Last updated October 31, 2026

How much to charge for solar work in 2026

The hourly rate a one-truck solar installer needs to charge, built from what solar installers actually earn, a price list for 13 common jobs with the arithmetic shown, what moves the number, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Short answer: a one-truck solar business that pays its owner what the median solar installer earns, carries normal overhead, and keeps a 20 percent margin needs about $85 an hour. To pay yourself like the top quarter of solar installers, charge about $90. Top ten percent, $105. Below $80 you are subsidizing the customer with your own wages. Every number on this page is built from published wage data and a model you can see, and the price list further down uses the $90 rate.

Solar is priced per watt installed, and the whole industry talks that way: a 7-kilowatt system at $2.80 a watt is $19,600. Inside that number are the panels, the inverter, the racking, the electrical, the permit, the interconnection paperwork and the labor of a crew on a roof, and the one-truck installer has to know where each dollar goes to price below the national sales companies without losing money.

The BLS tracks solar photovoltaic installers as their own occupation, with a wage between roofers and electricians, and a licensed electrician on the crew in most jurisdictions. The federal residential tax credit changed in 2025 and state incentives change yearly, so the bid states the gross price and lists incentives as the customer's to claim, never as a discount you are promising. That line alone keeps you out of the disputes that follow a changed rule.

What solar installers earn, and what that means for your rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 31,350 people working as solar photovoltaic installers in its May 2025 survey and published what they are paid. That is the wage an employer pays an employee, which is the floor for what an owner-operator should pay themselves. A rate is built on top of it: the hidden cost of an hour of labor, the overhead of running a truck, the hours you cannot bill, and a margin. The model here uses a 22% labor load for payroll taxes, workers comp and the liability share, $40,000 a year of overhead for the truck, insurance, phone, software, tools and licenses, 1,100 billable hours a year, and a 20% margin. Change any input and the rate moves; the hourly rate calculator runs it with your numbers.

If you pay yourself like the	BLS wage	Loaded	Overhead per hour	Rate to charge
Bottom quarter	$22	$27	$36	$80
Median	$26	$31	$36	$85
Top quarter	$30	$37	$36	$90
Top ten percent	$38	$47	$36	$105

Rate = (wage × 1.22 + $40,000 ÷ 1,100) ÷ (1 − 0.2), rounded to $5. Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, solar photovoltaic installers, national.

The $40,000 overhead covers a truck, racking and roof safety equipment, electrical test gear, the licensing and NABCEP certification many jurisdictions and utilities expect, insurance, and the software for design and permitting. Equipment is most of the price and is quoted from the distributor for each job; panel and inverter prices moved through 2025 with tariffs and should be quoted the week the bid goes out. A licensed electrician is on the crew or subbed, and the second BLS row shows that wage.

A solar price list, with the math

Flat prices for the jobs solar installers quote most, built the same way every time: hours at the $90 rate, plus materials at cost with a 30 percent markup, rounded to $5. The hours and material costs are example inputs for a typical job in a typical market, stated so you can swap in your own. A job with a crew of two doubles the labor line. Prices are for a standard composition shingle roof with a south or west face, a 200-amp panel with room for the interconnection, and a one-story house. Equipment costs are mid-range distributor pricing in 2026 and are quoted per job in practice.

Job	Labor	Materials at cost	Price	What it assumes
Site survey and design, per project	5 h	none	$450	Shade analysis, roof measurement, layout, utility application
Permitting and interconnection paperwork, per project	8 h	none	$720	Your hours; AHJ and utility fees as their own lines
Racking and attachments, per panel	0.6 h	$95	$180	Rail, flashed attachments, clamps
Panel installation, per panel, 400 W class	0.5 h	$215	$325	Panel at distributor cost
Microinverter, per panel	0.25 h	$160	$230	Enphase-class unit and cabling
String inverter, 7.6 kW, each	4 h	$1,700	$2,570	Alternative to microinverters
Electrical: disconnect, conduit, combiner, labels	10 h	$650	$1,745	Licensed electrician hours
Main panel breaker and interconnection	3 h	$140	$450	Line-side or load-side tap per code
Battery storage, 13.5 kWh, each	10 h	$9,500	$13,250	Battery, gateway, backup subpanel
Monitoring setup and commissioning	2 h	none	$180	App, utility inspection walk
EV charger added at install	3 h	$420	$815	Level 2, 50 A
Steep or tile roof surcharge, per panel	0.3 h	$20	$55	Tile hooks or extra safety
Main panel upgrade when required, 200 A	10 h	$1,300	$2,590	See electrical guide

Price = hours × $90 + materials × 1.3. Trip or diagnostic fees, permits and disposal are extra lines.

