America’s Top 2 Marketplaces — Which is Right For You?
You have already done your homework and you are well educated on all the great benefits of going solar:
- The day 1 savings
- The overall lifetime savings
- The reduction of your carbon footprint
- The increased value to your home
- The ability to create your own energy independence
- Taking advantage of all the incentives / rebates before they expire
- Avoiding the coming electricity hikes over the next 20 years
However, with so many solar panel installers out there, how are you supposed to find the most affordable and highest quality installer? This is where online solar marketplaces can serve as a valuable resource.
Solar energy for your home has become as a very viable alternative to electric power from the grid. The efficiency of solar panels has significantly improved resulting in a corresponding drop in equipment costs to never before seen levels. Pair these favorable economics with
both federal and often local incentives/tax breaks*, and it is clear that there has never been a better time to go solar!
In today’s solar market, two innovative companies have created online solar marketplaces to help you compare solar bids to ensure you get the best rates and highest quality installers in your local area; Pick My Solar and EnergySage.
While Pick My Solar takes the full-service approach, EnergySage is designed for a self-service approach where you handle the entire process. Everyone has different needs and requests, so this article will break down 9 differentiating factors between the two platforms.
Just like Uber and Lyft, the business models are similar, but there are differentiating factors.
- The Time Commitment on Your End
- The Number of Online Solar Quotes You Receive
- The Vetting of the Best Local Solar Installers in Your Area
- Site Visit Requirements vs. Remote Design Capabilities
- Areas Served
- Solar System Production Guarantees
- Contract Differences
- Overall Cost to Go Solar and Potential Savings
- Signed Contract to Installation Process
Your Required Time Commitment When Going Solar
One of the most valued commodities is time. So how much time will you need to invest to go solar? The short answer is roughly 10–15 hours less with Pick My Solar. At Pick My Solar, you are provided your own solar concierge from the very beginning. Your personal solar expert will:
- Collect necessary project information (name, address, current electric bill, etc.)
- Remotely design your solar energy system (no need for home visits to take pictures or measurements)
- Send out the design to be reviewed by installers in your area
- Gather your bids (up to 15) and then provide you with the top 3 based on over 50 factors
- Handle all negotiations between you and your potential solar installers
There are NO harassing sales calls to handle on your end nor will installers have to come to your home to do a system design! Based on
customer feedback: EnergySage’s process is quite different. They offer a more hands on platform. YOU are responsible for:
- Analyzing every bid your project receives
- Interviewing solar panel installers
- Handling your own sales process
- Having the installers at your home to take measurements and pictures
You’ll need to give EnergySage your information, they will send it out to installers, and you will receive every single bid placed on your project. This requires a much more hands on process for you. You need to research every bid (compared to receiving the top 3 recommended bids) and you also need to handle all communication; speaking to installers, having them in your home, etc. This can become overwhelming for many homeowners.
If you want to spend 15–20 minutes with a trusted solar expert and then have everything handled on their end, Pick My Solar has the edge here.
If you want to be extremely hands on, analyze your bids, manage all communication, and have installers at your home, then EnergySage has the edge. Deciding which is a better platform in terms of time commitment is completely up to you and your personal needs.
Edge: Depends on Personal Preferences
Online Solar Quotes and The Vetting of the Best Local Solar Installers
Once you provide your information to EnergySage and Pick My Solar, what happens next is very different. At Pick My Solar, up to 15 bids on your project are gathered but you only receive 3. Why? Because at Pick My Solar, making going solar as stress free as possible is the top priority. Once all the bids on your project are received, Pick My Solar vets these solar bids using over 50 factors including:
- Quality of the solar installer
- Quality of solar equipment used
- Warranties offered
- Overall cost of solar installation
Once Pick My Solar has analyzed all the online solar quotes your project received, their algorithm sorts out the top 3 bids for your specific project and those 3 bids are sent your way. This alone saves customers over 6 hours of researching, vetting, and prospecting. Why spend hours calling installers when it could be done for you?
