Answer
During an approved solar site inspection, ask the homeowner which property and service are in scope, what roof or electrical work has occurred, what records exist, what changes are planned, which access and privacy limits apply, what decision the homeowner needs to make, and who must join the next review. Record answers as customer-stated until independently verified.
The weakest question during a roof visit is often the easiest one: “Anything we should know?” It invites the homeowner to guess what matters, rewards the most memorable detail, and gives the rep no reliable way to distinguish a useful project input from a passing comment.
A better conversation has seven purposes. It connects the property the homeowner means with the records the team holds. It surfaces work, changes, access limits, future plans, decision priorities, and missing participants. Just as important, it labels every answer honestly. A homeowner can supply history and context without becoming the engineer, electrician, utility, permitting authority, or source of a field measurement.
This guide does not authorize a solar sales rep to climb a roof, open electrical equipment, remove a cover, enter a restricted area, diagnose a condition, prescribe work, or approve a project. Safety, access, privacy, structural, electrical, engineering, utility, permitting, insurance, contract, financing, tax, and legal requirements depend on the work and jurisdiction. Responsible qualified owners must set and enforce the real procedure.
The solar site survey checklist covers observations a qualified field process may require. The roof review trigger guide explains when evidence should move to a deeper review. This article focuses only on the homeowner conversation that accompanies authorized inspection work.
What should be established before asking roof or electrical questions?
Establish the visit purpose, authorized roles, property and customer identity, permitted access, approved data handling, and receiving decision before asking detailed questions. The rep needs to know why each answer is collected and how it will be labelled. If the visit’s scope or safety boundary is unclear, stop and obtain direction rather than expanding the work informally.
A site appointment can carry several meanings. The customer may expect a sales consultation, an installation feasibility decision, a final price, or approval to proceed. The field worker may have been assigned a ground-level documentation task. The design team may expect a complete survey. Those expectations need reconciliation before anyone asks a question that sounds like a promise.
Write one sentence for the visit’s intended output. For example: “This visit will record approved customer context and accessible field evidence for a preliminary design-intake review.” Then name what the visit will not establish. The statement should match the actual work order, staff competence, company procedure, and applicable requirements.
Confirm these controls:
| Control | Question for the team | Evidence before the visit continues |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | What decision will use the conversation? | Named output and receiver |
| Role | Who may ask, observe, measure, photograph, touch, open, or decide? | Approved assignment and role boundary |
| Identity | Which person, property, structure, service, and account are in scope? | Current project record with unresolved conflicts visible |
| Access | Which areas, times, escorts, and restrictions apply? | Property authorization under the approved process |
| Safety | What hazards, controls, training, and stop rules govern the work? | Responsible safety owner’s procedure |
| Data | Why is each answer or image needed, and who may use it? | Approved collection, permission, access, retention, and security rules |
| Handoff | What must the receiver see before accepting the package? | Required fields, states, exceptions, and return reasons |
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s recommended safety-management material identifies elements such as management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification, prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation. That guidance does not make a salesperson competent to inspect a roof or electrical service. Apply the company’s qualified safety process to the actual task.
Explain the conversation to the homeowner. Say which questions support the next review, which records may be requested, how corrections can be made, and which conclusions remain outside the visit. If the homeowner declines a question or changes permission, use the approved exception path. A blank field is safer than an answer collected without a valid purpose or process.
Homeowner permission to enter or photograph an area does not establish worker competence or safe conditions. Keep property authorization, the assigned task and the responsible safety assessment as separate records; stop the affected activity when any required boundary is unresolved.
Keep the question separate from the inspection action
The rep can ask whether the homeowner recalls prior electrical work. That question does not authorize anyone to open equipment. The rep can ask whether the roof has leaked. That answer does not diagnose the cause or structural consequence. The conversation supplies attributed context; authorized field work and qualified conclusions follow their own controls.
Use neutral wording. “Has any work been performed here since you moved in?” is different from “This panel was upgraded, right?” The second construction plants an answer and may hide uncertainty. When the homeowner says “I think so,” record the uncertainty instead of translating it into “yes.”
Which seven questions should the solar rep ask the homeowner?
Ask seven decision-shaped questions: which property and service are included, what roof history is known, what electrical history is known, which records exist, what property or load changes are planned, what access and privacy boundaries apply, and what the homeowner needs to decide with whom. Follow each answer with source, date, scope, uncertainty, evidence need, and owner.
1. Which property, structure, service, and account should this project use?
An address may contain more than one building, dwelling, tenant area, meter, or service. Ask the homeowner to point out the intended structure from an approved location and identify which utility record they believe belongs to it. Do not treat their answer as proof of ownership, account authority, meter identity, or electrical configuration.
