We have direct experience with all of the services we review. We earn a commission when you buy through our links. Learn more>
Author's photo
Matthew Silkwood
  ·  
Solar
  ·  
Last Updated: 
Published: 
October 20, 2023

9 Crucial Questions to Ask Solar Companies to Avoid Huge Problems

Can you trust your solar installer? We interviewed a top solar expert to find every question to ask a solar company before spending a dime on solar panels.

Author's photo
Matthew Silkwood
Director Of Sales & Marketing

Who to hire

No items found.
Text Link
Aledo
Text Link
Godley
Text Link
Caddo Mills
Text Link
North Richland Hills
Text Link
Ponder
Text Link
Frisco
Text Link
Midlothian
Text Link
Grandview
Text Link
Lake Worth
Text Link
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Text Link
Irving
Text Link
Poolville
Text Link
White Rock
Text Link
Itasca
Text Link
DeSoto
Text Link
Valley View
Text Link
Lancaster
Text Link
Lone Oak
Text Link
Springtown
Text Link
East Fort Worth
Text Link
Stockyards
Text Link
Rockwall
Text Link
Bluffview
Text Link
Old East Dallas
Text Link
Southern Methodist University
Text Link
Millsap
Text Link
Balch Springs
Text Link
Roanoke
Text Link
Oak Cliff
Text Link
Cockrell Hill
Text Link
Bridgeport
Text Link
Downtown Fort Worth
Text Link
Milford
Text Link
Ladonia
Text Link
South Fort Worth
Text Link
Southwest Dallas
Text Link
West
Text Link
Whitt
Text Link
Yale Park
Text Link
Northwest Dallas
Text Link
Willow Bend
Text Link
Paradise
Text Link
Nemo
Text Link
Chico
Text Link
Red Oak
Text Link
Wolfe City
Text Link
Bishop Arts District
Text Link
Italy
Text Link
Vickery Meadow
Text Link
Addison
Text Link
Sanger
Text Link
Celina
Text Link
Cleburne
Text Link
Perrin
Text Link
Colleyville
Text Link
St. Paul
Text Link
West Dallas
Text Link
Love Field
Text Link
Little Elm
Text Link
Quinlan
Text Link
West End
Text Link
Krum
Text Link
Newark
Text Link
North Dallas
Text Link
Hutchins
Text Link
Nevada
Text Link
Kessler Park
Text Link
Lewisville
Text Link
Design District
Text Link
Forney
Text Link
Justin
Text Link
Denton
Text Link
Uptown
Text Link
Anna
Text Link
Leonard
Text Link
Lake Dallas
Text Link
Venus
Text Link
Wylie
Text Link
Northrich
Text Link
North Fort Worth
Text Link
Alvord
Text Link
Kemp
Text Link
Farmers Branch
Text Link
South
Text Link
Sunnyvale
Text Link
Keene
Text Link
McKinney
Text Link
Decatur
Text Link
Lakewood
Text Link
Terrell
Text Link
Grapevine
Text Link
Mineral Wells
Text Link
Highland Village
Text Link
Coppell
Text Link
Murphy
Text Link
Blue Ridge
Text Link
Keller
Text Link
Stemmons Corridor
Text Link
Ennis
Text Link
Eagle Mountain

Your Executive Summary

Most solar panel systems cost as much as a sedan or mid-size SUV, so when a solar energy company hands you an estimate, what do those numbers really mean? 

Travis Jones, owner of SmartRoof and Home Performance - a solar roofing company - gave us detailed answers to the 9 questions you should ask a solar installer. These questions fall into 4 categories:

  • Solar Cost vs. Value Questions. How much will solar installation cost? Does your roof get enough sun? Will you save enough energy to be worth the installation cost?
  • Solar Installation Questions. What direction should your solar panels face? What methods does a good solar panel company use?
  • Solar Energy Independence Questions. Is being fully “off the grid” realistic? What does “energy offset” mean, and how much offset will you receive?
  • Questions About Long-Term Solar Savings. When will you receive your solar tax credit? Does your monthly solar bill make sense?

{{cta-component="/"}}

Table of contents

Our Criteria

❌ Deal Breakers

✅ The Bare Minimum

🔥 Above And Beyond

How it works?

Sign up for HOMR → Receive a confirmation text from our team → Schedule your first spray → Manage everything in one place.

No contracts, no cancellation fees. Service is paid in advance - cancellation before full payment will result in a balance due of pest control treatment ONLY.

The 9 Questions to Ask Solar Companies — According to a Top Solar Expert

“The numbers get so confusing,” Travis Jones explains. “People get scammed.”

Travis is the owner of Smart Roof and Home Performance, and a leading solar energy expert in the Dallas Fort Worth area. He has installed 30 solar systems and spent 5 years researching solar before accepting jobs. He’s committed to educating Dallas area homeowners on the pros and cons of solar energy — and whether it’s right for your home.

We used Google search data to find the 9 most searched for questions about solar cost, installation and long-term value. Travis answered them all for you.

