Running the Solar Site Visit: Complete Checklist & Appointment Guide (2026)

The site visit is where solar deals are won or lost. Not in the office, not on the phone — at the customer's house, in that 60-minute window where you either establish yourself as the trusted expert or fade into the stack of quotes they're collecting. Most reps rush through the visit without a clear structure. They skip the bill review, estimate the roof from the driveway, and email a proposal three days later. By then the momentum is gone.

A structured appointment — with a clear agenda, the right tools, and a deliberate close — converts at two to three times the rate of an unstructured visit. This chapter gives you the exact process.

What to Bring to the Solar Site Visit

Showing up unprepared kills credibility before you've said a word. A disorganized bag, no bill data, no design capability — these signal to the customer that you're running a commodity sales operation, not an expert consultation. Here's everything you need at the door:

• Tablet or laptop with solar design software loaded. The ability to sketch a system layout on-site, with the customer watching, is one of the most powerful trust signals you have. SurgePV's solar design software runs on a tablet — you can pull up a satellite view of their roof and start placing panels within two minutes of stepping outside.
• Measuring tape or digital laser measure. For situations where satellite imagery isn't detailed enough or you need to confirm a specific dimension.
• Compass app. To check roof orientation and record the azimuth angle for the design. Most smartphones have one built in, but a dedicated app gives more precision.
• Pitch gauge app or physical inclinometer. Roof tilt affects yield calculation. Estimate visually when time is short; use the tool for precision on complex roofs.
• Camera (smartphone sufficient). Document the roof condition, obstacles, access points, and meter location. These photos go directly into the design file.
• Previous electricity bills. Request these from the customer before the visit — ideally the last 12 months. If they can't find them, the utility's online portal usually has them.
• Branded proposal template ready to populate. If the visit goes well, you want to show a draft proposal before you leave. The solar proposal software in SurgePV lets you generate this directly from the design.
• Financing options printout or digital summary. Have loan, lease, and cash purchase options ready to present side by side. Customers who see financing options close more often.
• Contract and e-signature app. For same-day closing. DocuSign, Adobe Sign, or SurgePV's built-in e-signature lets you close on the spot without printing.
• Business cards. Low-tech but still matters — referral conversations happen weeks after the visit.

The 7-Step Solar Appointment Flow

This structure works for residential appointments of 60–75 minutes. Each step has a purpose — skip any of them and close rates drop. Tell the customer the agenda at the start: "We have about an hour — we'll start with your energy usage, take a look at the roof, and by the end I'll show you exactly what a system would look like and what it would save you."

Step 1: Warm-Up and Rapport (5 min)

Personal connection before business. Ask about their energy goals before you open any software or mention any numbers. "What made you look into solar now?" or "How long have you been thinking about it?" These questions reveal the real motivation — rising bills, sustainability, energy independence — and let you frame the rest of the appointment around what they actually care about.

Also confirm who will be involved in the decision. "Is your partner home today? I find it saves time when both people can see the numbers together." If not, book a follow-up call when both are available rather than presenting to one person who then has to re-explain everything.

Step 2: Electricity Bill Review (10 min)

This is the most under-used step in a solar sales appointment and the one with the highest leverage. The bill tells you annual consumption, peak demand, current tariff, grid operator, seasonal profile, and whether the customer is on a dynamic pricing tariff that affects the battery storage value proposition.

Look for bill spikes — months with significantly higher consumption than average. These often indicate electric heating, a hot tub, or EV charging, all of which change the system sizing conversation. For customers on time-of-use tariffs, the case for battery storage strengthens considerably.

Translate everything into plain language: "You're paying about €1,400 a year for electricity. With an 8 kWp system, that drops to around €280 — and the rest comes from your own roof."

Step 3: Roof Assessment (15 min)

Cover the full checklist in the next section. The goal is to leave with: confirmed orientation and tilt, a shading assessment, photos of the roof and obstacles, and any structural or material red flags noted. You don't need to climb the roof — satellite imagery combined with a ground-level visual covers most of this for a standard residential visit.

Step 4: System Design On-Site (15 min)

Pull up the solar software on your tablet, bring up the satellite view of their property, and start placing panels with the customer watching. This step alone differentiates you from any competitor who emailed a generic quote. When the customer sees their actual roof with panels on it and watches the yield estimate update in real time, the abstract becomes concrete.