Useful follow-ups include:
- Does the current project record name the same building you mean?
- Is another structure, unit, service, or account intentionally excluded?
- Has the property’s address, occupancy, metering, or service arrangement changed?
- Who can provide the current approved account or property record if confirmation is needed?
Keep identity conflicts visible. If an uploaded bill, CRM address, image, and customer statement point to different services or structures, the next output may need to stop at a bounded concept. The utility-bill reading guide explains the energy-record questions that require more than a copied total.
2. What roof work, leaks, damage, or changes do you remember?
The homeowner may know when a roof covering was replaced, where a leak appeared, which contractor worked there, whether an addition was built, or whether a repair is planned. Ask for the history, not a diagnosis. Record who said it, when, which roof area they meant, and whether a document can support it.
Avoid converting “we repaired that corner a few years ago” into a precise date, cause, material, condition, warranty statement, or structural conclusion. Ask whether invoices, permits, warranties, plans, photographs, or contractor records exist through an approved channel. A qualified reviewer decides whether any document is authentic, current, complete, and applicable.
3. What electrical work or service changes do you know about?
Ask whether the homeowner recalls a service change, panel work, generator, battery, electric-vehicle charging, heat pump, major appliance, outbuilding supply, or other relevant work. Use only terms the homeowner understands, and do not imply that one answer establishes system condition or capacity.
If the homeowner identifies a label, permit, invoice, or contractor, record the source and request the document through the approved process. Do not remove covers or direct the homeowner to touch equipment. Do not call visible work compliant or noncompliant. The qualified electrical and authority review must determine what is relevant.
4. Which current documents can you share through an approved method?
Ask about current utility records, property drawings, roof-work records, electrical-work records, prior solar studies, equipment documents, warranties, permits, or photographs only when the project has an approved reason to use them. Explain the request and secure them through the company’s authorized channel.
The Department of Energy’s homeowner solar guide addresses energy efficiency, solar potential, options, needs, bids, financing, and work with an installer. It does not say that a homeowner document proves a site’s suitability. Treat documents as named sources with dates, custodians, coverage, limitations, and review states.
5. What changes to the roof, property, or electric use are planned?
A current observation can become stale before design or installation. Ask about planned roof replacement, additions, tree work, renovations, equipment, vehicles, heating or cooling changes, occupancy, operating hours, or other project-relevant changes. Do not ask the homeowner to predict an engineering load or financial result.
Separate intent from commitment. “We are considering an electric vehicle” is a scenario input, not a load specification or purchase date. Record what evidence would be needed before it affects design or financial modeling. If the change is uncertain, the receiver may compare bounded scenarios or hold the output.
DOE’s solar photovoltaic system design overview describes PV systems as arrangements of modules and other components whose design depends on system needs and configuration. It is general education, not a design for the customer’s property. The practical discipline is to connect each stated change to the qualified design question it may alter.
6. What areas or information are off limits, and who controls access?
Ask the homeowner to clarify approved areas, tenants, locked spaces, pets, gates, fragile finishes, sensitive rooms, photography limits, document limits, occupants, schedules, and escort needs. Do not assume the person present can authorize every area or record. Route authority questions to the responsible owner.
Access can change during the visit. If a tenant objects, a room becomes unavailable, weather changes, an unexpected condition appears, or the task exceeds the agreed role, stop the affected activity. Record the limitation without blaming the customer. The package can show “not observed” and the next owner can decide whether another method is appropriate.
7. What decision do you need next, and who else must join it?
Ask what the homeowner expects to compare or decide after the visit. They may need a preliminary layout discussion, clarification of an assumption, a document request, a qualified inspection, a proposal review, a roof-work decision, or time to involve another person. Do not force every conversation toward signature.
Identify the next audience. A co-owner, account holder, tenant, landlord, family member, finance reviewer, contractor, or advisor may need to participate, subject to approved contact and privacy rules. The rep should not decide another person’s rights or authority. Record the homeowner’s statement, then verify what the workflow requires.
The production-estimate question guide helps when the homeowner’s next decision depends on a modeled output. Keep measured, observed, source-recorded, customer-stated, and modeled information distinct so the explanation does not sound more certain than the evidence.
How should homeowner answers be recorded and verified?
Record each homeowner answer with the exact question, speaker, date, property scope, source state, confidence language, related evidence, and downstream decision. Preserve corrections and conflicts. Customer-stated information can open a task or support a bounded scenario, but it becomes a verified technical input only through the approved evidence and qualified review required for that decision.
