Empowering homeowners to make better decisions on home solar and clean energy
Why we founded Sentinel
Since residential solar started in earnest in the early 2000s, we’ve seen the solar industry grow and start to mature, but there’s still a persistent and significant information imbalance between homeowners and those selling solar. Solar technology itself is complex enough and incentives, policies, regulations and prices are constantly shifting. When evaluating a 25+ year investment in home solar, homeowners are at a disadvantage.
We’ve witnessed this many times over the years. Here’s one real-life example:
A family member of one of our founders was looking to purchase a home solar system. She found three contractors and got three very different quotes.
She spent some time reviewing and analyzing the quotes, trying to make sense of them before asking for help. Based on her electricity usage, we knew she needed a 4 kilowatt system, but two out of the three contractors quoted 6 kilowatt systems. We advised her to go with the contractor who had proposed the 4 kilowatt system. On her own, she likely have bought a system that was 50% bigger at a cost of 50% more.
It’s not surprising then that homeowners are confused. They get different quotes based on different system designs and equipment, different financial and energy models, and different (and sometimes inaccurate) assumptions about system performance and energy savings.
We founded Sentinel believing that homeowners would have a better experience and outcome if they had an independent and objective expert working on their behalf. Our process makes it simple for you to evaluate your home solar and clean energy options. Our expertise results in better home solar and clean energy for you.
What’s at stake
Home solar may be the single biggest investment you make in your home.
When you’re committing tens of thousands of dollars to an investment with the expectation that it will deliver clean energy and savings for 25 years or more, home solar is an important decision.
What we do
We perform an initial Solar Assessment for you at no charge. We want to make sure you have good solar potential before you pay for anything. If home solar doesn’t make sense for you, we’ll recommend other ways for you to switch to cost-competitive clean energy.
We develop a Solar Design tailored to your goals and budget for a modest fee. That fee also covers:
- Access to prescreened local contractors who can quote your project
- Developing a set of specifications for your project, requesting quotes on your behalf and preparing a quote comparison
- Introductions to the contractors with the most attractive quotes
- Support through the contractor selection process
- Two follow up calls where we review your home solar performance and provide updates on any new developments in solar and clean energy which may impact you
If you have any questions along the way, just ask and we’ll answer. It’s all included.
More details about our process are available here and FAQs about how Sentinel works are available here.
Have a question about Sentinel or anything else? Send us a message and we’ll answer ASAP.
Have a question about Sentinel or anything else? Send us a message and we’ll answer ASAP.