Well everybody is different. Some homeowners may have the time or desire to do it all on their own. EnergySage may be a better option for that individual. EnergySage gathers the bids for you, then leaves it to you to complete your own research and evaluate each bid. Bids are sent to you via an online dashboard and then it is your responsibility to analyze the data, contact the installers, and complete the sales process through phone calls and home visits. EnergySage will give you side-by-side comparisons and some research tools, but it is up to you to do the grunt work.
This is great for the consumer who wants to handle the whole process but there are still problems with EnergySage’s self-service method. Few consumers are educated about the complexities of solar technologies. How as a consumer, are you supposed to know:
- If your house needs industry-standard or premium solar panels?
- What about microinverters vs. string inverters?
- Are you sure you are getting the right size system to offset your home’s energy usage?
- Is your solar energy system the right size to handle any future changes in electricity demand, like adding an electric vehicle?
The truth is you most likely don’t know the answers to these questions and you have to take the word of the installer. That is why Pick My Solar offers a full-service platform. Pick My Solar’s independent solar experts can answer all your questions along the way, and they’re only interested in getting the best deal for you, the homeowner. They handle all interactions with the installers to ensure you are never getting overcharged, and more importantly, you are getting the right equipment for your energy needs.
Edge: Depends on Personal Preferences
Remote Designs of Your Solar System
When it comes to the remote design of your solar panel system, there is no debate. Pick My Solar has the clear-cut edge. Both online solar marketplaces collect the basic information (name, address, phone number, monthly electric bill). It’s what happens next that gives Pick My Solar the edge in this category.
When submitting your information on EnergySage’s platform, your information is posted for installers to view and bid on. Each individual
installer must now do a design on your project. These designs are typically drafted quickly and by no means final, it just allows the installers a chance to put a bid in front of you (regardless of detail or accuracy). The design will need to be finalized before a contract is signed. This either happens through additional phone/email communication or a home visit. Because of these extra steps, additional costs are incurred by the installer which is reflected in the prices you receive. It also becomes very repetitive for a homeowner to go through each of these bids and finalize the designs to get to the point of a final contract.
At Pick My Solar, everything is done in-house. An in-house engineering team will create a 3D design of your solar energy system using enhanced satellite imagery and top of the line solar engineering software. This allows your installer to already have the exact dimensions and layout of your system so the only time you need to meet with him/her is when they come to start the solar panel installation.
Edge: Pick My Solar
Areas Served
Due to the Pick My Solar business model (helping you every step of the way — bid collection all the way through post installation) it takes time to make sure everything is in place before location expansion.
Since EnergySage’s business model is designed to be a more hands off process, they can expand faster. With EnergySage being able to expand faster, they currently operate in more states. Pick My Solar does however have plans to expand across all 50 states, but for now, EnergySage operates in more locations.
Edge: Depends on your location / EnergySage
Solar Production Guarantees
When you buy a high-ticket item like an entire solar energy system for your home, you are going to want to know if the company you are working with will offer you any guarantees:
- Pick My Solar GUARANTEES your solar energy production for the entire first year after installation.
- EnergySage offers NO GUARANTEES on their solar panel installations.
Pick My Solar has a high level of confidence in their installers and their process which enables the Pick My Solar 1-year Production Guarantee. Most issues with energy production occur in the first year due to poor installation practices and the Pick My Solar 1-year Production Guarantee addresses this concern for homeowners.
EnergySage does not offer any production guarantees. Their hands off approach leaves too many moving parts that prevents them from being able to take any liability or offer any guarantees.
EnergySage is not selling you a system, they have their partners do the work, and therefore can’t stand behind their partners’ offerings.
Unlike EnergySage and the rest of their competitors, Pick My Solar’s job isn’t done once we send you your solar bids. From your initial consultation call to months after the solar panel installation, Pick My Solar is with you every step of the way.
Edge: Pick My Solar
Contract Differences
When you are about to sign off on a big purchase, you usually receive a big contract that you need to sift through to make sure you understand all the language, terms, stipulations, etc. Everyone knows how tedious this can be. That is why when you go through Pick My Solar it is required that the installers use a contract provided by Pick My Solar, not their own standard contract.
