Here’s my take. Tesla Energy is super busy with more demand than probably other companies out there. They are earnest about focusing on this division this year. For battery storage they have a great in-demand product that works very well and their app software is easy to use. They have maybe the lowest pricing on solar panels and getting Powerwalls through them can also save you money where they might offer bundled pricing or discounts from time to time.
I think speed of scheduling of installs will be dependent on your area, how many teams of installers they have there and how complicated the job is (ie. just solar or solar and PWs and since each home will be different how much electrical work needs to be done). When our install was scheduled back in August, our SF Bay Area I think had 5 teams that were working 6 days a week and one guy said he even came back on a Sunday to finish up a job. The Bay Area with our PSPS blackouts has been a real motivator for people wanting to purchase. I understand Texas has seen a real uptick in people either wanting to add PWs or get a whole system after this polar vortex event. Florida is another big area for installs. You’ll also notice on the forum an increase in members from other States.
Then of course there’s the product supply inventory, another constraint when demand has exploded. Many people found installs delayed because PWs were in such short supply. Heck in our area even certain circuit breakers simply weren’t available due to installs like this, construction in general picking up, and factories affected by covid.
One area of the company that I think may be unfairly criticized is the design area. No idea how many people work on the plans but each time a change is requested on a job by the client, city or utility, possibly several pages of plans need updating and then sometimes require new approvals. Even adding a few panels would require changes to layout, the part list, calculations redone, etc. I don’t think any customer gets to speak with the designers, probably due to their high level of skill and the vast number of detailed jobs they are responsible for handling. For the majority of customers this is okay. From what I’ve seen a number of members here want more control of their job and generate the posts about it.
Any of the above areas can affect your job, and people’s level of patience will vary. You’ll see some jobs completed fairly quickly all the way to PTO and others not. Unfortunately as much as a cookie cutter process as TE might like this to be, it’s not for a multitude of reasons. From our end we’ve been very happy. Didn’t think when ordering last January it would take until end of October to get PTO but it did (covid, main panel upgrade, wildfire air quality and availability of PWs affected it too).
I don’t think OP’s delay in the design team getting back to them is unexpected or inordinate long so far. Your job is probably one of dozens the designer assign to you is working on at this moment.