Before You Sign · $29 · one time

The questions to ask before you sign a solar contract, with your numbers already in them

For the buyer with a proposal on the table. This site was built for the owners of more than a hundred installers that closed since 2023. Before You Sign is what those owners wish they had asked: is the price in range, will it make what they promise, is the loan hiding a fee, is the tax credit real this year, and who fixes it if the company disappears.

$29one time, PDF

Start with the free quote check; its numbers carry into the builder. Pay once on Stripe's secure page and the finished document opens for you to save. About ten minutes. Refund on request, no argument.

Run the free quote check first

Already have the numbers? Go straight to the builder.

What is in it

• The five checks on one page: price per watt against your state's marketplace average, the production claim against the federal PVWatts model, the gap between price and amount financed, the federal tax credit rule as of this month, and the five company questions
• A letter to the installer with your numbers in it, asking for the cash price, the dealer fee, and the production assumptions as separate lines
• A contract red-flag checklist: dealer fee, production guarantee with a remedy, workmanship and roof warranties, the UCC fixture filing, the escalator on leases, who owns the monitoring account, the three-day cancellation right
• The tax credit page, dated and sourced, for your ownership type
• The company worksheet, with the sentence to add to the contract naming who services the system if the installer closes
• If they go under: what survives, what dies, and what to do on day one, from the site built for the people it already happened to

Questions

Does it tell me whether to sign?

No. It compares your proposal to public averages and a production model and turns the gaps into questions. Prices vary with equipment, roof, and region for good reasons; the point is to get those reasons in writing.

Where do the benchmarks come from?

Price per watt by state from EnergySage marketplace data (August 2026). Marketplace quotes run below door-to-door quotes, so "above average" is common; the document says so. Production from PVWatts v8, the federal model, for your ZIP and system size.

Is the tax credit part right?

It states the federal rule as of the month on the document and links the IRS source. For a system you would own, the residential credit is not available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Leases and power purchase agreements work differently, and the page explains that too.

What if I already signed?

Run the free production check after the first full month and register every serial number under your own name. The document still helps: the red-flag list and the company worksheet apply to any contract you can still amend.

After the system is in