Use a source-state map rather than one “verified” checkbox:
| State | What it establishes | What it does not establish | Next treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-stated | A named person supplied an answer | Truth, completeness, authority, or technical meaning | Preserve wording and seek appropriate evidence |
| Document-provided | A named file or record was supplied | Currency, authenticity, full coverage, or applicability | Record provenance and route review |
| Field-observed | An authorized observer saw an accessible condition | Hidden condition, cause, adequacy, or approval | Identify location, time, limits, and observer |
| Measured | An approved method produced a value and unit | Suitability outside the method and purpose | Retain method, tool, units, uncertainty, and reviewer |
| Modeled | A system derived an output from declared inputs | Field fact, guarantee, or authority decision | Show inputs, assumptions, version, and limits |
| Conflicting | Sources disagree | Which source should win | Open a resolution item with an owner |
| Unavailable | The required answer or evidence was not obtained | A negative finding | Request, reroute, bound the output, or stop |
Avoid editing a homeowner’s words into professional terminology unless the record preserves both. “The lights flicker sometimes” is a customer statement. It is not an electrical diagnosis. “That roof was redone before we bought the house” is history with uncertainty. It is not a roof age, material, or condition determination.
NASA’s technical-assessment guidance discusses measures, evidence, status, trends, variances, risks, and corrective actions in NASA technical work. It does not govern a home inspection. The relevant process analogy is to assess evidence against a declared requirement and report the gap, rather than letting an activity status stand in for adequacy.
Use a question-to-decision trace
Every question should serve a named downstream decision. If nobody can say why an answer is needed, reconsider collecting it. If the answer may materially alter scope, design, customer communication, or risk, assign a receiver who can judge the evidence.
For example, a planned roof replacement may affect sequence, mounting decisions, warranty questions, schedule, and proposal assumptions. The sales record should not decide those matters. It should connect the homeowner’s statement to the responsible review and make the customer impact visible.
What should a solar sales rep avoid during the conversation?
Avoid leading questions, improvised access, technical diagnoses, hidden recording, unnecessary data collection, source-state inflation, and promises about design, code, approval, savings, production, price, or schedule. Never ask the homeowner to perform a risky action for the rep. When an answer exposes a new concern, document it and route it instead of solving outside the assigned role.
Use this failure-mode review:
| Shortcut | Why it fails | Safer response |
|---|---|---|
| “This panel looks fine, correct?” | Leads the customer and implies an electrical conclusion | Ask about known history, then route qualified review |
| “When was the roof installed?” recorded as an exact fact | A recollection may be approximate or refer to only one area | Preserve wording, scope, and uncertainty; request records if needed |
| Asking the customer to open equipment | Transfers risk and bypasses approved role controls | Stop and use the qualified access process |
| Photographing every room “just in case” | Collects data without a declared project purpose | Limit media to approved subjects and permission |
| Calling a missing answer “no issue” | Confuses absence of evidence with a negative finding | Mark unavailable and assign a decision owner |
| Promising the proposal will not change | Ignores qualified review, new evidence, and customer choices | Explain which assumptions remain provisional |
| Treating one participant as final authority | May overlook property, account, contract, or household roles | Record the statement and verify required participation |
The Department of Energy’s rooftop solar permitting and inspection page describes permitting and inspection as local processes that address applicable safety and code requirements. A sales rep cannot infer the applicable path from that general statement. Preserve the question for current jurisdictional and qualified review.
Pressure creates bad records. A rep trying to leave with every field filled may turn “unknown” into a guess or an early preference into a commitment. The visit should reduce decision uncertainty, not eliminate uncertainty in the interface.
Keep customer context attached to the project inputs it may affect. Carry accepted roof, layout, shade, yield, financial, electrical, material, and proposal records forward while qualified owners resolve access, condition, approval, and scope questions.
Review the connected proposal workflowHow should the conversation hand off to design and sales?
End with a read-back, correction opportunity, open-question list, named owners, customer message, and receiver disposition. Design and sales should know which answers are customer-stated, which evidence is current, and which decisions remain outside the visit. The receiver should accept, conditionally accept, return, reroute, or stop the package against visible criteria.
Follow this controlled close:
- Read back material statements. Confirm the property, known history, planned changes, access limits, customer decision, and intended next audience in plain language.
- Invite correction without demanding certification. The homeowner may clarify what they remember, but should not be asked to approve technical conclusions.
- Mark every source state. Keep customer statements, documents, observations, measurements, and modeled outputs separate.
- List conflicts and unavailable evidence. Do not bury them inside free-text notes or resolve them from memory.
- Assign each question. Name the evidence required, responsible owner, due event, and effect on the customer-facing output.
- Send one controlled package. Preserve revision, sender, receiver, transfer event, and attachments under approved data rules.
- Require a disposition. The receiver accepts, conditionally accepts, returns, reroutes, or stops the request with a reason.
