How to Choose a Solar Installer in 2026

What American Solar Savings checks

Before we introduce a company, we look for an active license where that state licenses solar contractors, and for insurance. We expect the company to give you a written proposal.

That is a screen, not a blessing. We do not install the system. We do not audit every crew. We do not promise the company will still exist in ten years, because nobody honest can. We do not publish a star rating of American Solar Savings. Where you see stars and quotations, they are Google reviews of the installer named there, printed word for word and labeled as theirs. They are not reviews of us.

You should still verify the license on the state board's site the morning you sign. Licenses lapse. Insurance certificates should name the company on the contract and should be current. If the name on the contract, the name on the license, and the name on the truck differ, stop and ask why.

The introduction is the service. How the introduction works walks the steps from estimate to a call. You can decline the call and you can decline the proposal.

What a proposal should contain

Equipment, a production model, the tariff assumption, the full price, and who does the permit.

Modules and inverters should be named, not described as 'tier one' with no model number. Warranties should be split into product, performance, and workmanship, with the years and the company that honors each. Workmanship is the installer's promise. If the installer is gone, that promise may be thin. Ask.

The production model should show tilt, azimuth, shade losses, and a weather file. PVWatts is a public way to see whether their number is in a plausible range. It will not match exactly. A proposal that is 40 percent more optimistic than a simple PVWatts run needs an explanation, not faith.

The price should be a cash price even if you plan to finance, so you can see dealer fees. Financing explains why loan prices in the Berkeley Lab data ran higher than cash prices. Change orders for roof repairs, main-panel upgrades, and trenching should be discussed before the deposit, not discovered in the attic.

Compare two or three designs, not two slogans

Ask each company to price a similar size and to state the export credit they assumed.

A cheap price on a heavily shaded design is not cheaper energy. A high price with a real shade model may be the honest one. Line up system size, estimated annual kilowatt-hours, cash price, and the export rate used in the savings chart. If one chart assumes one-for-one credit and the tariff does not, discard the chart, not the whole company, until they rerun it.

Talk to recent customers if the company will connect you and those customers agree. Do not treat a printed testimonial on their site as verified by us. We are not republishing them.

Permits and interconnection are part of the job. Ask who pulls the permit, who schedules the inspection, and who files with the utility. A price that excludes interconnection fees is not the price.

Pressure is a warning, not a deadline

A same-day signature discount is a sales tactic. The roof will still be there next week.

The residential credit for homeowner-owned systems does not apply to installations completed after December 31, 2025. A pitch that says you will miss a federal homeowner credit by waiting until next week, in 2026, is not describing current section 25D. Read the tax credit page and, if money is at stake, a tax professional.

Deposits should be proportional and tied to a contract you can cancel on stated terms. Never pay the full price in cash to an individual rather than the licensed company. If the contract is hard to read, that is information.