Costco/Sunrun Quote - $19K for 5.225kW system. Thoughts?

Yea, I'm in 92026. Nothin' too serious around here.

What's up guys. I used to work for them like a year ago but actually got my system from one of the installers directly. He did a great job on my clay tile roof and can definitely do $3 or even less. DM me if you're serious about comparing prices and I'll forward you his info, he's in SoCal.

Could you forward me the installer contact? I am in San Diego and my roof is clay tile. Thanks.

That post is 7 months old. I suspect Bobbydobb is not listening.

There are no PM's on this forum.

Note: Fed. tax credit for new PV installs drops from 30% to 26 % on 01/01/2020. You may find it tough to get in under the wire. Just sayin'.

Stick with licensed, local and established electrical contractors who've been around at least 10 years and sold PV for at least 5.

Pay more attention, or at least as much attention to vendor choice/selection as what they are selling. At this stage of the tech., beyond some basic level, PV equipment is mostly a commodity. Vendors are not. A good vendor is worth a premium. The roof is the last place to go low bid as the only selection criterion, or shopping on low price alone. Negotiate tough but fair and remember, everything is negotiable.

Note: If some vendor wants to cheap out and replace the clay tiles under the array w/comp. shingles for your application, show them the door. Allow that and you're buying potential problems. Clay is a bit tougher to work on but it can be done. I've watched many in my HOA. It doesn't take much, if any longer than working on flat concrete tiles. Replacing tiles under the array w/comp. shingles is to the vendor benefit only, not yours.

If you are not already, you'll be on T.O.U. rates w/SDG & E after PV install. Because of the ways and the times T.O.U. rates have been changed, PV is about 20 - 24 % or so less cost effective than it was under the old rates/tariff schedules. That, in effect, stretched payback times/reduced ROI's by ~ 25 - 30 % compared to the old rates/times making PV less cost effective. Vendors probably won't mention that.

Welcome to the neighborhood and the forum of few(er) illusions.

I might add, the important issue is the waterproofing membrane under the tiles and how the the stanchions are waterproofed. Clay tiles are mostly decorative and while a considerable amount of rainfall is shed by them, the underlying membrane is the ultimate defense against leaks. The tiles also serve to protect that membrane from the sun for the most part.

Ampster: I actually agree with you on those points. But that's not why I'm of the opinion it's a bad idea changing roof materials under an array - or most any place else on a roof for that matter.

For the OP:

I mention the comp. shingle situation only because I've seen such goings on and have observed problem(s) with vendors replacing tiles w/ comp. shingles.

As I've seen it, and in spite of vendors swearing up/down it'll never happen, the interface between the comp. and the tiles is a potential leaker - particularly at the comp./tile interface at the bottom of the array. I'm aware of overlaps/sealing, etc. and I've done such roofing more times than I'd like, but my experience is that if bad things are going to happen, the have a higher probability of occurring when things change - like at seams or when materials change. Then, and to make things worse, most vendors, at least to my experience, want to leave a row of tiles under the array around the perimeter mostly for appearances and I suspect to make their work less visible, and maybe some additional reasons I'm unaware of. Whatever the reason(s), that makes for a less accessible situation for inspection and service at a more likely failure point. So, a more leak prone joint/seam in a less accessible area. Not something that sounds good to me.

And for what purpose in the first place ? Maybe I'm full of chit, but by my observation of the 150 or so arrays in my HOA, all of which I'm pretty familiar with, for the few that got the comp. shingle treatment early on in my tenure w/the arch. rev. comm., and all of which are on either flat concrete or mission style tiles, it seems the time required to install is about the same and the crew sizes are similar.

So far, one of 6 (I think) that got the comp. shingle treatment has had a leak and 2 or 3 of the others have streaks on the roof below the arrays. Nice touch.

Bottom line: I can't think of an advantage to the homeowner by replacing tiles under an array w/comp. shingles beyond some bogus B.S. from vendors.

I can see a lot of potential problems that simply don't need to be created in the first place.

What I have seen is some vendors using it as a tactic to increase the price of a job. As in:" Ya know Mr. & Mrs. Fanork, those tiles of yours sure do break easily. We've got to charge you more because being careful will take more time and we can't guarantee we won't break a few tiles - and good luck on getting a match with the replacements. But, there's a way to reduce that charge for little more than the sum of some comp. roofing and a few nails....".

I've also had otherwise very reputable vendors (Baker being one) swear up/down that arrays cannot be put over mission style tiles. In such cases I point to several arrays around the HOA to disprove that statement - ironically, one was Baker's. In Baker's case, they found a way to get the job done and leave the mission tile intact without breaking any tile and not increasing the price.

I can see some advantage for the vendor in such a comp. shingle scam but at a cost to the homeowner in that the crews may be able to be a bit less careful in walking over the tiles. I get that.

One thing I don't get in that argument is why they don't need to be as careful for the tiles that wouldn't get replaced.

At least one HOA I'm aware of now disallows changing roof materials under an array. The kicker that created that HOA guideline was when a Solarchitty leased array was removed after the home changed hands. After array removal the comp. shingle barn job was covered by tiles that didn't match too well, and that created a problem that took some time/$$ to resolve. About the only good to come of that was that the barn job wasn't on the roof long enough to have had time to leak, but getting a uniform appearance on the roof was a problem.

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

Hi, I just bareley got an email notification about the reply's. You CAN install through the clay, but remember if you step on Terracota it will break so your cost is much higher. Concrete tiles are easier to work with and cost less.

Here's the breakdown for my system.
My bill was only $115/ mo average and my solar is $88/month.
Thats an 18 panel system 5.85kW 2 inverters
20 yr warranty
over 10,100 kwh generation per year
Loan is 20 year 4.99% which you can get lower interest on now i beleive.

So for 10,000 KWH/yr and 4.99% interest it costs like $90 a month (premium black on black panels). My grid doesn't pay me for extra power they just give me credits to use later.

Text my google voice number if you want to go through the same guy. 8182529422

For this system Sunrun will charge around $25k-$30k

FWIW, in my experience w/Sunrun they have shown me that they are less than professional and less than fit for purpose compared to other vendors.

My guess is you can do much better quality wise and price wise with an established local vendor.

$27,500/5,850 STC W = $4.70/STC W. That's ~ $1.50/STC W higher than you can probably get from quality local vendors. Current pricing in CA is ~ $3.00 - $3.25/STC W or so.

I paid $4.50/STC W in 2013 for an overpriced Sunpower system from a quality vendor. At $4.70/STC W, Sunrun is trying to screw you, but suit yourself.

I sure hope you're not leasing or thinking about a PPA w/Sunrun. Most folks have wised up to that game by now.

Maybe your misread his post. He is NOT recommending Sunrun. He just mentioned them as an expensive option compared to a local installer he has worked with.

My error. Age related cranial flatulence. My speed reading ain't what it used to be. Apologies to all.

But SunRun is still a bottom feeder.

I guess it all depends on what the underlying waterproofing material originally was. For example, most older tile roofs only used 30 lbs felt in which case it would be wise to change to a bitumen or similar waterproofing all the way to the ridge. That way a good seal around the standoffs could be done as well as improve upon the limits of 30 lbs felt. It would be difficult to make a waterproof transition to that old material.
I agree with the concept that changing materials is generally a bad idea unless improvements can be made.

From my perspective, and for the specific matter of replacing roofing materials under an array, while the underlayment is indeed the most effective and usually most important water barrier on a tile roof, that underlayment is not necessarily part of the discussion in the somewhat limited context of changing roofing materials under an array and the problems such actions can cause for no benefit to the homeowner.