Solar and renewable-installer app: leads, installs, service
Solar, heat pumps and batteries are a funnel + a crew on a roof + a service visit in two years. A spreadsheet will not watch permits, panel deliveries and a handover protocol. A PV installer app: CRM, install schedule, a phone checklist, field service.
A solar firm lives on a funnel and a roof. A Google lead (“solar [county]”), a site visit, a quote, a contract, panel delivery, install, a notice to the distribution system operator, a bidirectional meter, service. If that lives in five Messengers, you lose the document pack for the operator or you send the crew to the wrong address on a day it rains anyway. A solar-company app and PV-installer software are CRM + field service + construction ops — not “energy ERP” and not satellite roof design in the calendar price.
The Polish market has matured: prosumer microinstallations go in as a notice to the DSO, new plants settle under net-billing, and the same team often adds a battery or a heat pump. This is no longer “sell panels and disappear”. It is a process from the first call to a check in 18–24 months. A spreadsheet can hold ten jobs. With three crews and a spring season you lose the monitoring password, the inverter annex and the weather window.
Where the renewable-installer process breaks
Sales promises an install “next week”, the store has no rails, the office has not sent the notice, and the homeowner calls about a grid status nobody marked. The usual breaks repeat — and each one costs a crew, a review or an annex.
- An ad lead dies because sales did not log it the same day — a competitor calls back.
- A PDF quote, a verbal change on the roof, then a fight about inverter size or optimiser count.
- The crew does not know if rails, panels and protection gear are on site or still at the wholesaler.
- A paper handover — no photos of strings, the cabinet, earthing or serial numbers.
- The DSO notice and meter swap “in someone’s inbox” — the owner thinks the plant is dead.
- Service in 18 months: nobody has the diagram, monitoring passwords or the warranty list.
- Heat pumps and batteries in the same team — a different checklist, the same van and people calendar.
- A subcontractor gets an address on WhatsApp and sees your margin in the quote PDF you forwarded.
These are not vague “digital gaps”. They are holes in a chain that in Poland has a hard formal step: you notify the DSO of a microinstallation, the operator confirms conditions and — after a correct application — swaps the meter for a bidirectional one (operator write-ups often cite a window on the order of 30 days). The app is not the utility and it does not “get you connected”. It watches that the pack went out, that status sits on the job card, and that the owner sees “waiting on the DSO”, not silence.
What the PV process in Poland looks like — and what must live in the system
A typical house path: lead, contact, site visit (roof photos, orientation, shade, timber condition, room for the inverter and isolator), a quote in kWp variants ± battery ± heat pump, contract, material order, weather window, install, measurements and protocol, DSO pack, meter, monitoring go-live, walkthrough, invoice, warranty, service. A rooftop microinstallation usually needs no building permit; larger plants and ground mounts are another path (connection conditions, sometimes a permit). The system does not interpret building law. It holds the document checklist you treat as required for that job type.
- Lead and source: Google, referral, partner, a fair. First-response time in hours, not “when we have a minute”.
- Site visit in the salesperson’s phone: address, photos, a note, whether the roof needs scaffolding.
- Quote: variants, validity, who sent it, whether the owner opened it, whether they asked for an annex.
- Contract and deposit: signature status, payment schedule, one job number from that moment.
- Materials: panels, rails, inverter, cabling, battery — status “in transit / in store / on site”.
- Install: crew, van, date, weather window, checklist, photos, owner sign-off.
- Paperwork: DSO pack, send date, operator status, meter date — fields, not an email thread.
- Service and warranty: diagram, serials, monitoring access, a ticket two years later.
Net-billing (for new plants from April 2022) changes the sales talk: self-consumption and a battery matter, not “the old rebate”. That does not mean the app should price wholesale energy. It means the job card must hold the variant you sold (with / without storage), and that service in two years opens that same variant, not a guess from a PDF in a salesperson’s private mail after they have left.
Modules you will actually use
We do not build twelve ERP tabs “because an ERP has them”. We build what the crew will click in season. The rest waits. When custom is even the right call: package or custom software.
- Solar CRM: lead source, stage (contact, visit, quote, contract, install, DSO, settlement), tasks, a reply SLA.
- A site visit: address, roof photos, orientation, shade, access — in the sales app, not a camera roll.
- Quote and contract: kWp variants, battery, heat pump; signature status; an annex as a new version, not a Word tweak.
- Crew rotas: gang, tickets, van, material store, weather window, travel.
