A homeowner checks the app, sees output down on last summer, climbs into the loft to look at nothing useful and then searches for someone to clean the panels. She wants a price and she has no idea what any of the details are that would let you give her one.
These enquiries are worth having and they need three or four questions before any number is mentioned.
Step 1: establish the property and the roof
Number of storeys, roof pitch, roof covering and whether the panels are on a house, a garage or an outbuilding. A single storey shallow roof and a steep three storey are different jobs at different prices.
Step 2: count the panels
Owners usually know, and if not they can count them from the garden. It is the closest thing to a unit of measurement in this work and the basis of most pricing.
Step 3: check access
Where a pole system can be set up, whether there is a gate for equipment, whether a neighbour's garden is needed for the rear, and whether there is parking near enough for a tank.
Step 4: ask how long since the last clean
A first clean after eight years with moss growth is not the same as an annual maintenance visit. Pricing them identically loses money on one and the job on the other.
Step 5: ask about birds and debris
Nesting under panels is common, and owners often want the mess dealt with and proofing fitted. That is a separate service worth far more than the clean, and it never appears in an enquiry unprompted.
Step 6: say plainly what you will not do
Walking on panels, using abrasive tools, cleaning in freezing conditions and working on roofs that need scaffolding. Being clear about the limits is a professional signal rather than a lost sale.
Step 7: point to the manufacturer's guidance
Panel manufacturers publish cleaning guidance and warranty conditions. Pointing owners to their own documentation, rather than making claims about output, keeps you accurate and keeps them properly informed.
Step 8: never promise an output figure
You cannot know what a clean will recover, and output depends on weather, shading, system faults and inverter issues. Explaining that a clean removes one variable, rather than guaranteeing a gain, is the honest position.
Step 9: route faults elsewhere
An owner whose output dropped suddenly may have an electrical or inverter fault rather than dirty panels. Suggesting they check with their installer is more useful than taking money for a clean that changes nothing.
Step 10: price a round, not a visit
Panels benefit from periodic cleaning, and a scheduled arrangement suits both sides, which is the model described in regular round questions window cleaners answer weekly.
Step 11: sell the roof visit properly
Someone with a pole system at the property can also deal with gutters and roofline, as in gutter clearing and roofline enquiries alongside windows.
Step 12: expect weekend enquiries
Homeowners check their systems and their roofs at weekends, which is exactly the weekend enquiry problem, and owners still weighing an installation behave as in solar enquiries from homeowners still doing the maths.
Getting started
Publish what you clean, how, what you will not do and how you price, then capture roof details at any hour. SpideyChat for cleaning companies answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.