Installer profile
Photon Brothers
Photon Brothers is a real Colorado installer with a record most companies in this market would take, and one old board action that caps its grade by rule. Start with the licensing lane, because Colorado does this differently. There is no statewide solar contractor license here; the credential that matters is an electrical contractor registration with the State Electrical Board through DORA. Photon Brothers Inc holds its own: EC.0100231, active, first issued September 16, 2013, running through September 30, 2029, with master electrician Matthew Emerson Raichart as the responsible individual since 2013 and a long roster of registered apprentice electricians employed under the license. That roster matters. It is state-recorded evidence of an in-house crew, which backs the Westminster page claim that its master electricians and NABCEP certified installers work entirely in-house.
Now the cap. The DORA open data row for this license shows one board action: case 2018-212, a CLS Stipulation effective December 6, 2018 and completed a week later. A stipulation is a settled board matter, it was resolved in 2018, and nothing newer was found; no attorney general action or consumer lawsuit naming the company turned up either. But it is a government enforcement action on the license this company works under, and our rubric caps any profile with enforcement history at D no matter how clean the rest looks. The rest looks fairly clean: BBB rates the company A+, accredited since 2019, with 16 complaints in the last 3 years and 5 closed in the last 12 months, a middling count for a residential installer of this size.
Two things deserve care before you sign. First, the warranty. The standard workmanship warranty is 10 years. The 25 year workmanship coverage belongs to a paid upgrade called The Photon Advantage, offered for what the company calls a small additional fee, while its Westminster city page advertises a 25-year craftsmanship warranty without mentioning that fee. Get the exact tier and its price in the contract, not off a city landing page. Second, the footprint. The company was founded in Denver in 2013 by brothers David and Matt Raichart, and the 2013 date holds up across its about page, BBB, DORA, and LinkedIn. It also runs a California operation headquartered in San Luis Obispo; BBB reports CSLB license 1003044 for that entity, but the CSLB record could not be read for this profile, so treat any California licensing claim as unverified here. No Photon Brothers entry appears on the 2026 Solar Power World national or Colorado lists, so public installation volume is also unverified.
The evidence
The founding story is consistent everywhere read: the about page says brothers David and Matt Raichart founded Photon Brothers in Denver in 2013, BBB dates the business start and incorporation to August 15, 2013, DORA first issued the electrical registration on September 16, 2013, and the Solar Power World supplier directory and LinkedIn both say 2013. Thirteen years, one story.
Source: Photon Brothers about page
The DORA open data row for license EC.0100231 records case 2018-212, a CLS Stipulation effective December 6, 2018 and completed December 13, 2018. That is a resolved administrative electrical board action, not a consumer lawsuit, and no AG action or lawsuit naming the company was found, but government enforcement caps the grade by rule. BBB rates the company A+ and accredited with 16 complaints in the last 3 years, 5 closed in the last 12 months; the separate California profile shows 1 complaint in 3 years.
Source: DORA open data, Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado
No Photon Brothers entry appears in the populated 2026 Solar Power World national table of 388 contractors or the 2026 Colorado table of 32. An undated SPW supplier directory entry exists but carries no rank or volume, and LinkedIn's 51 to 200 employee range is a company-side figure. No independent megawatt total or project count verifies installation scale.
Colorado has no statewide solar contractor license; the state lane is the DORA electrical contractor registration, and Photon Brothers Inc holds EC.0100231, active, originally issued September 16, 2013 and expiring September 30, 2029, with responsible master electrician Matthew Emerson Raichart, ME.0600059, and a long roster of registered apprentices employed under the license. The California CSLB license 1003044 that BBB reports for the San Luis Obispo operation could not be read this session and stays unverified.
The company's production guarantee page publishes two tiers: a standard 10 year general workmanship warranty, with 25 year panel and 12 year inverter coverage running to manufacturers, and The Photon Advantage, a paid upgrade with 25 year workmanship, production, and roof coverage. The Westminster city page advertises a 25-year craftsmanship warranty without stating the fee, so confirm in writing which tier the contract actually elects.
Company facts
| DORA license | PHOTON BROTHERS INC, Electrical Contractor EC.0100231, active; original issue September 16, 2013; expires September 30, 2029 |
| Responsible master electrician | Matthew Emerson Raichart, ME.0600059, responsible individual since September 13, 2013 |
| Board action on license | Case 2018-212, CLS Stipulation, effective December 6, 2018, completed December 13, 2018, per the DORA open data row |
| Headquarters | 7705 W 108th Ave Ste 100, Broomfield CO 80021-2808 per BBB; the about page calls Denver its Colorado headquarters |
| Founding | 2013, by brothers David and Matt Raichart; BBB business started August 15, 2013 |
| BBB record | A+, accredited since October 23, 2019; 16 complaints in the last 3 years, 5 closed in the last 12 months |
| Workmanship warranty | 10 years standard; 25 year workmanship only under The Photon Advantage, a paid upgrade |
| California operation | San Luis Obispo headquarters serving the Central Coast; CSLB license 1003044 reported by BBB but unverified this session |
| Stated service area | Colorado Front Range including Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Aurora, and Lakewood, plus the California Central Coast |
| Crew claim | Westminster page says master electricians and NABCEP certified installers work entirely in-house; DORA shows registered apprentices employed under the license |
| Volume record | Not in the 2026 Solar Power World national table (388 entries) or Colorado table (32 entries); LinkedIn lists 51 to 200 employees |
Data pulled August 30, 2026 from Colorado DORA license detail, EC.0100231, DORA open data, Photon Brothers BBB profile, Photon Brothers BBB complaints, Photon Brothers about page, Photon Brothers production guarantee and Solar Power World 2026 list.
How to read this
This D is a rubric cap, not a warning label. The action behind it is a stipulation settled in December 2018, the lighter end of Colorado board discipline, and everything since looks like an ordinary established installer: active license, in-house apprentice roster, A+ BBB record. If you get a quote, ask directly what case 2018-212 involved, pin down which warranty tier you are buying and its fee, and remember that the missing Solar Power World entry means volume claims rest on the company alone. Our full rubric, including how our own installation business gets graded on the same scale, is on the methodology page. We are a solar installer and we partner with other solar companies. Grading is structurally separated from revenue; see disclosures.