SolarCleaningBossPro Blog — Commercial Arrays

Quoting Commercial Solar Arrays: Per-Panel Pricing, Add-Ons and Online Approval

Commercial quotes tend to die in an inbox. The facility manager likes it, forwards it to their boss, who forwards it to the owner, who means to look at it next week. Two months later you are still waiting. You cannot control the approval chain, but you can make the quote clear, consistent and easy to say yes to.

Start From the Same Service List

The account report in Reports by Account: Knowing What Each Commercial Solar Cleaning Customer Brings In tells you what an account is worth after the fact. The quote is where you set that worth in the first place.

In SolarCleaningBossPro, estimates are built from your service list, the same list you use for homes. Typical lines include:

• Per-panel cleaning, for example $6 a panel
• Minimum charge, for example $120 minimum
• Story add-ons for 2-story and 3+ story roofs
• Steep-pitch add-on
• Bird proofing, priced per panel
• Critter guards
• Inspection

Those example prices are just examples. Set your own. The point is that a commercial quote uses the same building blocks as a residential one, so your pricing stays consistent and the quote is fast to build.

Per-Panel Pricing on Big Arrays

On a large array, the per-panel line carries the quote. That makes the panel count the most important number you collect. Count on site whenever you can. Satellite images help you get close, but rows hide behind parapets and under trees, and carports can be longer than they look.

Many companies use a lower per-panel price on very large arrays, since setup time is spread over more panels. If you do, add a commercial per-panel service to your list so you are not editing prices by hand every time. Same for any after-hours or weekend line if you charge for early starts.

Think about the minimum too. A minimum charge exists for small jobs, and a big array will blow past it. But a small business with a twelve-panel roof is still a commercial account, with the same check-in, sign-in and statement work as a big one. Many companies set a separate commercial minimum for that reason. Again, the number is yours. What matters is that it lives on the service list, so every quote from every person in the office comes out the same way.

Finally, price the access. A long hose run, an escort to the roof or a lift rental all cost time or money. If they apply to a site, give them their own line so the customer sees why this roof costs more than the one down the street.

Quote Per Site

For a property owner with several buildings, quote each address separately on the estimate, or send one estimate per site. Either way, the work should land on the right building. When the approved estimate becomes a scheduled job, it is attached to that address, with its panel count and add-ons. That keeps photos, history and statement lines straight from the start.

Quoting per site also helps the customer. They can approve the three buildings in this year's budget and hold off on the fourth, without asking you to redo the whole quote.

Online Approval

Send the estimate and the customer approves it online. The approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. No retyping, no calendar entry from a signed PDF, no “Did they say yes?” in the office. When the approval comes in, you know.

An online approval link is easy to forward. That helps with commercial approval chains: the facility manager forwards it to the owner, and whoever has the authority can approve it from their phone.

What to Put in the Notes

A commercial customer reads a quote more carefully than a homeowner does. Make the estimate answer their questions before they ask:

• What is included: which arrays, how many panels, which add-ons.
• When you will do the work: early morning, weekends, around their hours.
• How you will get on site: check-in, sign-in, the hatch or lift.
• What they get afterward: before-and-after photos, and one monthly statement if they have several sites.
• The plan you suggest: one-time, quarterly or twice a year.

Follow Up Without Nagging

If a quote sits, a short text from the office a week later is fair: “Just checking whether the estimate for the warehouse and carport reached the right person. Happy to walk the site with anyone who wants to see it.” Replies come back to the office through two-way texting. More on working with managers by text is in Two-Way Texting With Facility Managers on Commercial Solar Cleaning Jobs.

From Quote to Quarterly

Many commercial customers want to try one cleaning before committing. That is fine. Quote the first cleaning, do it well, send the photos, then offer the plan. Once they say yes, set the site to 90 or 180 days between visits and it comes due on the Waiting List on its own. To see how quoting fits with the rest of commercial work, go back to the commercial solar cleaning software page.