Invite them in: "Does this layout make sense to you? We can move panels around if you'd prefer fewer on the front face." Involving them in the design builds ownership of the solution before you've discussed price.

Step 5: Energy Production Presentation (10 min)

Show annual yield (kWh), monthly production chart, and self-consumption ratio. Translate into savings: "This system produces enough to cover 82% of your annual consumption. The remaining 18% you buy from the grid." Show the monthly chart to demonstrate where there's surplus in summer and deficit in winter — this naturally leads into a battery storage conversation if relevant.

Step 6: Financial Analysis (15 min)

This is the step where most reps either lose or win. Present payback period, annual savings, and 25-year cumulative savings. Use the generation and financial tool with the customer watching — show them what happens to the numbers when electricity prices rise 3% per year. For customers considering financing, show the monthly loan payment alongside the monthly bill reduction: "Your loan payment is €89/month. Your bill drops by €95. You're cash-flow positive from day one."

If they qualify for country-specific incentives — Germany's EEG feed-in tariff, Italy's Ecobonus, UK's Smart Export Guarantee — quantify these explicitly. "After the 50% Ecobonus, your net cost is €6,200. That changes your payback from 9 years to under 5."

Step 7: Close and Next Steps (10 min)

Summarize the value in three sentences: system size, annual savings, payback. Then ask for the decision. Techniques and specific scripts are in the closing section below. If they're not ready to sign, agree on an explicit next step — a specific date and time for a follow-up call — before you leave.

Roof Assessment in 15 Minutes: What to Look For

You don't need to get on the roof for most residential site assessments. A ground-level inspection combined with satellite imagery from the design software covers the essentials. Here's what to check:

Orientation

South-facing roofs produce the most annual yield in the northern hemisphere. Check with your compass app and record the azimuth angle — this goes directly into the design tool. East-west split roofs are increasingly common for residential installations because they produce more evenly through the day, which improves self-consumption without battery storage. North-facing roof sections should generally be avoided; include them only if there's no alternative and the customer needs the capacity.

Pitch and Tilt

30–45° is optimal for most European latitudes. Estimate visually — a shallow pitch looks flat from the ground, a steep pitch looks almost vertical. Use the pitch gauge app for precision when the tilt will meaningfully affect the yield calculation. For flat roofs, note whether the customer is open to tilted mounting frames, which recover 15–25% of the yield lost compared to an optimal-pitch pitched roof.

Shading

This is the most consequential assessment for yield accuracy. Identify all potential shading sources: mature trees (assess summer and winter shadow paths separately), chimney stacks and party walls, dormers and hip roof sections, satellite dishes, neighboring buildings to the south. SurgePV's solar shadow analysis software can model the full annual shading loss from any obstacle you photograph and locate on the model.

Pay attention to partial shading — a single tree branch shading one corner of the array can reduce overall system output by 20–30% without string-level optimization. This is where optimizer or microinverter recommendations come from.

Roof Condition

You're looking for signs that the roof will need maintenance or replacement within the 25-year system lifetime. Red flags: cracked, broken, or missing tiles; a sagging ridgeline suggesting rafter issues; extensive moss or lichen growth (traps moisture, accelerates tile degradation); failed or missing flashings around chimneys and dormers. If any of these are present, flag them explicitly: "We'd recommend a roofer assesses this before installation — it's much easier to sort out the roof before the panels are on."

Obstacles

Skylights, roof windows, HVAC units, flue pipes, and vents all affect the panel layout. Photograph each one with a sense of scale and note their approximate position relative to the ridge and eaves. These go into the design model to produce an accurate layout rather than an estimate that changes after the survey.

Access

Note the access route to the roof for installation: scaffold requirements, overhead cables, access gate widths. For attic-mounted string inverters, note the loft hatch size. These affect installation cost and timeline.

Red Flags That Stop the Project

• Asbestos roofing material. Common in pre-1990 buildings in many European countries. Do not proceed without specialist survey and removal plan. Flag immediately and explain the implication clearly.
• Thatch roofing. Installation is possible but specialist and expensive. Standard mounting systems don't apply.
• Structural sagging. Visible bowing between rafters or at the ridgeline suggests the structure may not carry the additional load. Structural engineer assessment required before proceeding.

