What should I look for in a solar installer?

Clean Energy Council accreditation, a consistent Google rating across many recent reviews, a real local presence, clear warranty terms for both product and workmanship, and an itemised quote that shows prices before and after rebates.

Is the cheapest solar quote a bad sign?

Not always, but a quote far below the others usually means budget hardware, subcontracted installation, or corners cut on things you cannot see from the ground. Ask what exactly makes it cheaper and get the answer in writing.

How to choose a solar installer in Melbourne without getting burned

A solar system should sit on your roof working quietly for 25 years. The installer you choose matters more than the panel brand, because most solar problems in Australia are installation problems, not equipment problems. Here is how to choose well.

Start with accreditation

Only use an installer whose work is signed off by a Clean Energy Council (CEC) accredited installer. This is not a marketing badge; it is the baseline requirement for federal STC discounts and for Solar Victoria rebate eligibility. If a company is vague about who actually holds the accreditation, walk away. Plenty of sales outfits sell the job and subcontract the install, and you want to know who is really turning up on your roof.

Read reviews properly

A Google rating is useful, but read it the right way:

Volume and recency beat the raw score. A 4.7 across 300 reviews spread over years tells you far more than a 5.0 across 12 reviews posted in the same month.
Read the bad reviews first. Every installer has some. What you are looking for is the pattern: are complaints about communication delays, or about leaking roofs and dead inverters? And does the company respond and fix things?
Look for reviews that mention service after the install. Anyone can be attentive before you pay. The reviews worth their weight mention how the company behaved when something needed fixing in year two.

Get itemised quotes, and at least three of them

A proper quote should itemise the panel brand and model, the inverter brand and model, the number of panels, the mounting and any switchboard work, and the price before and after the STC discount and the Victorian rebate. If a quote is one line and one number, ask for the breakdown. If they will not provide it, that is your answer.

Three quotes is the practical minimum. The point is not to grind the price down; it is to see what the market actually charges for your roof, and to catch the outlier.

Red flags worth taking seriously

Pressure tactics. "This price is only valid today" is a sales script, not a discount. Rebates do not expire overnight.
A price far below the pack. Something is different, and it is rarely something good.
Vague warranty answers. You want three warranties in writing: the panel product warranty, the inverter warranty, and the installer's own workmanship warranty. The workmanship warranty is the one that covers the roof penetrations above your bedroom.
No physical local presence. If the company disappears, your workmanship warranty goes with it. A Melbourne office and a landline are not old-fashioned; they are recoverable.
Door knockers and cold calls. The best installers in Melbourne are busy from referrals. The ones paying commission-only salespeople to knock on your door have a customer acquisition cost you will be paying for.

A simple checklist

CEC accredited installer doing the actual work, confirmed in writing.
Google rating of 4.5 or better across a meaningful number of recent reviews.
Itemised quote showing hardware models and prices before and after rebates.
Three warranties in writing, including workmanship.
Local presence you could physically visit.
No pressure to sign today.

Any installer who clears all six is unlikely to burn you. You can compare Melbourne installers by rating, review count and accreditation on this site, then request quotes from the ones that clear the bar.