Cali-Graf guides

The two halves of Cali-Graf — the installer app and the public directory — and where each one starts.

A full Cali-Graf calculation on the tutorial's demo home — what each step decides and how it moves the numbers.

Why a solar contractor built a free proposal tool, the four jobs it was designed around, and what it promises installers.

Eighteen straight answers for installers and sales reps — what Cali-Graf costs, calculates, prints and keeps.

October 2026 release notes in one place: the new address, the new proposal, the help center and the directory.

Why Cali-Graf's contractor and equipment pages are open to every crawler, and how to verify what an AI says about a contractor.

How Cali-Graf's bill math is checked against real utility bills, and which inputs move a solar estimate the most.

The handful of assumptions that make two proposals for one roof disagree — and how to put them on the same footing.

What happens to the homeowner data an installer enters in Cali-Graf — who sees it, what is kept, and how to delete it.

What goes into a Cali-Graf production estimate — from the traced roof face to the hourly model and its 7.77% losses.

The public sources behind a Cali-Graf proposal, step by step, and what each one changes in the numbers.

What a layout drawn on aerial imagery gets right, where it misleads, and the checks that keep the site visit free of surprises.

How the roof editor applies California's R329.6 and the City of Los Angeles fire department's rules while the layout is drawn.

How to tell when the aerial image is out of date, and what to change in the design for each case.

Designing one solar system across the house and a garage, ADU or other building on the same lot.

The rules Cali-Graf follows to turn a home's usage and solar production into an LADWP bill, and where each shows in the result.

How Cali-Graf turns a home's hourly usage and solar into an SCE bill under the Net Billing Tariff, and what drives the savings.

When a year of hourly usage from your utility makes a solar estimate more accurate, how to download it, and what to send installers.

How to add an electric car, a heat pump or an ADU to a solar proposal before it exists — and when to leave it out.

Where an expired 30% tax credit can still hide in a solar quote's numbers, how to spot it in a minute, and what to ask.

What each page of a solar proposal should tell you, what to check on it, and the questions to ask before you sign.

The question each sheet of the proposal answers for the homeowner, what they usually ask there, and what's under the seller's control.

What the software catches before a proposal leaves your hands, the checks only you can make, and what California puts on the seller.

How to choose two or three solar options that answer the customer's real question, keep them comparable, and present them clearly.

A price built from dollars per watt, the battery and named extras: why it holds up through redesigns and reads cleanly to the customer.

Why the assumed yearly rate increase drives the 25-year savings, how to choose one you can explain, and when to re-run an old proposal.

The same battery saves real money on an SCE home and almost nothing on an LADWP one — how to explain that, choose the mode and show it in the proposal.

The datasheet limits that make a panel, inverter and battery work together, how to check them for a cold Los Angeles morning, and what Cali-Graf checks for you.

The two ways to design with Powerwall 3, the input limits the panels must fit, and how the number of units decides midday clipping.

What a homeowner sees on your Cali-Graf profile, where each fact comes from, how lists are ordered and how to get an error fixed.

A day-by-day first week for a new solar sales rep, built on Cali-Graf's tour, help center and the checks that keep proposals accurate.

What an address alone tells you before the appointment, the red flags worth a call first, and how to finish the proposal at the table.

The five things to check before a roofer or electrician works under your contract, and where to find each one in public records.

The questions that separate software built for Los Angeles bills and roofs from a generic calculator — and how Cali-Graf answers each.

What an electrical contractor already has for solar work, the three things that are new, and how to quote the first jobs without buying software.

How to go from "solar installers near me" to three licensed companies worth asking for a quote, using license records and real building permits.

A ten-minute check of the company and the salesperson behind a solar quote, from the license number on the paper to the permits on record.

The two lines on a contractor's license record homeowners misread most — the bond and the workers' comp status — and what each means for your project.

The checks that matter for a roofer specifically — license class, workers' comp that can't be waived, and a record of permitted re-roofs.

How a contractor's permits show what they actually build, how recently and where — and why a thin record isn't always a bad sign.

Two ways to check equipment against real permits: start from the installer and see what they install, or start from the product and see who installs it.

What to check before an electrician touches your service panel: the company's license, the people doing the work, the permit and a record of similar jobs.

The ordering rules behind Cali-Graf's contractor and equipment lists, what they favor, and an open account of the conflict of interest in a directory run by an installer.

Straight answers for homeowners who landed on Cali-Graf: who runs it, what the data is, what it isn't, and what happens if you ask for a quote.

How many C-46 solar license holders are listed in Southern California counties, how many appear on the loaded permit portals, and how concentrated their permitted work is.

How to find the exact model in a quote and check, on one page, that it's listed, what it really does, what's guaranteed and who installs it.

The handful of numbers that decide what a home battery does for you, what they mean in plain terms, and where to find them on one page.

The six numbers on a solar panel spec sheet worth understanding, what they mean on a hot Los Angeles roof, and how to compare panels side by side.

How to match the exact model numbers in a quote to the California Energy Commission's lists, and what to ask when a model isn't there.

The equipment that shows up most in Southern California building permits, by category, with how many licensed installers use each — and the limits of counting this way.

The two independent panel test programs quotes cite most, what they actually measure, and how to tell a model-level result from a brand-level badge.

What a quick city calculator assumes, what a design for your actual roof measures, and why the second number is usually lower — with a worked example.

The two temperature limits that set string length for string and hybrid inverters, worked through with a real panel and Southern California weather.

How much solar refills a home battery on an average December day versus June in six Southern California cities, and why a real outage is harder than the average.