The Solar Quote Spread Index

Two installers can quote the same California roof and land 40% apart.

A running index of the price gap between the highest and lowest quote a real California homeowner receives for the same solar project. Built from anonymized quote data flowing through the Solar Connect marketplace, updated as new projects come in.

First published · July 21, 2026
Coverage · California residential
Update cadence · Continuous
Typical spread
0%
Median difference between highest and lowest quote for the same home.
Cash price range
$2.50–$4.50/W
Cost per watt across California residential installers, before financing.
Financing markup
0%
Dealer fee baked into a typical no-money-down loan versus the same cash system.
Quotes analyzed
Building
Live count updates as projects run through the marketplace.
Try it · Interactive

See the spread on a house like yours.

Move the slider to your monthly electric bill. The visualization shows the typical range of quotes a California homeowner would see for a same-scoped system, based on the cash cost-per-watt range Solar Connect observes across the market.

Your monthly bill
$220/mo
$100$350$600
Estimated system
5.5 kW
Annual usage
8,800 kWh
Three quotes for the same roof
Spread 50%
Low$2.80 / W
$15,400 cash
Median$3.50 / W
$19,250 cash
High$4.20 / W
$23,100 cash

Difference between low and high on this system: $7,700. Same equipment, same scope, three installers. This is what one-quote shopping typically leaves on the table — not a promised outcome, a typical pattern.

01

The spread isn't a mystery. It's the sales process.

Residential solar in California runs on a sales-driven pricing model. A homeowner asks for a quote, the installer sends a rep, and the rep quotes what the rep thinks the customer will accept — not what the system costs to install. Two installers with nearly identical equipment, install crews, and overhead can arrive at wildly different numbers for the same house because each one is anchoring off a different guess about the homeowner sitting across the table.

Once you see three quotes side by side for the same roof, the spread stops being an abstraction. The homeowner who accepts the first quote is often paying five figures more than the neighbor across the street with the same equipment.

The Solar Quote Spread Index is not a savings claim, a discount, or a promised outcome. It's a measurement: the gap between the highest and lowest price a real California homeowner receives from vetted installers for the same project scope. It exists so buyers can look at what the real market does before signing anything.

02

How we build the index.

i.
Scope-matched quotes
Every quote in a project is scoped to the same system size, equipment tier, and financing structure. We don't compare a cash quote to a lease.
ii.
Anonymized aggregation
Homeowner identity, address, and installer names are stripped from published data. Regional aggregates only publish once a ZIP crosses a minimum sample size.
iii.
Median, not average
Spread is calculated per project (high minus low, divided by low), then the regional index is the median project spread — not the average, to keep outliers from distorting it.
iv.
Cash vs financed, separately
We report cash-quote spread and financed-quote spread separately. Dealer fees on financed quotes add a distinct 20–35% layer that isn't fair to compare to cash pricing.

What's coming to this page.

  • a
    Live California-wide spreadMedian project spread across the entire Solar Connect network, updated as new quotes come in.
  • b
    Regional breakdowns by ZIPBay Area, LA, Central Valley, and San Diego first — each once its sample crosses statistical significance.
  • c
    Utility-territory cutsSpread inside PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, and public-utility service areas separately — rate structures drive different quote strategies.
  • d
    Cash vs financed comparisonSide-by-side view of how much a financing wrapper adds to a quote versus the equivalent cash price.
  • e
    Public methodology audit trailEvery methodology change published with a date and a reason. We show our work.
Add your project

Every project run through Solar Connect makes the next quote more accurate for the next homeowner.

Get quotes from vetted local installers — and see the spread on your own roof, side by side, without a sales call.

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Published July 21, 2026. Ranges shown reflect published California residential solar industry norms and Solar Connect's early quote observations. The interactive simulator uses the median cost-per-watt range across California installers (low $2.80/W, median $3.50/W, high $4.20/W) applied to a system sized from monthly bill via a standard California heuristic. Live Solar Connect numbers will replace industry benchmarks as sample sizes cross statistical significance. Nothing on this page is a promise of savings, payback, or system performance for any specific home.