This is a sample. The free price book builder prices the full solar book, 32 jobs, with your own wage, overhead and margin, and gives you the PDF for the truck and the spreadsheet that keeps the formulas.

What moves the price

Roof. Composition shingle on a one-story house is the base. Tile, metal, steep pitch and two stories add hours per panel and attachments with their own cost.
Panel and service. A full 100-amp panel is a panel upgrade before anything else, and the bid says so with the price.
Equipment choice. Micro versus string inverters, panel wattage and brand, and a battery move the price by thousands. Quote the system you designed and offer the battery as an option.
Permits and the utility. The permit, the utility application and the inspection are weeks on the timeline and hours of your work. Put the hours in the price and the fees on their own lines.
Incentives. List the federal credit and any state or utility incentive as the customer's to claim, with the gross price as the price. Do not net them out of the bid.

Hourly, flat rate, or by the unit

Per watt, built from the bottom: equipment per panel at distributor cost with markup, racking and electrical per panel and per project, design and permitting hours, the licensed electrician's hours, the fees as lines. Then state the per-watt number because the customer will compare it. A one-truck installer who builds it up usually lands under the national companies, whose per-watt price carries a sales commission.

Battery, EV charger and panel upgrade as options on the same bid. A deposit that covers the equipment order, a progress payment at the installation, and the balance at permission to operate from the utility, since that is when the customer sees it work.

A worked solar bid

A 7.2-kilowatt system, 18 panels at 400 watts, microinverters, composition roof, one story, panel has room. Survey and design 5 hours, permitting 8 hours. Racking: 18 at 0.6 hours and $95. Panels: 18 at 0.5 hours and $215. Micros: 18 at 0.25 hours and $160. Electrical 10 hours and $650, interconnection 3 hours and $140, commissioning 2 hours. About 52 person-hours at the top-quarter rate from the table, a crew of three for two days plus the office hours. Equipment marked up 20 percent. Permit and utility fees as lines. That builds to roughly $2.40 to $2.80 per watt before the battery option.

National companies commonly quote $3 to $4 per watt for the same system, and the bid that shows the equipment, the hours and the fees is the one that wins the customer who got both. The sample solar estimate shows the finished bid.

The pricing mistakes that cost the most

Netting the tax credit out of the price. The rule changed in 2025; the customer who cannot claim it is now your problem.
Quoting before the shade analysis and the panel photo.
Equipment quoted from last month's price in a year with tariffs.
No progress payment, so the equipment sits on the roof for six weeks waiting on the utility while you wait on the money.

Writing the price into a bid that gets signed

The number is half the job. The other half is a bid the customer can say yes to from their phone: the scope in lines, one price, the deposit and payment terms, the warranty, a date it expires, and a signature. The free solar estimate template is laid out that way in PDF, Word and Excel, and How to bid solar jobs covers the scope lines that keep you out of arguments. If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns your notes into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Sources and method

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Solar photovoltaic installers, national percentile hourly wages and employment.
Also: Electricians, median $30 an hour, 757,220 employed.
Rate model: labor load 1.22, overhead $40,000 a year, 1,100 billable hours, 20% margin. Hours and material costs in the price list are example inputs, not survey data. Prices are examples, not advice for your market.

Questions contractors ask

How much do solar installers charge per watt in 2026?

National companies commonly quote $3 to $4 per watt installed; a one-truck installer building the price from equipment, hours and fees usually lands $2.30 to $3. Built from BLS wages, a small solar crew needs about $85 an hour per person at the median wage and $90 to earn like the top quarter, plus the electrician's hours.

How much should I mark up solar equipment?

Fifteen to twenty-five percent on panels, inverters and racking is common and covers the warranty service you will provide for years. Quote equipment the week the bid goes out.

Should I include the tax credit in the price?

No. State the gross price and list the federal credit and any state incentive as the customer's to claim with their tax advisor. Rules changed in 2025 and the bid should not promise them.

How should solar payments be structured?

A deposit that covers the equipment order, a progress payment when the system is installed, and the balance when the utility grants permission to operate.

How much should I add for a battery?

As an option on the bid: a 13.5 kWh battery with gateway and backup subpanel is about ten hours and $9,000 to $10,000 of equipment at 2026 distributor pricing, commonly $12,000 to $16,000 installed.

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