Here's the short version: most solar companies bundle the design into an expensive install contract, or charge for an engineered drawing. We don't. Send us your loads, your roof or ground space, and your goals — we design the whole system for free, quote it at transparent wholesale-style pricing, and support you for as long as you own it.
Buying an off-grid or hybrid solar system shouldn't start with a sales appointment and a four-figure design fee. But that's how most of the industry works: the design is locked inside an installation contract, and if you want to self-install or use your own electrician, you're on your own to figure out what to buy. We built Neighborhood Solar Store to remove exactly that barrier.
What "free custom design" actually means
You tell us what you're trying to do — power a cabin, cut a home electricity bill, run a farm outbuilding, add battery backup. We come back with a complete, engineered system: the exact panels, inverter, battery bank, racking, and wiring, sized to your loads and your site, with the numbers behind why each part was chosen. It's a real design you could hand to any electrician, not a generic package.
And because we price every component from a fixed formula rather than negotiating per customer, the quote that comes with your design is transparent wholesale-style pricing — the same math for everyone. No pressure, no markup that changes based on how the conversation goes.
The support is the real difference
A design gets you started. Support gets you finished. Every order comes with free wiring diagrams, installation manuals, and datasheets — and free long-term technical support from people who know the equipment. Questions during install, troubleshooting a setting, planning an expansion two years later: that's all included, for as long as you own the system.
Why we can do this: we sell equipment, not labour. That means our job isn't done at checkout — it's done when your system is running. Free support is what makes buying a system and installing it yourself (or with your own electrician) genuinely realistic, which is the whole point of the store.
Who it's for
Self-installers who want the right equipment and someone to call. Homeowners using their own electrician who need a proper spec to hand over. Farms and acreages with ground-mount arrays and outbuildings. Off-grid cabins and remote sites where getting the sizing right is the difference between comfortable and cold. If you know your loads, we can design around them — and if you don't, our free design questionnaire walks you through working them out.
How to get your free design
1. Tell us what you want to power. Rough is fine — a list of appliances, a monthly kWh figure off your bill, or just "a 3-bedroom home with backup." The more detail, the tighter the design.
2. We design and quote it. You get a complete system spec and transparent pricing, usually within a couple of business days.
3. You decide. No obligation. If you go ahead, we ship it Canada-wide with everything documented. If not, the design is yours to keep.
Get your free custom design
Tell us what you want to power and we'll engineer the complete system — free, no obligation, shipped across Canada. Prefer to start with the numbers? Grab the free design questionnaire.