How to Read the Electricity Bill On-Site

The electricity bill is the most data-dense document in a residential solar consultation. Most customers have never read it in detail. Walking them through it positions you as a knowledgeable advisor rather than a salesperson.

What to Find and What It Tells You

• Annual kWh consumption. The baseline for system sizing. In most European countries this appears as a 12-month total. If only shown per billing period, multiply up to annual.
• Current tariff (€/kWh or p/kWh). This is the price per unit that determines annual savings. It also determines the value of self-consumption vs. export.
• Peak demand (kW). Relevant for commercial customers but also useful for residential customers with EV chargers or heat pumps. High peak demand strengthens the case for battery storage.
• Grid operator name. Needed for grid connection application. Note it now rather than chasing it later.
• Seasonal consumption profile. Some bills show monthly or quarterly breakdown. Summer vs. winter consumption patterns determine whether an east-west system or battery storage makes sense.
• Feed-in or export visibility. If they already have microgeneration (solar thermal, small wind), some bills show export separately. This matters for system sizing if they're adding to existing capacity.

Handling a Missing Bill

If the customer can't find their bill, work through these options in order:

1. Ask them to log into their energy provider's online portal or app — most show 12 months of usage data in graphical form.
2. Check the smart meter in-home display if present — recent consumption data is often accessible directly.
3. Estimate from the bill amount: divide by the regional average tariff for their country to get approximate kWh.
4. Use a consumption benchmark: a European detached house typically consumes 3,500–5,000 kWh/year; a semi-detached 2,500–3,500 kWh/year. Note in the proposal that the system is sized on an estimate pending bill confirmation.

Designing On-Site vs. Designing Back at the Office

On-site design — sketching the system layout with the customer watching in real time — is one of the most powerful differentiation tools in solar sales. It demonstrates expertise, involves the customer in the solution, and creates a shared ownership of the design before the financial conversation. But it's not always the right approach.

When to Design On-Site

• Straightforward south-facing roof with minimal shading obstacles
• Customer is engaged and curious about the design process
• Residential system under 15 kWp where satellite imagery gives sufficient detail
• You have a good satellite image available in the design tool

When to Design Back at the Office

• Complex multi-roof system with multiple orientations and tilts
• Significant shading requiring detailed annual shadow modelling
• Commercial or industrial building where LiDAR data or drone survey is required for accuracy
• System size above 50 kWp where layout optimisation takes more than 15 minutes
• Roof condition red flags that need to be resolved before a design is meaningful

SurgePV's solar design software runs on a tablet, so on-site design is practical for most residential visits. The key is having the satellite imagery loaded before you arrive — don't spend five minutes in the driveway waiting for the map to load.

Setting the Appointment Agenda (And Sticking to It)

Setting a clear agenda at the start of the appointment does three things: it reduces customer anxiety about how long this will take, it frames you as a structured professional rather than a pushy salesperson, and it gives you permission to move through each stage without the customer derailing into price objections before you've built the value.

Opening script: "Thanks for having me — I've been looking forward to seeing the property. Here's how I usually structure these visits: we'll start with your electricity bill, which takes about ten minutes, then I'll look at the roof, and after that I'll show you on screen exactly what a system would look like and what the numbers work out to. Should take about an hour in total — does that work for you?"

Benefits of Agenda-Setting

• Customers who know the agenda cooperate more fully in each step
• It frames the appointment as a consultation, not a sales pitch
• It gives you a natural redirect when early objections arise: "Great question — I'll get to the pricing once I've seen the roof, because the exact number depends on what's there"
• It sets expectations for the commitment ask at the end — customers who've agreed to a structured process are less surprised when you ask for a decision

Getting Both Decision-Makers Present

When booking the appointment, confirm who will be home: "I find it saves time and avoids a second visit if both partners are there — can we make sure [name] will be home at that time?" This isn't always possible, but the ask alone sends a signal that you're expecting a decision to be made, not just a conversation to be had.

Getting Commitment at the End of the Appointment

Closing at the end of the visit — rather than following up by email days later — converts at significantly higher rates. The customer is warm, the numbers are in front of them, and you're physically present to answer objections. Every day that passes after you leave, competing priorities and second thoughts erode that momentum.

Soft Close Techniques

Start with a temperature check before asking for the decision: "Does this make sense for your situation?" If they say yes or mostly yes, move to the close. If they hesitate, you've surfaced the real objection before it becomes a reason to delay indefinitely.