It’s refreshing to have a solar panel installation expert tell us the questions he’d ask a solar panel company. That level of transparency and trust is why HOMR selected Smart Roof and Home Performance (Smart Roof HP) as its Dallas solar expert.

Solar Cost vs. Value Questions

Am I really saving money by installing solar panels, instead of just going through the grid?

TRAVIS: You need to find out how much your solar is projected to cover each month. In months where you don’t produce as much electricity as you use, you’ll have to purchase additional electricity from the grid.

Solar is priced per watt, but what you really need to know is how much it costs per kWh. That’s how we buy electricity.

When people buy solar (not including leases), they choose one of these three methods to pay:

  • Cash. This is the least common option, as it involves paying in full after solar installation. It ties up all your cash in the solar panel system.
  • Long Term Financing. 15-30 years for lowest monthly payments.
  • Short Term Financing. Less than 15 years with higher payments and a plan to pay off more quickly.
NOTE: Consumer Affairs reports the average solar panel cost per watt in Texas is $2.69 as of September 2023.

We’ll go into further detail on the overall 25-year cost vs. value of solar in the “Questions about Solar Panels and Future Value” section later in this article. Travis tells you how to calculate your monthly spend on solar energy vs. going through the grid. 

What does it actually mean when someone says, "You're going to get an offset"?

TRAVIS: Offset tells you what percentage of your normal annual electricity usage can be produced by your solar panels. 

If you use 20,000 kWh/year and your solar is projected to produce 20,000kWh/year, that would be considered a 100% offset.

However, a full offset doesn’t mean you won’t have an electric bill. Remember, you lose some in the form of delivery fees.

You also lose some over time, because panels degrade. The top panels lose 2% of their production at the end of year 1 and 0.5% every year after that. The best manufacturers will guarantee the loss doesn’t exceed that. A few higher priced premium panels lose 1% and .25%.

On a roof that gets lots of good sunshine, it might make sense to size the system to 110% or more to account for this loss over time.

Solar Installation Questions

Where are you going to place these solar panels?

A photo from project sunroof that shows the orientation of homes and the amount of solar coverage on the homes
An overview of the sun coverage of the neighborhoods around HOMR's office

TRAVIS: You need to understand the three factors that impact how much electricity a solar panel will produce: orientation, tilt and shade.

  • Orientation. Facing your solar panels south is best. West and east can work. Avoid the north side of your home — the sun is to our south in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • Tilt. Tilt your solar panels between 15 and 45 degrees. 30 degrees is ideal. 
  • Shade. You want the sun shining on your panels for at least 4 hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

If some of the panels don’t fit that criteria, ask to see proposals with and without those panels and find out how each version impacts the cost/kWh of the system.

Will I have to cut down any of my trees?

TRAVIS: This has to do with the tilt and shading portions of the last question. If any of your trees directly interfere with your solar panels getting 4 hours of sunshine between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., consider removing them [or pruning them]

Does my house get enough sun for these solar panels to even be worth it? 

This is a more general version of what we’ve covered. A quality solar provider helps estimate the production of your solar panel system over time and compares it to the total amount of energy your home needs to function.

Size your solar panel system to slightly outproduce the amount of energy you need. Travis recommends a solar setup that can produce 110% of your required energy — that way, a stretch of cloudy days is no problem.

HOMR SOLAR TIP: You can put your address into Project Sunroof from Google to see how many hours of sun your home could produce in a year.

Solar Energy Independence Questions

A major driver of solar energy conversion is the idea of going off the grid — being 100% independent from the electrical power grid. Many DFW area “solar homesteaders” worry about ERCOT’s energy grid management in the future, or the potential for major blackouts and brownouts as Texas freezing events and droughts increase.

But does installing solar panels on your roof really lead to total energy independence for most Dallas homeowners? We asked Travis for a realistic outlook. .

Am I going to be fully energy independent with these solar panels? Or will I still depend on the grid for some electricity?

TRAVIS: In Dallas-Fort Worth, you will always be tied to the grid. That’s not a bad thing. If you have multiple days with no sunshine, you want to be able to rely on the grid.

It’s also important to remember that solar production from panels occurs about 6 hours a day. The other 18 hours a day, you’re either pulling from batteries or from the grid.

{{cta-component="/"}}

Is the local power company actually buying back power you "send back" to the grid, or am I going to be stuck buying a battery to store it?

TRAVIS: This depends on the company. People on the Oncor grid can choose different plans by different retail providers. Some pay more for the electricity you send back than others. 

At minimum, they don’t give you credit for the delivery fee, which is a passthrough fee from Oncor and is around 5 cents/kWh.

If you live in an area with a co-op like Coserv, you need to understand their individual solar buyback policies.

Many companies will not give you any credit for electricity you send back that is greater than your total usage that month. This often happens in months like April and October, where we have plenty of sunshine but don’t use as much electricity for cooling.

Questions about Long-Term Solar Savings

When am I actually going to receive my full tax credit? Will some of it come later than year one?

TRAVIS: The best way to address this is to consult a tax professional. Here’s a general overview of how your tax credit works:

The Federal Tax Credit for solar panel installation is 30% of the total cost of the system. Roofing can no longer be included in the cost.

