Your roof is probably still under warranty
On a newer home the roof covering typically still carries a manufacturer warranty, and mounting an array means making penetrations through it. Those two facts need to be introduced to each other before the install date, not afterwards.
Ask your installer directly how they handle roof warranties: what flashing and sealing method they use, whether the roofing manufacturer has an approved mounting approach, and whether they will put in writing that the installation is done to a standard that preserves the covering warranty.
Then ask what their own workmanship warranty covers on roof penetrations specifically, for how long, and who honours it. Leaks around mounting hardware are the most common physical failure in residential solar, and they usually appear a few years in rather than immediately.
It is worth a call to the roofing manufacturer or the builder as well, particularly if the home is new enough to still be within a builder warranty period. Five minutes establishing the position beforehand is much cheaper than establishing it during a claim.
Solar offered by a builder is still a purchase to scrutinise
If solar is offered as part of a new home or a builder package, apply the same scrutiny you would to a standalone quote rather than treating it as a fixture. Ask who manufactured the equipment, what the model numbers are, who installed it, and who honours each warranty.
Ask specifically whether the system is owned, financed or subject to a lease or power purchase agreement, because that determines what you own and what you would pass to a future buyer. Section 48E, at 30 percent, is available to third-party owners under those arrangements, so ask what the provider claims and what actually reaches you, and confirm with a tax advisor.
Check that the system was sized for the household rather than for the roof. A system sized to fill available roof area is not the same as one sized to your consumption and to the export terms of the plan you will be on.
And confirm the property tax exemption has been dealt with. Texas Tax Code Section 11.27 exempts 100 percent of the added appraised value, but Form 50-123 must be filed with the county appraisal district, generally by April 30. Nobody files it automatically, builder-installed or otherwise.
The plan behind the panels
Texas has no statewide net-metering mandate. Compensation for exported solar depends on the retail electricity provider and the specific solar buyback plan selected, so the plan is a decision you make rather than a default you inherit.
Check whether credits are capped. Some plans credit exported energy without a cap and roll credits over, and some cap the credit that can accumulate, after which further exported generation earns nothing. On a large newer home with a large array, a cap is easier to reach than people expect.
Compare the export rate and the plan energy rate together, since across a year you will buy more electricity than you export. PowerToChoose.org is the state-run comparison site and shows what is available at your address without a sales conversation attached.
Then ask your installer to model the system against the specific plan you intend to be on, including the self-consumed share of production valued at the plan energy rate. That is the part of the return that survives every future plan change.
The exemption you have to claim, and the credit that ended
Texas Tax Code Section 11.27 exempts 100 percent of the appraised home value added by an installed solar energy device from property tax. It is not automatic. Form 50-123 must be filed with your county appraisal district, and the deadline for the current tax year is generally April 30.
Ask whether your installer assists with the filing, and put the deadline in your own calendar regardless. An exemption you qualified for and never claimed is the most avoidable cost in a Texas solar project, and unlike the rest of the arithmetic it is entirely within your control.
The federal position has changed and a great deal of published material has not caught up. The 30 percent Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase now does not receive it. A quote that still applies it is overstating your return substantially.
Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so such a provider may claim it and reflect part of that value in the rate they offer. What they claim and what actually reaches you are separate questions, so ask both and confirm with a tax advisor rather than with the sales material.