Red flags in a solar sales pitch

Manufactured urgency

"This pricing is only good today." "We have one install slot left this quarter." "The incentive ends Friday."

Equipment pricing does not move day to day, and installers do not discard profitable work because a homeowner wanted a week. Incentive deadlines are real but are set in legislation, published, and never known only to the person on your doorstep.

The response: "Put that price in writing with a 30-day validity and I'll consider it." Watch what happens.

"Free solar"

Nothing about installing solar is free. The phrase almost always means a lease or power-purchase agreement — no upfront cost, but a third party owns the array, claims the incentives, and holds a 20-to-25-year agreement attached to your roof.

That can still be a reasonable deal, especially with little tax liability. It is not free, and describing it that way tells you how the rest of the conversation will go. See lease vs. loan vs. buying.

"Government programme" framing

"You've been selected for a government solar programme." Nobody is selected. Incentives are legislated and available to anyone who qualifies — no application to a salesperson required.

This framing is doing two things: borrowing authority the company doesn't have, and creating false scarcity. Both are reasons to end the conversation.

Vagueness about ownership

Ask directly: "After this is installed, who owns the system?" The answer is one word. Anyone who needs a paragraph is managing you.

The follow-up matters just as much: "Who claims the tax credit?" If they own it, they do. A pitch that promises both $0 down and your tax credit is either a loan being described as a lease, or wrong.

Numbers with no assumptions attached

Treat these as unfinished until they carry their assumptions:

• "You'll save $60,000 over 25 years." At what assumed rate of utility inflation? 5% compounded produces spectacular numbers and is not a forecast.
• "Your bill goes to zero." It doesn't. Fixed connection charges survive, and you buy power at night unless you have a battery.
• "It pays for itself in four years." Possible in a handful of high-rate markets with strong incentives. Ask to see the arithmetic.
• A single confident production figure for a roof nobody has surveyed.

The response: "Show me the model." A real proposal has one.

Paperwork pressure

• Signing on their tablet, where you can't read the full terms or keep a copy.
• "It's just a credit check" for something that turns out to be a loan application.
• "This just holds your spot" for a binding contract.
• Blank or partially completed forms to be "filled in at the office".
• Rushing past the escalator in a lease or PPA. That clause decides whether you save money in year fifteen.

Most states give a cooling-off period for door-to-door sales. Know yours — but it is far easier not to sign than to unwind.

What good looks like

The contrast is usually obvious once you know what to expect:

• They ask for twelve months of bills before quoting anything.
• They survey the roof properly, and tell you if it needs replacing first — see roof age and solar.
• Production estimates come with stated assumptions and a shade report.
• They explain what is excluded without being asked.
• They are comfortable with you getting other quotes.
• They will tell you when solar is a poor fit for your house.