Proposal Autopsy: The Proposal with No Total Paid

The proposal

A two-page summary for a Buffalo homeowner, delivered as a PDF after one in-home visit. The proposal is warm, well designed, and has stock photos of roof installs on a brighter, sunnier home than anything in WNY. It leads with a monthly number and a four-color savings chart. What follows is what is actually in it, redacted and compressed.

Proposal B (redacted)

Buffalo, NY · lease-style · 25-year term

Page 1: the sales page

• "Go solar for as low as $149/month."1
• "Save up to $40,000 over 25 years."2
• "No money down. No upfront cost."3
• Stock photo of a well-lit roof with panels
• Logo carousel: four panel manufacturers, two inverter brands, one monitoring platform

Page 2: the fine print

• "System sized to offset approximately 95% of current usage."4
• "High-efficiency Tier 1 modules."5
• "Industry-leading production assumptions."6
• "Warranties included."7
• "Annual escalator applies."8
• "Subject to credit approval and site qualification."9

1. 1

   Starting monthly. No indication of escalator, term, or total paid. 'As low as' hedges the number. This is the entirety of the cost disclosure on page one.

2. 2

   'Up to.' A ceiling, not a floor. The savings math behind it is not shown here or on page two. For a 25-year projection to mean anything, the reader needs to see the utility-rate assumption and the escalator. Neither is in the document.

3. 3

   True for a lease or PPA. Also true of many loans that bundle fees into the system price. Neither structure is free; it just moves the cost to another place.

4. 4

   Not shown: the specific kW-DC size, the production estimate in kWh, or the usage baseline. 'Approximately 95%' is not a design number. It is a marketing number.

5. 5

   Tier 1 is a bankability label for manufacturers, not a residential performance guarantee. No model number means the reader has no way to verify the panel, the warranty, or the production data sheet.

6. 6

   No software named. No shading analysis referenced. 'Industry-leading' is marketing, not a number. This sentence belongs in a brochure, not a proposal.

7. 7

   One word. Real warranties are four separate documents with different durations: panel power, panel product, inverter, workmanship. The reader does not know which of these they are getting or for how long.

8. 8

   The escalator is the most consequential number in a lease-style product, and it appears here as a passive three-word clause. The actual percentage, the compounded impact over the 25-year term, and the buyout schedule are all absent.

9. 9

   This is the sentence that tells you the proposal is not really a proposal. It is a brochure. A real proposal has survived the homeowner's credit check and the site visit before it is issued.

What is missing, by name

The following numbers are not in the document and should be:

• System size in kW-DC.
• Panel manufacturer and model.
• Inverter manufacturer and model.
• Year-one production estimate in kWh.
• Production software used to generate the estimate.
• Cash price for the same scope.
• Total paid over the full term, in dollars.
• Escalator percentage.
• Buyout schedule for the lease, year by year.
• Warranty documents by name, with durations.
• Site assessment summary.
• Assumed utility-rate inflation used for the savings projection.

That is a long list. In a healthy proposal, most of it is on two pages. When a proposal looks thin, it is usually because those numbers are not yet decided, not yet verified, or not yet disclosed.

What to ask for

One short email to the installer

• [ ] The three specific numbers

  System size in kW-DC, year-one kWh production, total paid in dollars over the full term.

• [ ] The three specific pieces of equipment

  Panel model, inverter model, and mounting system.

• [ ] The one honest disclosure

  The exact escalator and the cumulative dollar impact over the full term.

• [ ] The four warranty PDFs

  Panel power, panel product, inverter, workmanship. Ask for each by name.

A good installer will respond quickly and clearly. A weak installer will stall, restate the "low monthly," or offer a call instead of an email. The email is the diligence. The call is the close.

Watch for these follow-ups

• Numbers arrive only on a second call, not in writing.
• The escalator is described but the dollar impact is declined.
• The site visit is still pending but a contract is pushed.
• The reply reframes your asks as 'overthinking it.'

Methodology note

Drawn from a real 2026 lease-style proposal issued in Buffalo. The redactions are our own; the patterns are not unique to one provider. Lease-style and PPA proposals are often lighter in disclosure than financed ownership proposals because the business model does not require the same paperwork at the homeowner level. That is exactly why the homeowner has to ask.

Recommended tool

Walks the same five-number frame across any proposal and tells you which boxes this one fails.

Open the full quote audit

Keep reading

• Autopsy: the dealer fee ate the deal

  When the numbers are there and still hiding a gap.

• Autopsy: the lease dressed as ownership

  A lease whose marketing implies purchase.

• How to read a solar quote before you sign

  The five numbers that belong in every proposal.

• The seven questions before signing

  A triage list, short enough for a phone call.

FAQ

If the proposal does not list the total paid, does that make the installer dishonest?

Not necessarily. Sometimes it is lazy formatting; sometimes it is deliberate. Either way, asking for the number is reasonable. The installer's response is usually the signal, not the original omission.

What is the minimum set of numbers a proposal should contain?

System size in kW-DC, panel model and count, inverter model, first-year production estimate in kWh, cash price, total paid over financed term if financed, escalator (if any), and warranty durations by line item. Most good proposals include more; good proposals never include less.