- Tell the homeowner the honest next step. State what is owned, what remains open, and when the team will communicate again without inventing a date.
The sales-to-design handoff guide covers intake acceptance. The post-site-visit deal-risk checklist covers changes to the commercial conversation. A single visit may feed both, but the two reviews answer different questions.
Copy-ready homeowner question record
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Project, property, structure, service, account, and record version | |
| Visit purpose, authorized roles, access, safety, and stop conditions | |
| Approved question purpose, privacy notice, permission, and data controls | |
| Q1 property, structure, service, and account answer with source state | |
| Q2 roof work, leak, damage, and change history with scope and uncertainty | |
| Q3 electrical work and service history with documents and open questions | |
| Q4 records available, custodian, date, coverage, and approved transfer method | |
| Q5 planned roof, property, occupancy, equipment, and energy-use changes | |
| Q6 restricted areas, photography limits, occupants, escorts, and authority gaps | |
| Q7 customer decision, next audience, contact preference, and smallest next action | |
| Related field observations, measurements, methods, units, and limitations | |
| Conflicting and unavailable evidence with resolution owners | |
| Read-back, customer corrections, and unresolved expectations | |
| Design, technical, commercial, authority, and customer-communication owners | |
| Receiver acceptance criteria, disposition, return reasons, and due event |
Illustrative example, not a real homeowner, property, inspection, installer, finding, design, approval, promise, or result. A homeowner tells a sales rep that one roof section was repaired before they bought the property and that an electric vehicle is being considered. The rep does not assign a roof age or future electrical load.
The record preserves both statements as customer-stated. It names the roof area the homeowner indicated, marks the repair date as unknown, and asks whether an approved document is available. The possible vehicle becomes a scenario question for qualified design and electrical owners, not an assumed load in the final proposal.
At departure, the homeowner corrects the intended utility account and asks that another household member join the proposal review. The receiving team conditionally accepts the conversation record, opens separate document and account questions, and withholds any technical or schedule conclusion until the required evidence and reviewers are available.
SurgePV’s design and proposal workflows include 3D roof modeling, solar array layout, shading analysis, energy-yield modeling, financial modeling, electrical workflow support, bill-of-materials output, and proposal generation. Results depend on source data, assumptions, equipment models, configuration, and review.
SurgePV can keep accepted customer context near the project versions it may affect. It cannot inspect the property, verify a recollection, establish access or ownership, determine structural or electrical condition, issue an engineering conclusion, approve a permit or utility action, or decide what the homeowner should buy.
Seven questions are enough only when each answer retains its source, uncertainty, owner, and consequence. The rep’s job is not to make the property sound resolved. It is to ensure the next qualified owner and the homeowner are talking about the same project, with the same open questions visible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a solar rep ask about the homeowner’s roof?
Ask which roof areas belong to the project, what work or leaks the homeowner recalls, which documents exist, what changes are planned, and whether access or privacy limits apply. Attribute every answer to the homeowner. A sales conversation does not establish roof condition, ownership, structural adequacy, installation method, code compliance, warranty effect, or design approval.
What should a solar rep ask about the electrical service?
Ask which service and account are intended, what accessible records or prior work the homeowner can identify, whether future loads are planned, and who controls access and documents. Do not open equipment, remove covers, diagnose capacity or condition, prescribe work, or predict approval. Qualified electrical, engineering, utility, permitting, and authority owners make those decisions.
Can a homeowner’s answer be used as a verified solar design input?
Not automatically. Label it customer-stated with the speaker, date, question, and scope. Compare it with approved documents, field observations, measurements, and qualified review appropriate to the decision. If sources conflict, preserve both and open a resolution item. Never change a customer recollection into an observed or measured fact because it appears plausible.
Should every homeowner receive the same seven questions?
Use the seven themes as a control, not a script that ignores context. The visit purpose, property, project stage, role, access, evidence needs, customer preference, and jurisdiction determine which wording and follow-ups are appropriate. Ask only approved, relevant questions, explain why information is needed, and avoid collecting unnecessary personal or property data.
What happens after the solar site inspection conversation?
Read back material statements and corrections, list unresolved questions, name each evidence owner, and send the package to the designated receiver. The receiver should accept, conditionally accept, return, reroute, or stop it against written criteria. Tell the homeowner which next action is owned and which technical, commercial, authority, or schedule decisions remain open.
Carry the homeowner’s answers into a controlled handoff
Bring a sanitized question record, evidence-state map, conflict list, and receiver criteria to a guided session. Confirm current access, implementation scope, pricing, and contract terms in writing.
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Primary research and reference material used for this desk-research article.
Where this fits
This article is part of SurgePV's Solar Sales & Proposals hub, which works through the topic from first principles to the decisions a project team actually has to make.
