An energy price announcement is made on a Tuesday. By Thursday an installer has three times his normal weekly enquiries.
He cannot survey any of them for four weeks. He replies to each asking to book a survey, and by the time the surveys happen the news cycle has passed and about half of them no longer reply.
The demand was real. It arrived in a fortnight, his process operates in months, and the mismatch cost him most of it.
The first failure: the demand is news driven
Solar enquiries do not arrive evenly. They arrive when something changes, which means the volume is unpredictable in timing and entirely predictable in shape.
The second failure: the process operates on a different timescale
Survey, design, quotation. Three weeks minimum for most installers, against a customer whose motivation has a half life measured in days.
The third failure: nothing is answered before the survey
The customer wants to know roughly whether it suits their roof, roughly what it costs and roughly what they would save. All three can be indicated immediately.
The fourth failure: the survey is treated as the first step
It is the second. Establishing roof orientation, shading, occupancy and electricity use takes minutes and determines whether a survey is worth booking at all.
The fifth failure: unsuitable properties consume survey slots
A heavily shaded north facing roof does not need a survey to reach a conclusion, and it occupies a slot somebody suitable is waiting for.
The sixth failure: the quotation is slow after the survey
Days of design work, which during a spike becomes a fortnight, which is more delay on top of the delay that already cost half the enquiries.
The seventh failure: nothing is captured for later
Somebody not ready this month may be ready in six, and an installer with no record of them starts from nothing at the next spike.
The eighth failure: the enquiries arrive in the evening
People read about energy prices after work and look into solar that night, which is precisely when nobody is answering.
The ninth failure: the price expectations are set by news coverage
Which is frequently wrong in both directions, and an installer who corrects it early has a straightforward conversation rather than a disappointing one.
The tenth failure: the indicative figure is avoided out of caution
Installers fear giving a number that turns out wrong. The alternative is giving nothing, which loses the customer entirely, and a stated range with conditions is safe.
The eleventh failure: the commercial enquiries are mixed in
Business enquiries during a price spike are larger, more urgent and need different handling, which is the ground in commercial solar enquiries from business owners.
The twelfth failure: the next spike is handled identically
It is forecastable, it happens more than once a year, and almost nobody prepares for it in the quiet months between.
The fix: qualify and indicate immediately, survey the right ones
An assistant that asks about roof orientation, shading, occupancy and electricity use, gives an honest indicative range, explains the payback logic and books surveys only for suitable properties converts the fortnight rather than losing it. The capture detail sits in solar survey requests captured properly, the risk of an indicative figure in when your chatbot gives a wrong price, and the same rapid quoting problem in small job enquiries that handymen can quote quickly. Start at try, see features, and the sector view sits under solar installers.