Sales Process

The Solar Sales Proposal Workflow: From Appointment to Signed Contract

Quick answer

A solar sales proposal is where a qualified appointment turns into, or fails to turn into, a signed contract. It has to present offset percentage, price per watt, and, increasingly in 2026, a genuine side-by-side of cash, loan, and third-party-ownership options, since TPO is expected to make up 65% of reps' books this year, up from 44% in 2025. Design and proposal software matters less than whether the close actually walks the homeowner through every financing path, not just the one the rep is most comfortable selling.

By VA Horizon Team · July 19, 2026 · 8 min read

What a Proposal Actually Has to Cover

A solar proposal centers on two numbers a homeowner needs to understand clearly: offset percentage, the share of their electric usage the system is sized to cover, and price per watt, distinguished pre-fee versus post-fee (Aurora Solar Glossary, EcoFlow). Both numbers change depending on which financing path the homeowner ultimately picks, which is exactly why the proposal cannot present just one.

Why the Financing Conversation Cannot Be an Afterthought in 2026

Section 25D, the federal residential clean-energy tax credit, ended for any system installed on or after January 1, 2026. Cash and loan buyers now get zero federal credit. The only remaining path to a comparable credit is Section 48E, claimed by the system's owner, which is only available under third-party-ownership structures like a lease or PPA (SEIA). That single fact rewired the proposal conversation: TPO share is expected to hit 65% of reps' books in 2026, up from 44% in 2025, and customer-owned share fell from 54% to 43% during 2024 while TPO grew from 40% to 52% (Aurora Solar, IntegrateSun). A rep pitching only a cash or loan deal in 2026 is presenting an incomplete proposal, not a simpler one.

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The Software Layer: Tool-Neutral, But Real

Aurora Solar is one of the more visible names in residential solar design and proposal software (Aurora Solar), and several other platforms compete in the same category. This is not a tool recommendation. What actually determines whether a proposal converts is the completeness of the financing comparison inside it, not which software renders the shading report or generates the layout faster.

The Proposal's Job Is to Set Up a Fair Fight Between Financing Options

A pay-per-sit appointment is financing-agnostic: it converts whether the homeowner ends up paying cash, financing a loan, or signing a TPO agreement. The proposal is where that flexibility either gets used or wasted. A rep who can only pitch one financing path is turning a financing-agnostic appointment into a financing-restricted proposal, and given how fast TPO is taking share, that restriction is a real cost, not a simplification.

What this means for you

A proposal has to present offset percentage and price per watt across every financing path the homeowner could choose, not just one.
Section 25D's expiration on January 1, 2026 means cash and loan buyers get zero federal credit; only TPO structures can reach Section 48E, which is why TPO is expected to hit 65% of reps' books this year.
Proposal software, Aurora Solar among others, matters less than whether the proposal actually covers every financing option a financing-agnostic appointment made possible.

Sources

The external data in this guide draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.

FAQ

What should a solar sales proposal include?

Offset percentage (the share of usage the system covers), price per watt distinguished pre-fee and post-fee, and a real comparison across cash, loan, and third-party-ownership financing paths, since each path changes both numbers.

Why does financing matter more in a solar proposal now than before 2026?

Because Section 25D, the federal residential tax credit, ended for systems installed on or after January 1, 2026. Cash and loan buyers get zero federal credit now; only third-party-ownership structures can reach the remaining Section 48E credit, which is reshaping which financing path homeowners actually want presented.

What software do solar companies use to build proposals?

Aurora Solar is one of the more visible platforms in the category, alongside several other residential solar design and proposal tools. The specific software matters less than whether the proposal itself covers every financing option available to the homeowner.

What is offset percentage in a solar proposal?

The share of a home's electric usage a proposed system is sized to cover. It is one of the two core numbers, alongside price per watt, that a proposal has to present clearly across every financing path being compared.

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