The Assumptive Close

"So the 8 kWp system with the optimisers — shall I get the contract started?" This is appropriate when the customer has been nodding throughout the financial analysis and hasn't raised significant objections. It moves the conversation forward without pressure — they can still say no, but the frame is that yes is the natural next step.

The Alternative Close

"Would you prefer to start with the loan option or pay cash upfront?" This assumes the sale and moves the customer into a decision between options rather than a decision about whether to proceed. It works well for customers who are clearly interested but stuck on choice.

The Urgency Close

"Installation slots for Q2 are filling up — if we sign today, I can hold your slot on the schedule." Use this only when it's true. False urgency destroys credibility instantly. When it is true, it gives the customer a practical reason to decide now rather than next week.

When They Say "I Need to Think About It"

This is not a no. It's an incomplete yes. The response: "Of course — this is a significant decision. To help me understand: what specifically would you need to feel confident moving forward?" This question surfaces the real objection. Most of the time it's one of five things: price, financing, trust in the installer, uncertainty about the roof, or a partner who needs to be consulted. Each of these is addressable.

Following Up After "I Need to Think"

Before you leave, schedule a specific follow-up: "I'll give you a call on Thursday at 6pm to see if you have any questions after reviewing the numbers — does that work?" A scheduled call closes at twice the rate of an unscheduled "I'll follow up soon."

After the Site Visit: The Follow-Up Protocol

The follow-up sequence after a site visit is as important as the visit itself. Most deals don't close at the appointment — they close in the 7–14 days after it. A structured follow-up protocol keeps the deal moving without being pushy.

Sending the proposal within 2 hours is non-negotiable. Proposals sent same-day close at a significantly higher rate than those sent 24–48 hours later. The customer's attention is on solar right now — tomorrow it's on something else.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I bring to a solar site visit?

Bring a tablet or laptop with solar software loaded, a measuring tape or laser measure, compass app, pitch gauge app, smartphone camera, the customer's electricity bills (requested in advance), a branded proposal template, financing options summary, an e-signature app for same-day closing, and business cards. The kit that matters most is the tablet with design software — the ability to show the customer their system in real time during the appointment is the single biggest differentiator.

How do you assess a roof for solar on a sales visit?

In 15 minutes, check: orientation with a compass app (south-facing is best), pitch visually or with a gauge app (30–45° optimal), shading obstacles and their shadow paths, roof condition for signs of needed repair, obstacles like skylights and HVAC units, and structural red flags like visible sagging. For a detailed shading analysis, use SurgePV's shadow analysis tool after the visit — but the on-site assessment gives you enough to design an accurate system and have a credible financial conversation.

How do you close a solar deal on the first visit?

Complete all seven appointment steps before asking for a decision. Once you've shown the financial analysis, use a soft close to test readiness: "Does this make sense for your situation?" If they're receptive, move to the assumptive or alternative close. If they say "I need to think about it," ask specifically what would make them confident — this surfaces real objections rather than polite deferrals. Schedule a follow-up call before you leave.

How long should a solar site visit take?

A complete 7-step appointment takes 60–75 minutes: warm-up (5 min), bill review (10 min), roof assessment (15 min), on-site design (15 min), production presentation (10 min), financial analysis (15 min), close and next steps (10 min). Setting the agenda at the start keeps both parties on track and prevents the visit from running over or being cut short before the financial conversation.

What if the customer doesn't have their electricity bill?

Try in order: their energy provider's online portal or app (most show 12 months of usage), their smart meter in-home display, an estimate from the bill amount divided by the regional average tariff, or a benchmark for their property type (3,500–5,000 kWh/year for a European detached house). Always note in the proposal that sizing is based on an estimate and confirm with actual bill data before final contract. Never skip the bill step entirely — even an estimate gives you specific numbers to work with.

About the Contributors

Author

Nirav Dhanani

Co-Founder · SurgePV

Nirav Dhanani is Co-Founder of SurgePV and Chief Marketing Officer at Heaven Green Energy Limited, where he oversees marketing, customer success, and strategic partnerships for a 1+ GW solar portfolio. With 10+ years in commercial solar project development, he has been directly involved in 300+ commercial and industrial installations and led market expansion into five new regions, improving win rates from 18% to 31%.

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