After evaluating over 100 contracts from their solar installer network, Pick My Solar developed a standard residential solar contract which includes significant consumer protections which are left out of many individual installer’s contracts. This allows you to feel comfortable signing off on your solar energy system without having to sift through every clause and term — Pick My Solar did it for you.
Since EnergySage doesn’t work with you in-depth once they send you bids, they allow the installers to use their own contracts. This isn’t a huge setback if you are comfortable taking the time to sit down and go through the contract page-by-page and potentially seek legal advice. If you want to be all-hands-on-deck and evaluate your entire contract, this is not a differentiating point in the two online solar platforms.
Edge: Pick My Solar
The Cost of Installing Solar Panels Through an Online Solar Marketplace
Besides the time that you save by using an online solar marketplace, you save more money than if you went directly through the installer!
While that statement is indeed true for both marketplaces, Pick My Solar saves you more time and money than EnergySage’s platform does (in most cases). How? With EnergySage, the solar installer’s salespeople use EnergySage’s platform to contact you. This leaves 2 commissions
being incorporated into your project cost (salesperson’s commission + EnergySage’s fee). At Pick My Solar, their marketplace is designed to eliminate the solar installer’s sales force and their commissions. The result? You will probably pay less. On average using the Pick My Solar platform will save you $4,375 more than the market average.
This can be achieved because the solar experts at Pick My Solar not only make the process incredibly easy for you, but they also remove all the leg work on the solar installer’s end as well. Their software has optimized the process for all parties.
Edge: Pick My Solar
Signed Contract to Installation Process
Once a homeowner has signed a contract, there is typically a 1–3 month time frame until the system is up and running. During this time frame, obstacles could potentially come up. If a homeowner is dealing directly with an installer, that’s their only line of help. By using Pick My Solar it allows for a third party to help push the project forward.
Pick My Solar stays hands-on once a contract is signed. A dedicated representative is in constant contact with the homeowner and installer. Pick My Solar essentially plays “big brother” for homeowners to ensure that there are no upsells after the contract is signed.
It is important to understand that installing solar panels is a construction project; sometimes, things do happen. That is why your friendly solar expert at Pick My Solar is there to handle any problems that may arise and to ensure that you are as happy as possible with your new solar energy system. Pick My Solar also offers free system production monitoring and sends their customers quarterly reports to update them on the performance of their solar system.
EnergySage is out of the picture once you have received bids on their platform — they are simply a connection service. Once your contract is signed, it is your responsibility to handle any problems that may arise with the solar installer or the actual construction of your solar project.
Edge: Pick My Solar
Conclusion
At the end of the day, every homeowner is different and every homeowner has their own personal needs. The type of experience you are looking for when you decide to go solar will dictate which online solar marketplace is best for you and your home.
Pick My Solar:
- Collects your basic information
- Meet your very own personal solar expert
- Collects every bid from local solar installers (up to 15)
- Performs a full analysis and then sends you the best 3 solar bids (based on factors such as price, quality, guarantees)
- Remotely designs your solar system
- Introduces you to your installer via email
- You sign the Pick My Solar provided contract
- You meet your installer the day of installation (first face to face interaction)
- Will stay in touch months after installation to ensure you’re completely satisfied
EnergySage
- You submit your information
- You receive every bid submitted
- You analyze the bids on your own
- You analyze the equipment used by each installer
- You interview installers to reach a decision
- You select one of the 7–10 online solar quotes you receive
- You find a time for the installer to come to your home to design system (plan on 1–2 visits)
- You review the Installer’s contract — (make sure you understand everything in it)
- You have your installer you chose at your home for your solar panel installation
If you want to be extremely hands on and manage everything from start to finish, EnergySage has the edge. If you want to be efficiently guided through the going solar process, then Pick My Solar’s marketplace is right for you. At Pick My Solar, the job isn’t done once you have received your bids; from the initial phone consultation to months after installation, Pick My Solar is with you every step of the way.
