The Ground Mount Company

Ground mount solar installation across North Texas.

We build ground-mounted solar for homes with land, and we do not install on roofs.

The work runs across Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis and Johnson counties, plus the unincorporated land between them.

If your town is not in the list below, the county almost certainly is.

Not on the list?

Azle, Springtown, Granbury, Decatur, Denton, Mineral Wells, Stephenville, Aledo, Cleburne, or unincorporated county land? Yes. Same process, same crew.

We work the whole area, not the fourteen towns that happen to have a page. Every one of those addresses gets the same process: we check which utility serves it, pull the soil map for the parcel, measure the run from the array to your meter, and pull whichever permits apply.

The pages exist because those fourteen towns had something specific worth writing down. Yours has the same facts underneath it.

The fastest way to find out what your land will hold is the design tool. It runs your own coordinates, not a town average.

Find your city

Fourteen towns have a page of their own, because in each of them something local changes the job.

Parker County

  • Weatherford the city runs its own electric utility, and it bills a monthly charge on the AC size of your system whether you export anything or not.

Tarrant County

  • Southlake the city checks the fence-height rule itself, and wants an engineered footing detail and a line-of-sight analysis.
  • Fort Worth the city permits an array as an accessory structure, so your lot size sets the height and footprint rules.

Dallas County

  • Grand Prairie one city across three counties, with almost all of the acreage at the southern end.

Denton County

  • Flower Mound the only permit packet on this list with a section written specifically for ground mounts.

Collin County

  • McKinney the checklist has a Ground Mount option and says exactly what it wants with it.
  • Fairview the solar permit is $175, published, and the inspection can be done from photographs.
  • Lucas no city permit if a third-party inspector is used; the rule says roofing, so we confirm for ground mounts.
  • Celina the city caps a ground mount at your fence line and keeps it out of the front yard.
  • Allen the city's solar ordinance is written for roofs, so we get the building department's reading before filing.

Rockwall County

  • Heath on co-op lines the power you export is worth about a third of the power you keep, which changes the size worth building.

Ellis County

  • Midlothian the city's solar checklist is written around roofs; we fill in the half a ground mount answers.
  • Waxahachie four soil samples came back clay, silty clay and bedrock within a few miles of each other.

Johnson County

  • Burleson two counties, two different answers on what the county wants outside the city limits.

What changes by city

CityWho sends the billPermitkWh per kW per year
WeatherfordWeatherford Electric, Tri-County Electric or Oncor linesCity permit; Parker County issues none1,577
McKinneyOncor lines, Grayson-Collin Electric Co-Op or CoServChecklist with a Ground Mount option1,528
HeathFarmers Electric Cooperative or Oncor linesCity permit; Rockwall County runs its own1,520
Flower MoundCoServ or Oncor lines$200, ground-mount section in the packet1,526
FairviewGrayson-Collin Electric Co-Op, CoServ or Oncor lines$175, remote inspection available1,530
LucasGrayson-Collin Electric Co-Op or Oncor linesNone if a third-party inspector is used1,532
MidlothianOncor linesCity permit, contractor registration1,532
CelinaGrayson-Collin Electric Co-Op, CoServ or Oncor lines$225 in three parts; fence-line height cap1,536
WaxahachieOncor linesNothing solar-specific published1,546
BurlesonOncor lines or United Cooperative ServicesNothing solar-specific published1,569
SouthlakeOncor lines or Tri-County ElectricEngineered footing, setbacks, sight lines1,578
Fort WorthOncor lines or Tri-County ElectricPermitted as an accessory structure1,570
AllenOncor lines or Grayson-Collin Electric Co-OpOrdinance is roof-worded; we confirm first1,530
Grand PrairieOncor linesPlans and load calculations1,531

Every figure in that last column is a real run for that city's coordinates, not a regional average.

The spread across the whole list is under four percent — which tells you that where you are matters far less than which way your land faces and what is shading it.

What is the same everywhere

The first question is always the same.

Who sends your electric bill. Not what panels you want, not how many.

A cooperative that nets your exported power at the retail rate and one that buys it at six cents will give you two different right answers for the same house, and no amount of equipment makes up the difference.

What every North Texas utility pays for exported solar

Permits: city plus electrical, and we pull them.

Most North Texas cities want a building permit and an electrical permit. Some publish a checklist, some publish a fee, and a few publish neither.

Outside the city limits the list is shorter, though septic setbacks, floodplain rules and your utility's interconnection approval still apply everywhere.

You do not chase any of those offices. That is our job, and we tell you what each one said.

HOA and height.

If you are in an HOA, Texas law is on your side but only so far. The state stops an HOA banning solar outright.

It also lets an HOA prohibit a ground mount that sits anywhere other than a roof or a fenced yard.

Inside a fenced yard there is a second rule: the array cannot stand taller than the fence.

Where a fence line does govern, we build lower tilt or two panels high instead of four so it fits under.

What ground mount solar costs in Texas

Ground mount vs rooftop

Questions

Do you install in a town that is not on your list?

Almost certainly.

The fourteen pages exist because those towns had something specific worth writing down, not because they are the only places we work.

If you are in Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis or Johnson County, or on the unincorporated land between them, put your address into the design tool and you will get the same numbers a listed town gets.

Do I need a permit to install solar panels in Texas?

Inside a city, nearly always: a building permit and an electrical permit, and some cities add a plan review.

There is no statewide solar permit and no standard fee — each city sets its own, which is why the table above says something different for each one.

Outside the city limits, most Texas counties have no authority to require a building permit for ordinary single-family construction, but that is not the same as no rules at all.

Does the county need a permit if I am outside the city limits?

Usually not a building permit.

Texas counties generally have no authority over ordinary single-family construction outside a city — Parker County says outright that it issues none.

But it varies.

Rockwall County runs a real permitting programme and requires contractors to register; Tarrant issues no residential building permits while still requiring a fire-code construction permit and reviewing floodplain over an acre.

We ask per property.

How far will you drive?

Across the counties above, and past them when the job makes sense.

Distance costs us a site visit, not a premium on your quote.

If you are far enough out that it changes the answer, we say so on the phone rather than after a survey.

Are ground mounted solar panels worth it?

On an acre with a clear south-facing spot and a short run to the meter, usually.

On a wooded lot four hundred feet from the house with rock under it, the trench and the clearing can cost more than the panels.

That is why the design tool prices the trench rather than quoting a price per watt and hoping.

Find out what your land will hold.

No salesman. No home visit to get a number.