Equipment for a grid-tied solar kit runs just under a dollar per watt right now. That number comes from our own builder, dated: a 10.5kW grid-tied package (18 panels, an EG4 18kPV inverter, a GridBOSS, and the full Tigo rapid-shutdown set) configured on our site's builder in July 2026 came to $9,824 in equipment, before roof racking. That works out to about $0.94 per watt. Add a serious battery bank and the equipment package climbs to roughly $1.60 per watt. Have the whole job managed and installed with batteries included, and the builds we quoted in June 2026 landed between about $2.50 and $3.30 per watt.
Prices move. Panels have slid for two years running and battery prices jump around with freight, so treat every number on this page as a dated snapshot, and treat the system builder as the price of record. It has today's number. This page has July 2026's.
Why most cost articles are wrong right now
The federal residential solar tax credit (Section 25D) expired on December 31, 2025.
Most of the cost content on the internet was written while that credit was alive, and it quotes a "net cost after incentives" that a 2026 buyer cannot claim. The sticker prices in those articles were never the real sticker prices. They were the sticker price with a discount baked in, and the discount is gone. So when a cost article looks dramatically cheaper than what you are seeing quoted, check two things: the date it was written, and whether the fine print says "after incentives."
Every number on this page is a gross number. Nothing here assumes a credit, a rebate, or an incentive of any kind. What you see is what the system costs.
What actually moves the number
Four things set the price of a solar build: how big it is, whether it has batteries, how it mounts, and who does the work. The cleanest way to show that is with real builds. These are actual systems we quoted, anonymized, rounded to the nearest hundred.
A whole-home backup build, quoted in June 2026. 14.2kW of panels on a metal roof with 32kWh of EG4 battery, a FlexBOSS21 inverter, and a GridBOSS. Fully installed and managed: about $38,600. The same design priced as equipment only, straight from the builder, was about $23,100. Keep that pair in mind. We come back to it.
A grid-tied ground mount, no battery, quoted in late June 2026. 9.48kW on a ground-screw racking system, battery-ready but shipping without batteries: about $21,000. One catch on this one before you compare it to anything: the homeowner is assembling the ground mount and setting his own panels. A licensed contractor handles the electrical hookup, and the engineering and commissioning run through us. Take his sweat out of the deal and this build would quote higher.
An off-grid build, quoted in June 2026. 11.85kW on a metal roof, roughly 43kWh of battery, twin inverters, with the full install managed end to end: about $39,200. Off-grid costs more per watt than grid-tied at the same array size because the batteries have to carry the house alone. No grid means no safety net, so the bank gets big.
The pattern across all three is the same pattern we see on every quote. Size matters, but batteries matter more. An array is cheap per watt and getting cheaper. Storage is where the money goes, and backup ambition (a few circuits versus the whole house) is the single biggest swing in any solar budget.
The DIY lever
Now go back to that first example. Same house, same 14.2kW design, same 32kWh of battery. Installed and managed: about $38,600. Equipment only: about $23,100.
That gap is the DIY lever. It covers real things: panel installation labor, the licensed electrical work, engineering, permitting, and someone running the project so the pieces land in the right order. If you are comfortable on a roof and you line up a licensed electrician for the hookup, a big share of that gap goes back in your pocket. If you are not, it is money well spent.
And there is a third number worth knowing about, one we did not write. The turnkey quotes customers bring into the shop from full-service installers routinely run well above our fully installed figure for a comparable system. We will not put a number on someone else's quote, but if you have collected one, bring it by. The comparison usually takes about a minute.
The honest middle path exists too. Plenty of our customers buy the equipment, do the parts of the job they are comfortable with, and have the rest handled by a licensed contractor with us running the project. The ground-mount build above is exactly that model, and it is why his number sits where it does.
What we would check first
Before we talk price with anyone, we look at three things.
First, the power bill. System size should come from your real usage, and an oversized array is the most common way to overspend. Twelve months of bills beats any rule of thumb.
Second, the backup question. Do you want the lights on during an outage, or the whole house running for days? The answer sets the battery count, and the battery count sets the budget more than anything else on the list.
Third, the roof. Metal, shingle, or ground mount each take different racking at different cost, and a roof with ten years left should be re-covered before panels go on it, not after.
If you want a fast read on your own house before touching a parts list, start with the estimate. It takes your address and your bill and gives you a size to work from.
Real questions, straight answers
Is solar still worth it without the tax credit?
For some houses yes, for some no, and anyone who answers without seeing your bill is guessing. What we can tell you is what changed: equipment costs less than it did when the credit existed, and the credit is gone. Those two facts push in opposite directions, and where they net out depends on your usage, your utility rate, and what you pay for the system. Run your own numbers with today's prices. That is the whole reason this page and the builder exist.
Why did the prices change in 2026?
Two moves at once. The credit expiry covered above raised the real cost of a professionally sold system overnight. Meanwhile panel and battery hardware kept getting cheaper. DIY and equipment-forward buyers came out ahead of that trade. Buyers of turnkey systems felt the full swing.
What does a battery actually add to the cost?
On builds we quoted in June 2026, a 16kWh EG4 wall-mount battery priced at $4,000 per unit with its conduit box and cabling included. A whole-home bank is usually two to four of those, so storage can rival the entire array in cost. That is quoted pricing from real jobs, not a catalog promise, and battery prices move more than panel prices do. Check the builder or the shop for the current unit price.
Is DIY really that much cheaper?
On the June 2026 example above, the same design ran about $23,100 in equipment against about $38,600 installed. So yes, the gap is real. Two honest caveats. The final electrical hookup is licensed work, and you will need a licensed electrician for it no matter how handy you are. And your time is not free. Some buyers look at that gap and see a great trade. Some look at it and see three lost weekends and a permit office. Both are right.
Will these prices hold?
No. Every number here is dated June or July 2026 on purpose. Panels have trended down, batteries wobble with freight and tariffs, and a quote from six months ago is a historical document. When you are ready to price a system, get a live number.
See your number
The ranges on this page tell you the shape of the market. Your house has one exact number, and the builder will hand it to you with today's prices on every part. Build a system and see the real numbers.