Find out early whether design review applies
Ask the city early whether your address sits within a historic district or is otherwise subject to review of exterior alterations, and what that process involves. It is a short call and the answer shapes the design rather than following it.
If review applies, treat it as an input to the layout. Approaching design review after equipment has been ordered around a specific plan is how projects end up redesigned, and the cost of that falls on you rather than on the installer.
Ask what the review calendar looks like and whether there are application deadlines. A body that meets monthly sets the rhythm of your project rather than your installer's schedule, and missing a deadline by a day can cost a month.
Ask your installer whether they have taken a project through review in this city before, and agree in writing who is responsible for that filing alongside the building permit.
Water proximity, hardware and your insurer
Ask what the mounting is specified to withstand, how attachments are detailed, and whether the installer has done work near the water before. Salt air and wind-driven rain are harder on a roof and on hardware than inland conditions.
Ask where the inverter and any battery would be sited and how that placement relates to your property's exposure. Equipment location is a design decision made once, so raise it deliberately rather than leaving it to convenience.
Talk to your home insurer before installation. Ask whether a rooftop array and any battery are covered under your policy, whether either changes your premium or deductible, and what documentation they want on file afterwards.
Check the roof covering at the same time. Panels outlast most coverings, and coastal exposure plus freeze and thaw cycling age one faster than the calendar suggests, so ask for a condition assessment rather than an age estimate.
What the system earns once it is running
Maryland credits exported solar at the retail electricity rate under a framework set by statute and administered by the Public Service Commission. Credits accumulate through the year and there is an annual reconciliation, so ask your utility what happens to a remaining surplus.
Separately, one megawatt-hour of production generates one SREC, so a system producing 12,000 kilowatt-hours over a typical year generates about 12 a year. To earn them your system must be registered with the Maryland Public Service Commission, and within 30 days of registering you need to go to PJM Interconnection's GATS for next steps.
On a constrained or partly shaded roof the system may be modest, which makes every part of the entitlement worth protecting. Ask your installer in writing whether they handle the registration and the GATS step.
Ask for the net metering savings and the SREC income to be shown separately across a year rather than combined, since only the first is fixed by tariff and SREC prices move with the market.
The rebate to claim, and the exemptions that need no application
The Maryland Energy Administration Residential Clean Energy Rebate Program pays $1,000 for a qualifying residential solar system. The condition to settle before you choose an installer is that the installation must be completed by an installer certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, because nothing recovers the rebate afterwards if it was not.
The system must also be at your primary residential property and at least 1 kilowatt, and the application must reach the MEA within 12 months of installation. It is first come, first served, so confirm the current funding status rather than treating $1,000 as an entitlement.
Under Maryland Tax-Property Article Section 7-242, residential solar energy property is not subject to real property tax and solar energy equipment is exempt from the state sales and use tax. Neither arrives as a payment, so check your quote reflects the sales tax exemption and add the property tax treatment to your own arithmetic.
The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase now receives no federal credit. Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask any such provider what they claim and what of that value reaches you, and confirm with a tax advisor.