An example solar project breakdown

For a $30,000 system, the potential tax credit is 30% of the total system cost, or $9,000.

If you have tax liability (income tax owed after all deductions are taken out), you can apply the tax credit.

For W2 Income: you can receive that $9000 back as actual cash up to the amount you've paid in via withholding.

For 1099 Income: you can reduce what you owe by up to $9000 against your tax liability.

Any unused portion of the credit rolls forward to the next tax year.

TALK TO YOUR CPA: The payment of many solar loans is built assuming you will send all of the tax credit money to them before month 18 of the lien.

How do I determine if my monthly solar payment actually makes sense for me? How do I compare it to my current energy bill?

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports Texas homeowners pay about 14 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) on their monthly energy bills.

So in order for solar to make financial sense for you, your new monthly solar payments should be less than 14 cents/kWh.

TRAVIS: If you pay cash, you can take the total amount of the system and divide it by the system’s 25-year lifetime production expectancy.

Example:  If you do a long term loan for a 10kW solar system, you might pay $165/month. Now you need to figure out the monthly cost.

18,250/12 = 1,521kWh/month

$165/1521 = $.108/kWh

Now, you’re paying just under 11 cents/kWh for what your panels produce — a savings of 3 cents/kWh from the average Dallas energy bill.

EcoWatch reports the average Dallas home uses 1,300 kWh per month. If you save 3 cents kWh by switching to solar, that’s a savings of $468 per year.

Over a 25-year solar panel system’s lifespan, that equals $11,700 in energy bill savings.

Featured Partners

No items found.
Aledo
Godley
Caddo Mills
North Richland Hills
Ponder
Frisco
Midlothian
Grandview
Lake Worth
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Irving
Poolville
White Rock
Itasca
DeSoto
Valley View
Lancaster
Lone Oak
Springtown
East Fort Worth
Stockyards
Rockwall
Bluffview
Old East Dallas
Southern Methodist University
Millsap
Balch Springs
Roanoke
Oak Cliff
Cockrell Hill
Bridgeport
Downtown Fort Worth
Milford
Ladonia
South Fort Worth
Southwest Dallas
West
Whitt
Yale Park
Northwest Dallas
Willow Bend
Paradise
Nemo
Chico
Red Oak
Wolfe City
Bishop Arts District
Italy
Vickery Meadow
Addison
Sanger
Celina
Cleburne
Perrin
Colleyville
St. Paul
West Dallas
Love Field
Little Elm
Quinlan
West End
Krum
Newark
North Dallas
Hutchins
Nevada
Kessler Park
Lewisville
Design District
Forney
Justin
Denton
Uptown
Anna
Leonard
Lake Dallas
Venus
Wylie
Northrich
North Fort Worth
Alvord
Kemp
Farmers Branch
South
Sunnyvale
Keene
McKinney
Decatur
Lakewood
Terrell
Grapevine
Mineral Wells
Highland Village
Coppell
Murphy
Blue Ridge
Keller
Stemmons Corridor
Ennis
Eagle Mountain

Conclusion

A realistic goal of solar panel installation is to become a part of your total home power ecosystem — not replace electricity. 

“People need to understand the real long-term promise of solar,” he says. “You’ll ultimately have an electrified home with solar.” That solar power helps offset a chunk of your monthly electric bill.

It’s important to protect the environment — but it’s equally important to protect your budget. That’s why HOMR offers Dallas’ first 24/7 home management service. Research, price out, schedule and review every contractor you need through our home maintenance app.

HOMR plans start at $9/month. That’s a price that even your lowest energy bill can’t touch.

Read the next article in this series

Best Dallas Solar Installation Companies [2024]

Continue reading
Dallas solar company installation and solar panel repair
Team member's photo
Matthew Silkwood
Director Of Sales & Marketing
LET’S MEET

Schedule a free “home health check” with our community lead to start knocking out your to-do list today

What is HOMR?

Save time and money without the hassle of home ownership. Use HOMR’s 24/7 service to easily manage your home to complete your to-do list faster.
Linear feet
This is how long your fence is - measured along the ground.
ft
Number of gates
-
+
Do you want a top cap?
Top caps are 2x4 trim pieces put along the top of the fence
Fence Height
Fence type
Board-on-board fences overlap so there are no gaps. Side-by-side use less materials but can be seen through. Learn more
Wood type
Stain preference
What kind of finish do you want on your fence? 
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Get a written estimate
If you'd like a HOMR partner to quote a fence installation enter your email and we'll reach out within 24 hours to coordinate.
Thank you for contacting us! We're reviewing your message and will respond shortly.
Explicabo sunt laboriosam rerum. Et qui omnis qui alias error placeat commodi illum possimus. Occaecati corrupti deleniti.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Estimated total fence cost
$ 1300.00

Don’t be shocked, there are tons of ways to save money on a fence. Chat with our team when you are ready – we are here to help!

If you're looking for a fence contractor in Dallas: read our "who to hire" series where we built a bunch of fences to see who has the best fence for the best price

Estimated Total
$ 12,500.00