first roof is touched. We quote incorporation and first-year compliance as one fixed fee after a discovery call. We then stay on for the T2, HST and payroll filings once the crews are working. Whether you should incorporate in Ontario and what incorporation costs cover the general mechanics. Owners bringing in a US-citizen shareholder or planning US jobs should read our cross-border guide for solar and EV installers before setting share classes. The general service is on our incorporation and compliance page.