Anyone else DIY their solar install and go through inspection? Curious how it went

Paperwork was the worst part for me too, and I only had two rounds of corrections but each one took almost three weeks to turn around. What finally got me through was calling the permit office and asking the plan reviewer directly what they kept flagging. Turned out my ground plan was the issue both times, not the electrical drawings. Wish I'd made that call before the first resubmittal instead of guessing at what they wanted. On conduit, I did the opposite of a lot of folks and ran mine in the attic instead of down the fascia. Hated punching through the roof deck for the penetration, but now nobody sees a single pipe and I didn't have to worry about sun cooking the wire jackets for twenty years. That said, if I ever need to add a panel or trace a fault, I'm pulling that insulated flex in a hot attic, so your exterior run is probably the smarter tradeoff long term. Neither one is wrong. For rapid shutdown I used module level optimizers and never questioned it, mostly because my wife wanted the fire department reassurance after reading about firefighter concerns. Under the panel wiring I kept it simple, short home runs to a junction box at the ridge, and I'd do the same again. The only thing I'd change is drilling my rail attachments before the hottest week of the year, that roof about cooked me.

I did mine up in Volusia and took the opposite path on the paperwork, I paid a drafting outfit that does solar plan sets to draw everything up for me. Cost about four hundred bucks and the plans came back stamped, my permit cleared on the first submission. I know that stings if your whole point was saving money, but I watched a neighbor burn four months going back and forth with his county and I decided my weekends were worth more than that. Down in your area the wind loading rules are a whole other level though. Palm Beach is in the high velocity hurricane zone so they want proof every clamp and rail has a Florida product approval number, which is probably why they made you list the mounting hardware. The drafting company already had all the approved racking docs on file so that part took them an afternoon. Where I'll push back on you is the conduit. Outside runs on the fascia are what most of the crews around here do anyway, it's cheaper to service and it breathes better in the heat. I ran mine tight against the roof mostly because it looked nicer, and I regret it a little since checking the connectors under the panels now means pulling everything apart. If it ever gives you trouble you can always box it in later, but you can't easily move an embedded run. On rapid shutdown, I just followed whatever my microinverter manual said and the inspector never questioned it.

Gonna push back on the attic run being the 'smarter tradeoff' comment. I ran mine exterior too and honestly the sun exposure worry is overblown down here, UV-rated conduit holds up fine and the fascia run keeps everything cool and reachable. My buddy went attic like yours and spent a whole August morning lying on joists tracing a ground fault, said he nearly quit solar over it. If a wire jacket can't survive twenty years on a shaded fascia in Palm Beach, it wasn't rated for the job in the first place.

For me the whole install turned on a torque wrench with the bits marked for my rail bolts. I'd been snugging everything with a socket set on my first few attachments untill a neighbor who does installs lent me his, and once I was actualy clicking to spec I stopped second guessing wheather the rails were tight or overtightened. Passed inspection with the inspector asking to see it. On paperwork I just printed the sample plan set my county had on its website and copied the layout almost exactly, only took one round of corrections. Question for you since mine's coming up, did they want the labels on the conduit or just at the disconnect?