CASE STUDY · COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLER · 6 MIN READ

SRC North West: How a Roofing and Solar Company Qualifies Commercial Sites Before the First Call

working with our team at interview

2 months

working with our team at interview

good leads moving, in his words

3 or 4

good leads moving, in his words

array on an old steel building in South Yorkshire

60 to 70kWp

array on an old steel building in South Yorkshire

array after usage matching at a chemical etching plant

About 120kWp

array after usage matching at a chemical etching plant

13:02

Roofing and solar in one job

SRC came out of the construction industry, where it did a lot of roofing. It saw businesses that wanted solar on buildings that needed remedial work first, and put the two together. Rob's reason is cost: "a lot of companies will repair their roof and a year later think about solar and have to go through the whole scaffolding process again, and that makes it quite expensive."

SRC also keeps a roofing-only stream for other solar EPCs, and does not compete with them on the solar. That habit of working alongside other installers rather than against them is the subject of our guide to solar partnerships and referrals.

The questions that decide a commercial site

What struck Rob first was that the discovery he was used to doing himself had already been done: "how they're structured, what their billing looks like, how many meters they might have, any more information about site ownership, leasing". He explained why each one matters:

• Billing and meters: what the business spends, and how many supplies the system has to serve.
• Ownership or lease: "sometimes a project won't take off simply because the lease isn't long enough to see the payback."
• The landlord: Rob says landlords are now mostly supportive, because a building with solar can often be relet at a premium.
• Roof space and roofing issues: on a roof in poor condition, only part of it may be fit for panels.

To check whether a lease is long enough for a system to pay for itself, run the numbers through our commercial solar payback calculator. For what else to confirm on the day, use the commercial solar survey checklist.

“it makes the first conversation twice as valuable effectively because you haven't gotta go through the first 10 minutes of discovery.”

Two sites, sized to the roof and to the load

The first site is a very old building that was once part of British Steel, in South Yorkshire. The roof is the landlord's responsibility and not in good condition, so SRC found an area sturdy enough to take panels: about 300 square metres, for "something in the region of 60 to 70 kilowatt hour, kilowatt peak". The business wants to move off gas and heat and cool the building with electric air conditioning, with solar as the main source of power on site.

The second, a chemical etching plant, shows the other limit. After usage matching, SRC scaled the system back:

“We could have flooded the roof, but they wouldn't have had any- anywhere for the energy to go that they didn't need.”

That one is likely to be about 120kWp. Matching a system to a site's load is quicker with the right tools; our solar design software guide compares the options for UK work, and our G100 guide covers limiting what a system sends to the grid.

The letter of authority to approach the DNO

On the day of the interview, one client gave SRC a letter of authority to approach the DNO. Rob is clear that it is not a signed sale, but he knows what it means:

“that letter of authority is almost a spiritual buy-in from the client. It means they trust you to take over and work with them on the job in hand.”

He is also realistic about the time it takes. From first contact it is "several months before you c- you're looking at deploying stuff in the solar world simply because the time the processes take", through design, the DNO application and sometimes planning. Our guides to the G99 application, DNO applications for solar and commercial solar planning permission cover each step.

Feedback both ways

Not every lead fitted SRC at first: "it's taken a, a couple of iterations to refine the right sort of clients for us." Rob tracks his leads in the client portal, "a bit like a internal CRM system", and gives updates through the WhatsApp group. For him, feedback is what makes any partnership work:

“The worst thing is putting stuff out there and getting no feedback. That is the most frustrating part of a partnership.”

He compared it with the lead providers he used in earlier roles: "They will simply give you a name and a number. Wouldn't even necessarily book an appointment." You only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace.

The full interview is in the video above. TNW Marketing's own write-up of Rob Deverson's interview is on tnwmarketing.com. More installers talk about their leads in our case studies and on the reviews page.

SRC North West case study: FAQ