- An installer app: checklist, photos, shortages, serials, protocol, owner sign-off.
- PV and heat-pump service: ticket, history, parts, SLA, the same address and diagram.
- A client portal: “waiting on the DSO”, documents, invoices / KSeF.
Why mobile matters more than a pretty office CRM
Sales and the installer are on a plot, on a roof or in a plant room, not at two monitors. Android (Kotlin) on the same API: offline where there is no signal, sync over LTE. A string photo and an inverter serial cannot wait for the office — they land in a private gallery and die when the phone is replaced. We do not build “a second database on the phone”. It is the same pattern as a tow truck and field service — only the checklist is for PV, a heat pump and a battery. The office sees the same statuses. There is no “true” version in the foreman’s notebook.
Material stock and the weather window
The most expensive trip is a crew on a roof with no rails, or with an inverter that was due “yesterday”. PV-installer software should join the install date to stock: rails, panels, inverter, protection, maybe a battery. Status “kitted to the van” is a condition of leaving, not a wish. At three jobs a day, without that you play Tetris on WhatsApp with the storekeeper.
A weather window does not need to be artificial intelligence. It is enough that the lead sees three days of jobs and can move a crew without losing the promised date in the owner’s eyes. The owner gets an SMS “we move to Thursday because of storms”, not silence and a surprise when nobody arrives. That is cheap and concrete. “AI routing of 12 crews” can wait for a scale you do not have yet.
Subcontractors without your margin on their screen
A large share of the market runs on outside crews. The subcontractor gets a login, only their addresses, their checklist and their dates. They do not see your quote, your margin or other jobs. Photos and the protocol land on your card, not on their USB stick. If you pay per job — you see status “protocol signed”, which starts the payout, not “somehow at month end in Excel”.
Service in two years is more expensive than you think
Once the plant is up, marketing moves on and the salesperson changes firm. The owner calls because monitoring is silent or an RCD keeps tripping. Without a job card you hunt a diagram in mail, a password in SMS and a serial on a blurry photo. PV service in the same system is: a ticket, the install history, parts, manufacturer warranty vs yours, a visit with a checklist. Same address. Same inverter. Another day. That is the real reason not to keep jobs in a “2024-done” folder on a drive.
A generic CRM vs a PV-installer app
A generic CRM knows a funnel and does not know kWp, a DSO pack or a protocol. Trade tools can be rigid: sales, or stock, or a “crew app” without your brand. Custom when you join PV + heat pumps + service, you have subcontractors with their own login, you want an owner portal under your brand, or an offline crew app. MVP on day one: leads + install status + photos + a DSO field. Store scheduling and full service — when the first hundred plants are up and you know which fields the team actually clicks.
An owner portal instead of silence after the contract
After signature the owner does not want a newsletter. They want to know: when the crew comes, whether materials are in, whether the pack went to the DSO, when the meter is due, where the monitoring guide is. A status page (browser first) cuts half the office calls. “Crew tomorrow 8:00” push comes when volume needs it. We do not force an app install to see that you are waiting on the operator. Invoices and KSeF live in the same place, not in a third mail from accounts.
Phrases this text targets
solar company app, PV installer software, solar CRM, renewable energy software, installer field app, heat-pump system, PV service, crew schedule, DSO notice, install protocol. The end customer searches “solar quote [city]” — your site plus this panel close the lead before a competitor calls, and they do not lose the same job at the meter.
How we start so the season does not stop
We do not roll out 4,000 SKUs the week before a holiday weekend. We set the funnel, the job card, statuses (including DSO), crew rotas and a photo checklist. We move live contracts, not five years of archive. After a month you see whether sales lose leads, whether the store lies, whether service belongs in phase two at all. Only then the portal, heat pumps as their own checklist and subcontractor logins.
Microinstallation, the DSO and the meter — fields on the card, not a mail thread
In Poland a prosumer microinstallation is notified to the distribution system operator (DSO: Tauron, PGE, Enea, Energa and others, depending on the area). A building permit for a typical house roof usually does not apply; plants from about 50 kWp and farms are another path (connection conditions, often a permit). After a correct notice the operator’s formal write-ups give a window to verify and swap the meter for a bidirectional one — DSO and vendor materials often cite about 30 days. A solar-company app is not the operator portal. It holds: the pack send date, a case number if you have one, status (“sent / amendment / accepted / meter / done”) and the files that went out. The owner sees that status instead of silence. The office sees which jobs have sat on the DSO longer than the agreed buffer.
