Pricing a Solar Proposal in $/W, With Extras the Customer Can Read
Most installers quote solar in dollars per watt, and a proposal priced that way has one big advantage: when the roof changes, the price changes with it. In Cali-Graf, the free design and proposal app built by Cali Energy, a Los Angeles solar and roofing contractor, the seller types the solar price per watt, the battery price for all units and up to 20 extras — a main panel upgrade, roof work, a trench to a detached garage — each with an amount and a plain description. The software multiplies the per-watt price by the system's DC size, adds the rest into one Total system cost, and uses that total everywhere: payback, 25-year savings and the proposal's price sheet, where each extra is printed exactly as written. No federal tax credit is subtracted and no rebate is added. What's left to the seller is the part the customer will judge: a per-watt number that covers the solar work, and extras that are named rather than buried.
How the price is put together
| Line | What it covers | How Cali-Graf uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Solar price, $/W | Panels, inverters, racking, installation — the solar system itself | × the system's DC size; shown under the field as what it comes to for this roof |
| Battery price | All battery units together | Added as one line |
| Extras, up to 20 | Work outside the solar price: a main panel upgrade, roof repairs, trenching | Each line added to the total and printed as typed; a line without an amount isn't printed |
| Total system cost | The sum | The price in the result, the payback, the 25-year savings and the proposal |
Why $/W holds up through redesigns
A per-watt price follows the roof. Remove two panels to clear a vent, fill a garage roof, or make a smaller Option 2 — the solar line recalculates with the new DC size, and the payback and savings with it. A fixed dollar price, typed once, would quietly stop matching the design. That matters most when you build several options for one customer: each copy keeps the same per-watt price, so the options differ only by what actually changed. See good, better, best options.
Two guardrails catch typos: a per-watt price outside the typical $2–6 range is flagged as a likely misplaced decimal point, and the PDF won't build without a solar price or with an extra that has no amount.
Extras: name them, don't bury them
Extras are where proposals lose customers' trust — either because a cost appears late, or because it's hidden in a per-watt number nobody can check. A named line answers the question before it's asked:
| Write it like this | Not like this |
|---|---|
| Main panel upgrade to 200 A | MPU |
| Roof repair under the array — replace damaged decking | Roof work |
| Trench and conduit to the detached garage, 60 ft | Trenching |
| Critical-loads subpanel for battery backup | Misc. electrical |
Every line goes into the total, so it counts in the payback and the 25-year savings — as it should, since the customer pays for it whether it's named or not. When a panel upgrade is in play, our guides on whether you need a main panel upgrade for solar and panel upgrade costs in Los Angeles help the customer see why it's there.
Set your usual numbers once
If you quote the same price most days, put it in Settings → New calculations start with: the price per watt (anywhere from $0.50 to $20), the rate growth per year for the 25-year forecast (3.4% if you don't set one) and the usual payment. Every new calculation starts with them; existing ones keep their values, and any calculation can still be changed. A default saves typing — it doesn't replace looking at each job's extras.
Set your price per watt in Cali-Graf once and watch the total follow the roof as you redesign.
Loans: the price stays the price
With a loan, the price lines stay the same and the lender's numbers come on top. Loan programs appear only for companies whose lender is set up in Cali-Graf; the seller enters the total financed amount from the lender's quote, which can't be more than the system price, and Cali-Graf shows any program benefits as the system price minus the financed amount. The result then shows the loan payment, the bill plus the payment, and the 25-year savings after all payments. A low advertised rate can carry a large fee built into the loan; the cash price is the number to compare, as solar loan dealer fees explains.
What the customer sees
On the proposal's Price and approval sheet: one price for the complete system, line by line — the solar system with its size and panel count, the battery, each extra as written — then how they pay. On the savings sheet, Cost per kWh puts the price in the customer's terms: what they pay for the system divided by the kWh it makes over 25 years, next to what a kWh from the utility costs today. Whether the price itself is fair is something customers check against the market; current Los Angeles numbers are in solar panel cost in Los Angeles.
Frequently asked
How do you price a solar proposal per watt?
What should be listed as extras in a solar quote?
Do extras count in the payback?
Can I set a default price per watt?
Does Cali-Graf subtract the federal tax credit or rebates from the price?
Related reading
Sources & methodology
Product facts on this page come from Cali-Graf's own help center and the pages linked below; figures in examples come from the stated inputs. Features, limits and supported utilities change; each was verified October 16, 2026.
- Cali-Graf Help — Set the system price
- Cali-Graf Help — Add extras: panel upgrade, roof work, trenching
- Cali-Graf Help — Set defaults for new calculations
- Cali-Graf Help — Cash or loan
- Cali-Graf Help — Proposal numbers explained
- Cali-Graf Help — Federal tax credit
- IRS — Residential Clean Energy Credit
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Issue Spotlight: Solar Financing (dealer fees built into solar loans)
Price your next job in $/W with named extras
Set your usual price per watt once, add the battery and each extra in plain words, and the total, payback and cost per kWh follow every redesign. Free in Cali-Graf, with daily fair-use limits. What a system costs is yours to set; market data is in our solar cost guide.
Prepared by Cali Energy, October 16, 2026. This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax, financial, engineering, or utility advice. Rates, incentives, codes, permit requirements, equipment specifications, prices, and program terms may change; figures and timelines are estimates, not guarantees. Confirm current requirements with the applicable utility, AHJ, program administrator, manufacturer, or a licensed professional. See our Content Disclaimer. Cali Energy · 19201 Parthenia St, Unit E, Northridge, CA 91324 · CSLB #1032379 (B, C-10, C-39)