Robert DeCandido

Review of Pick My Solar

I worked with Madeline - she was great. I would re...

I worked with Madeline - she was great. I would recommend anyone seriously considering going solar, and who is ready to receive bids to start with Pick My Solar. (Ultimately I did not select a Pick My Solar offer to me - but their process is the most helpful and easiest to deal with, of all the research/work I did on my own).

Pick My Solar is a very good site. They are middlemen yes, and will make a profit from you (and the install company) if you go through them. But if you want a one-stop place that can handle it all for you and who will work on your side and get you several good offers to compare/select: Pick My Solar is for you. I liked them very much: they are knowledgeable and have good connections. They will get you good offers, BUT if you use them as a starting point, you should be able to get a BEST offer yourself (that they will then price match anyway - or at least come sorta close).

So start with Pick My Solar. Have them get several bids for you - as they ask questions about your needs be honest with them. They really are good listeners and want you to get the best system they can design. And as I say above, if you are not a hands on consumer or in a hurry or not wanting to be bothered with details that you have to wade through, Pick My Solar will take that worry out of the equation - and do very well for you.

Here is where Pick My Solar and I went separate ways on my solar system: once I got several bids from Pick My Solar (they will show you three), I contacted the best solar installers in my area (do googles search and find 5 companies that consistently get 5 star reviews in your area. Call each of them and talk to them - they will each have on staff salespeople. Have them draw up proposals for you. Once you have those proposals in hand, compare them to the Pick My Solar bids. And then tell one or two of those companies, that "hey, look, Pick My Solar did this design for this (X) price..if you can give me the same wattage and basically match their design/system for 10-15% less, I will sign a contract with you." Those companies will come down in price I guarantee it (so long as you seem serious about purchasing a system). Once you have that company's final bid, ask Pick My Solar to match it: you will find that their three final best offers which they told you were their final best offers - were not indeed their best! They will match (almost...close but not quite) the direct offers you received from each company (but from a different installer - one they often work with locally). So yes you are using Pick My Solar against the best companies in your area, and then the local offers to get Pick My Solar to price match...If you are uncomfortable negotiating like this - don't do it. But you should know that each of these companies will try and get $2,000-3,000 (at least) from you, that you could get them to come down on if you play one off against the other. Why should they get your money and not you?