Help assessing quotes

[J.P.M.]

1.) Do not lease or PPA - Ever - or under any circumstances. They are traps. You will regret such a decision. Especially Vivant and Sunrun who were both bottom feeders before they combined, along with SolarCity that got incestually swallowed by Tesla.
2.) Learn about energy conservation first and PV second before you do anything else. Then, estimate use reduction from those efforts before sizing any future PV.
Not using energy is far and away more cost effective than throwing expensive PV at an electric bill that can easily be made lower (and the PV smaller = less $$ BTW) by lifestyle adjustmants and energy conservation measures before any PV installation.
3.) If you truly want unbiased knowledge, buy a copy of "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies" and read it before you commit to spending money. ~ $25 - cheap. You need an education. It'll give you the basics. Then, if you want insight and feedback, come back here and fill in knowledge gaps your self education creates. Besides, your questions will then have more meat on them. You'll get out what you put in. Spoonfeeding gets you pablum.
4.) If your thinking about a roof mount - which is common - get your roof inspected and serviced before you commit to any vendor. PV on a roof can last a long time. Chasing a leak is never easy. Under an array it's nearly impossible. Give your roof a high probabilty of lasting as long as the array on it.
5.) After your self education as described in 3 above, if you do commit to PV, go for a quality install, and that means a quality local vendor who's been a licensed, local electrical contractor who's been in business at least as long or preferably as long as PV has been popular. Know that solar vendors are dropping like flies. Established long run electrical contractors who also sell PV are probably your best bet at having a vendor be around in the future.
6.) Spend as much or more time and effort evaluating vendors as you do equipment (which is mostly a commodity these days anyway).
- Have the goal of most bang for the buck with overall quality in mind, not low initial price.
- Buying low buck is the errand of shortsighted fools. Especially with something as expensive and isolated as rooftop PV.
- Negotiate tough but fair - and remember - everything is negotiable.
- Vendors are in business to make money by putting PV on your propery, not necesarily by lowering your electric bill. Still, vendors need to make a profit.
- Don't fall for the price matching game. It's a trap for suckers. You'll only pay more if you fall for it. Think about it from the vendor's perspective and you may understand why.

Welcome to the neighborhood and the forum of fewer illusions.

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

[sti_lin]

Thanks for feedback Solarix. I am skeptical of reviews online because they typically seem to be easy to fake and of course then you have the bias of satisfied customers hardly ever posting reviews so I was hoping to get genuine insight and feedback from unbiased knowledgeable folks like those on this site. Based on components and or installers any recommendations? I am in S California.

[solarix]

The nationwide companies are horrible when is comes to support and have the poorest install quality in my opinion. Go with a local, quality installer with good reviews on solarreviews.com

[sti_lin]

I am in the process of soliciting quotes for a 7kw system to cover all my solar needs and 2 future EVs. I have collected 7 plus quotes so far and wanted to get insight from the community regarding who to go with. I am leaning towards Vivnt/Sunrun as a big name which after all incentives is close to any other small medium locals like SolarMax, La Solar...Let me know what you think of these quotes which detail cost and components as well as final costs after long term solar loan which I am choosing for the cash flow benefits. Thanks for any and all feedback