PCAB License for Solar Installers: What It Is and How to Verify One

PCAB stands for the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board, the government body that licenses construction contractors, including electrical contractors, under Republic Act 4566, the Contractors’ License Law of 1965, as amended by Presidential Decree 1746. PCAB operates under the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP), an agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry. Its own site states the rule plainly: “no contractor (including sub-contractor and specialty contractor) shall engage in the business of contracting without first having secured a PCAB license.”

What a PCAB license actually is

RA 4566 defines a “contractor” broadly, as anyone who undertakes, offers to undertake, or bids to construct, alter, repair, or improve a structure, “or to do any part thereof” (Section 9). The law then splits contracting into three main classifications:

• General Engineering Contracting — fixed civil works like roads, irrigation, and port infrastructure.
• General Building Contracting — structures for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons or property, using more than two building trades.
• Specialty Contracting — work requiring a specific trade skill, where that trade is the contractor’s principal business.

PCAB’s own licensing rules, issued under Section 17 of RA 4566 and the implementing decree, further subclassify those three categories by area of specialization. Under Specialty Contracting, the listed sub-classifications include foundation work, structural steel, plumbing and sanitary work, mechanical work, fire protection, and — the one that matters here — electrical work.

Which classification covers solar?

Installing panels, an inverter, and the wiring that connects them to your home’s electrical system is electrical work, so it falls under PCAB’s Specialty Contracting classification for electrical work. In practice, many installers you’ll encounter also carry a General Building license, since a rooftop system involves mounting hardware and structural attachment alongside the wiring. Ask specifically which classification a prospective contractor holds and whether it covers the electrical scope of your project, not just the mounting.

PCAB additionally grades contractors by the size and value of the projects they’re authorized to take on, on top of the trade classification. The exact tiering isn’t something we could pull a clean, current figure for from PCAB’s public materials, so if the scale of your project matters — a large commercial array versus a typical residential rooftop system — ask the contractor directly which size category their license covers.

When does a contractor legally need one?

Under RA 4566, the trigger is doing contracting work for a price, commission, fee, or wage without a license (Section 35), which the Board can enforce through injunction (Section 34) on top of statutory penalties. The original 1965 text also exempts “minor work” below a peso threshold and work done by a registered engineer or architect “acting solely in his professional capacity” (Sections 13 and 14) — but that peso threshold is a 1965 figure, almost certainly outdated by later amendments and IRR updates we could not independently verify, so don’t treat it as a current exemption amount. If you’re unsure whether a specific arrangement needs a PCAB license, ask PCAB directly rather than relying on a decades-old nominal figure.

What RA 4566 doesn’t spell out in plain language is how it treats a homeowner managing their own installation without hiring a contracting company at all. That question comes up often enough with solar that we cover it on its own — see solar installation without a contractor.

How to verify a contractor’s PCAB license

PCAB runs an online license verification portal at pcab.construction.gov.ph/verify (mirrored at pcabgovph.com/verify). The database is searchable by contractor name or license number and is split into several views:

Before signing anything, search the contractor’s exact registered business name (not just a trade name on their marketing materials), confirm the license is active and not sitting in the suspended or revoked list, and check that the classification listed actually covers electrical or specialty work. A contractor who resists sharing their license number, or whose name doesn’t turn up at all, is a red flag worth treating the same way as the other warning signs in our guide to avoiding solar scams.

PCAB is not the same thing as the PEE/RME sign-off

A PCAB license lets a company legally take on the contracting work. It doesn’t replace the separate requirement that a PRC-licensed Professional Electrical Engineer (PEE) or Registered Master Electrician (RME) inspect the finished system and sign the Certificate of Compliance your distribution utility needs for net metering. These are two different credentials, from two different regulatory bodies, and a legitimate installer should be able to show you both. See our breakdown of why the PEE/RME signature matters for what that document actually certifies, and our full permits and requirements checklist for where both fit in the overall approval sequence.

The practical takeaway

Ask any installer for their PCAB license number and classification before you sign a contract, then verify it yourself at pcab.construction.gov.ph/verify rather than taking their word for it. Pair that with the vetting checklist in our guide to choosing a solar installer, and confirm separately that they have a PEE or RME on staff or on contract for the Certificate of Compliance. None of this guarantees a good installation on its own, but skipping it removes your main way of catching a fraudulent or unlicensed operator before your money and your roof are committed.