Solar in New Jersey starts with a roof that is often older, often shaded, and sometimes a short walk from the neighbor's eave. Pitched suburban roofs, low-slope roofs on two-families, and shore roofs that take wind are not the same site. Trees on small lots throw shade that a distant photo will miss. If the covering is tired, the roof work comes before any rack. Say who controls the roof. A building roof is not yours to pierce because the top floor feels sunny.
Structure and water come first. Attachments and flashing have to match shingles or a membrane, and they have to survive wind on the shore and ice inland. A layout that blocks a drain on a low-slope roof will create a pond. A layout that dumps snow off a northern slope onto a walk will create a different complaint. Say the direction the slopes face, what shades them, and whether the attic already shows stains. The electrical service in an older house may be crowded. Say what you have actually seen, and do not invent a size.
The state is not one sun. The shore has reflection off the water and a corrosion problem. Inland towns have trees, chimneys, and a winter that still puts snow on a shallow pitch. Dense streets have shade from the next house by early afternoon. Describe your version. Say if a dormer, a party wall, or a deck already occupies the good part of the roof. Those objects decide the layout more than a brochure does.
Ask who pulls the permit and who files the interconnection. Ask how penetrations are flashed and what happens to the array when the roof is replaced later. Ask who owns the modules once they are up and who you call when an inverter goes quiet. Leave money talk out of the call. Have the roof type, the shade, and whether the covering already leaks. A picture from above has not stood in the attic or looked at the salt on the flashing.
Panels do not repair a bad roof and they do not erase a tree. Solar in New Jersey is the site: pitch, shade, wind or salt, and the wire. Call the number on this page.