I would recommend taking more into account. How many systems has the company installed? What is your assessment on whether they will be in business in your area in 20 years? What do other customers say about their work and service? I looked at 4 companies before finding the one who had the experience and work ethic I wanted. They did a great job 10 years ago, and now I work for them. Our prices are higher and our wait time for installation is longer, but our customers are happy with the value we provide.
You called out that the kWh calculators used by different vendors are different. This is why comparing annual production IMO doesn't make sense. OTOH, No one can fudge the DC Watt kW #. So the best way to compare is to ask the vendors to give you pricing for the same size kW of system. Then you take out all the variability in the kWh estimation. Of course, agree with you that buying a good product from a reputable manufacturer and installer. Your 1.618 PHI seems really high. FWIW I'm in NorCal. BTW loved your NEM/TOU video. It was the first one I found that actually explains it correctly.
Dale, this rules. I'm in NJ and having a really hard time trying to compare all the solar quotes I'm getting. If you did business over here, I'd go with you in a heartbeat. Thanks man.
Hi Dale, another good video! We are installers in the entire southeast of Mexico so I love to learn how you guys in the States are doing things. Keep up the great content! I think when discussing quote comparisons you cannot lose site of how good a job did the installer do in spending the time to fully understand the client's needs and expectations? What about quality of installation? And of course, post-sale service which is absolutely crucial IMHO.
I ran into a company that charges $2,000 per installed panel. I downsized a 10 panel $19,600 to a 8 panel $15,000 and saved $4,000 go figure that. That was with sil-380-bk and a solar edge 3800h us. That cost per watt is really high.
If use annual production as comparison, what if one company give you higher production number with expensive /watt price and another company that give you lower production number with cheaper /watt price? Both use similar number panels and watts and inverters. I think production number is just a number for sale person to manipulate to look good on paper. Still cost/watt is what is all comes down to if everything including warranty being equal. I do not even looks at this production number because same panels and same inverters should give you the same annual kilowatts and not because of the company that sold to you.
Well you do a video on the new policy of tesla about selling the powerwall only is you buying there solar ? I just put a order on March for qcell 9 panel we 2 powerwall and im not surs is now the powerwall well be delivered Im in texas just in case
If you ordered directly with Tesla you’ll get your Powerwall but it’ll likely be 6-9 months. If you ordered through a third part it’ll be closer to 12 months. There are currently over 500 projects throughout California pending a Powerwall installation. Many customers have been waiting 6 months or more and have recently started receiving price changes to their projects.
I've got one quote thats 13KW for $36k and another that's 17KW for $75k. Is it worth paying more than double for the extra 4KW? I'nm having a hell of a time comparing these two.
if Phi is a constant why are you even comparing KWH, just compare system size. Obviously the difference Phi between panels are the main thing we're comparing here.
Wow one quote had my system way different than what PHI shows. 11.68KW system x 1.618 = 18898.24..... they were saying it'd make 12Kw for the first year....... wow.