- Job type on the card: rooftop microinstallation / ground / above the permit threshold — a different document checklist.
- The DSO pack ticked item by item, not “in a zip on Kasia’s machine”.
- Meter date and monitoring go-live as separate milestones, because install ≠ grid connection.
- A power annex or inverter change after contract = a new quote version, not a tweak in the PDF.
New plants from 1 April 2022 settle under net-billing, not the old rebate. That changes the sales talk (self-consumption, a battery); it does not mean PV-installer software should price wholesale energy or guarantee payback. The card keeps the variant you sold: kWp, battery yes/no, heat pump yes/no. Service in two years opens that same variant.
Serial numbers, warranty and the monitoring password
A panel or inverter claim without a serial is a week of hunting on the roof or on a blurry photo. The installer app should capture serials (panels, inverter, battery, an energy meter if you fit one) on install day, with a nameplate photo. Manufacturer warranty and your workmanship warranty are two fields and two dates. Monitoring login and password — on the job card with role limits, not in an SMS to the owner who then changes the router and loses it. When service arrives 18 months later, they open the same card, not a “2024-done” folder.
A handover protocol with the owner’s signature, photos of strings, the cabinet and earthing is part of that same card. Paper in a file dies when the office moves. A file on status “protocol signed” is the condition for a subcontractor payout and the start of warranty, not “somehow at month end”.
PV plus a heat pump: one address, two checklists, one van calendar
The same owner often buys a battery or a heat pump in the same season. That is not a second CRM. It is the same plot, a different crew (electrical tickets vs F-gas / plumbing), different materials and a different day. Renewable software holds one address and two (or three) jobs under it. The van calendar must not sell the same bus onto a roof at 8:00 and into a plant room at 8:30 on the other side of the county. Checklists do not mix: strings do not land on the heat-pump card.
Commercially it is handy to sell a “home pack”. Operationally it is cheaper to see resource clashes before you promise a date. The owner portal shows both jobs on one timeline: “panels on Wednesday, heat pump next week, DSO in progress”. Without that the office explains the same thing twice and mixes up which crew should go.
Season, ads and time to first reply
Spring and early autumn fill the rotas. A Google Ads lead in April that you do not log the same day gets a callback from a competitor. Solar CRM with a reply SLA (for example 2 hours in season, 24 off-season) and a lead source is not “a process for a corporation”. It is the only way marketing does not pay twice for the same roof. The report: how many leads from ads, how many from referral, what share reaches a contract, what share reaches a protocol, what share stalls on the DSO. Without that last step you think “sales are fine” while the money sits on the meter.
Describe whether the funnel, the roof, the DSO or service hurts, and how many crews you run. A solar-company app quote in 24 hours — from CRM and a protocol, not “energy ERP” and not a promise that a satellite will design the roof for you.
Frequently asked questions
- Will this replace design software?
- It does not have to. It can hold the design file and the string layout on the job. You size the roof in the tool you already use. We add an integration later if there is an API and it really shortens quotes.
- Subcontractors — how do we let them in without leaking margin?
- Their own login, only their addresses, dates and checklist. They do not see your quote, margin or other jobs. The protocol and photos come back to your card.
- Heat pumps and batteries in the same system?
- Yes — a different checklist, often a different crew, a shared funnel, van calendar and address card. The owner has one job, not three folders.
- How long is an MVP?
- Leads + statuses (including DSO) + install photos: usually weeks. Panel stock, full service and an owner portal — the next phase, once the first one already lives.
- A Play Store app for the homeowner?
- A status page in the browser first. Push when volume needs “crew tomorrow 8 am”. We do not force an install to see that you are waiting on the meter.
- Will the system file the microinstallation with the DSO for us?
- We do not pretend to be the utility or the operator’s system. We watch the pack, the send date and the status you type after the DSO replies. An integration with a named operator portal — only with a real interface and volume.
- What about net-billing and a payback calculation?
- You run the sales conversation. The system holds the variant you sold and the documents. We do not guarantee investment payback and we do not stand in for the energy seller’s settlement rules.
- How many crews make this worth it on day one?
- One crew and an owner in the field still gain from a checklist and photos. Your own app pays more clearly at 2–3 gangs, subcontractors or a PV + heat-pump mix. With one salesperson and ten jobs a year a decent CRM and a photo folder often suffice — we will say that outright.
Describe your project