SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Commercial Arrays

Choosing Commercial Solar Cleaning Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching software is a chore. You move the customer list, retrain the crew, change how the office works and hope nothing falls through the cracks in the first month. So when you choose software for commercial solar cleaning, it is worth checking that it fits the way commercial work actually runs before you commit.

Start With How You Work Today

If you are adding commercial work to a residential business, as described in Adding Commercial Arrays to a Residential Solar Cleaning Business, you need software that handles both sides. Write down how a commercial account runs today: how you quote it, schedule it, get on the roof, prove the work and bill it. Then check each step against the software.

Generic field-service software usually handles the basics: customers, jobs, invoices. The question is whether it handles the parts that make commercial solar cleaning different.

The Account Structure

• Can one client have many addresses? A property owner with eight buildings should be one customer, not eight.
• Does each address keep its own details? Panel count, mount, roof, extras and access notes per building.
• Can you tag and add custom fields? Commercial tags, PO numbers, accounts payable contacts.
• Can you import your list? A CSV import that places addresses on the map saves days of typing.

Billing

• Can a multi-site client get one statement a month, with each line labeled by address?
• Do invoices carry line items and sales tax?
• Can customers pay online, and can you keep a card on file for smaller accounts?
• Is there past-due follow-up, so you are not chasing statements by hand?

This is often where generic software falls short. If every completed job becomes its own invoice and there is no way to roll them up, your biggest customers get the most bills.

Scheduling and Routes

• Do recurring plans come due on their own? Quarterly commercial arrays should show up when due, without a calendar reminder.
• Can you see what is due and overdue on a map?
• Can you assign jobs to trucks and set the route order by hand around business hours?
• Does the crew's phone show the same order as the dispatch board?

On Site

• Do access notes show on the tech's phone every visit: hatches, keys, sign-in, spigots?
• Can techs take before-and-after photos that stay with the job?
• Can they skip with a reason the office sees right away?
• Does it run on the phones your crew already has, without special devices?
• Is there a time clock and crew GPS for long commercial days?

Quotes and Communication

• Are quotes built from your own service list, with per-panel pricing and add-ons?
• Can customers approve online, and does the approval become the scheduled job?
• Is there two-way texting from the office, so facility manager conversations stay with the company?

Be Honest About Fit

Ask what the software is not built for. SolarCleaningBossPro, for example, is built for companies cleaning homes, businesses, carports, farms and property owners with many buildings. Large utility-scale solar farm contracts are outside its typical use, as covered in Utility-Scale Solar Farms: An Honest Look at Where This Software Fits. A vendor that tells you where they do not fit is easier to trust about where they do.

Ask Your Crew and Your Office

The owner is not the only person who will use the software. Before you switch, show it to the person who runs the office and to your most experienced crew lead. The office person will spot billing and scheduling gaps you missed. The crew lead will tell you in five minutes whether the phone app is something they will actually use on a roof with wet gloves. If both of them can see how their day gets easier, the switch will go far more smoothly than if it is handed to them on a Monday morning.

Price and Trial

Check what you will actually pay. SolarCleaningBossPro plans are Start $59, Pro $89 and Crew $199 per month, with commercial accounts, monthly statements and the tech app on every plan, and a monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card.

Use the trial on real work. Set up one commercial account with all its addresses, quote a site, run a job on a crew phone, take photos and look at the statement. If it handles your most complicated account, it will handle the rest. There is also a live demo you can click through first. To see the full commercial picture, head back to the commercial solar cleaning software page.