The assumption that most often inflates a quote
New customers must enroll in Tier 4, which credits excess energy at 75 percent of the retail rate. Tier 1 at 95 percent, Tier 2 at 88 percent and Tier 3 at 81 percent are all closed.
Ask directly what export credit the savings projection applies. A model built on one-to-one crediting, or carried over from an earlier tier, overstates your return and it is the single easiest thing for a quote to get wrong.
Then ask what share of production the model assumes you consume yourself. Self-consumed electricity avoids a purchase at the full retail rate, so a higher assumed share produces a better-looking result, and whether that share is realistic depends on your household rather than the equipment.
Ask to see the same system on a more conservative self-consumption assumption. The gap between the two tells you how much of the promised return depends on behaviour you have not yet committed to.
What belongs in the contract
Get equipment specified by manufacturer and model number rather than by description. Model numbers are what make a warranty enforceable later and what let you compare two quotes on the same basis rather than on adjectives.
Establish who honours each warranty and for how long. Panels, inverter and workmanship are commonly covered by three different parties on three different terms, and a company that has left the market cannot support a workmanship warranty however well drafted.
Ask what the workmanship warranty covers on roof penetrations specifically. Leaks around mounting hardware are the most common physical failure in residential solar and they typically appear a few years in, long after the installation has been forgotten.
Get the production estimate into the contract along with what happens if actual production falls materially short. An estimate that appears only in a sales presentation is not a commitment.
Permits, timeline and the milestone that matters
Agree in writing who files the permit and who schedules inspections, and ask for the expected date of permission to operate rather than the installation date. Panels on a roof are not yet a system that earns anything.
Ask which building department has jurisdiction over your address, and ask your installer how many projects they have permitted with that authority. That is a fair proxy for whether they know the local process.
Ask what happens if the schedule slips, and who is responsible for chasing the utility and the building department when it does. A general assurance that everything is progressing is not an answer you can act on.
Ask for the production estimate to be modelled for your specific roof, orientation and shading rather than a regional average, and for a shading assessment covering the whole year rather than the hour of the site visit.
The tier you join, your association, and the federal credit
New Nevada customers must enroll in Tier 4, which credits excess energy at 75 percent of the retail rate, and keep that tier for a period of 20 years at the location where the system was originally installed. Earlier tiers credited 95, 88 and 81 percent and closed in August 2018, June 2019 and June 2020.
Because exports are credited at 75 percent while electricity you consume as it is generated avoids a purchase at the full retail rate, ask your installer to model the self-consumed share explicitly and value the remainder at 75 percent rather than at retail.
On associations, NRS 111.239 makes void and unenforceable any covenant that prohibits or unreasonably restricts an owner from using a system for obtaining solar energy, and treats a restriction reducing the effectiveness of the system by more than 10 percent as unreasonable. If a committee proposes moving your array, have your installer model both placements and put the difference in writing.
There is also a route that does not require litigation: under NRS 701.180(6) the Director of the Governor's Office of Energy shall make a determination within 30 days if asked to decide whether an unreasonable restriction has been placed on a solar energy system. Separately, the 30 percent Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.