SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Commercial Arrays

How Many People to Send to a Big Array: Crew Size Advice for Commercial Solar Cleaning

An owner-operator can clean a residential roof alone, though even there a second person on the ground is a good idea. A 300-panel warehouse roof is a different question. Send one person and they will be up there all day, alone, with nobody to help if something goes wrong. Send four and half of them will be standing around. The right answer depends on the array, the access, the time window and the rules on site.

There Is No Single Right Number

The texting habits in Two-Way Texting With Facility Managers on Commercial Solar Cleaning Jobs help you learn the site before the crew gets there. This article is operator advice, not a rule book. Every company works differently and every site is different. What follows are the questions experienced crews ask before deciding.

Question 1: Is Anyone Ever Alone on a Roof?

Start with safety. Working alone on a commercial roof means nobody to call for help after a fall, a heat problem or a bad slip on a wet membrane. Many companies have a simple rule: no one on a commercial roof alone. Fall protection, tie-off where the roof allows it, never walking on the panels, and following the panel maker's cleaning guidance all still apply. Two people means one can watch the other, manage the hose and the ladder, and get help if needed. Some customers will require it anyway.

Question 2: How Big Is the Time Window?

A carport that must be done before the lot fills at 7:30am has a hard deadline. An office roof that must be done between 5pm and dark has one too. If one person cannot finish inside the window, you need more people or more days. Splitting a job across two early mornings is possible, but most customers prefer it done in one go. A bigger crew that finishes inside the window is usually the better choice. Timing is covered in Scheduling Commercial Solar Cleaning Around Business Hours.

Question 3: How Hard Is the Access?

A ground mount or a carport with good reach is fast to set up. A roof with a hatch in a third-floor stairwell, an escort from the front desk and a long hose run up through the building takes time before a single panel gets wet. On hard-access sites, a second person who handles hoses, water and equipment while the first cleans can save a lot of time.

Question 4: Where Is the Water?

If the crew is running a pure-water system from the truck, someone has to watch it, move it, and refill it. If the hose run is long, someone has to manage the hose so it does not snag on rooftop equipment or drag across the panels. On big arrays, water handling alone can keep one person busy.

Common Setups

Experience varies, but many companies settle into something like this:

• Small commercial roof or carport: two people. One cleans, one handles water, ladders and the ground.
• Large flat roof: two or three. Two cleaning rows from opposite ends, one on water and hoses.
• Several buildings at one site: two crews of two, each working its own buildings, or one crew moving building to building in route order.
• Ground mounts at farms: often two, since access is easier but distances and water are harder.

Planning Crews in the Software

In SolarCleaningBossPro, employees have their own PINs and truck assignments. On the dispatch board, the office assigns the commercial jobs to the commercial truck, and everyone assigned to that truck sees the same jobs in the same order on their phones. The panel count on each card, “312 panels · Roof · 1-story · Flat roof,” tells the crew lead what they are walking into.

The time clock records each person's hours as they happen. Look back at how long a site took and with how many people. After two or three visits you will know the right crew for each site. Write it in the access notes on the address (“Plan 3 people, about 5 hours”) so whoever builds the schedule next quarter does not have to guess. Crew GPS on the office map shows where everyone is during a long commercial day.

Price for the Crew You Send

If a site needs three people, the price has to cover three people. A per-panel price that works for a residential roof may not work for a commercial roof with an escort, a long hose run and a hard time window. Revisit your commercial pricing once you know what each site takes. To see how crew planning fits with everything else in commercial work, go back to the commercial solar cleaning software page.