Residential solar has the worst signed-to-installed attrition of any trade on this site, and the cause is well understood: a long, opaque gap between signing and switch-on during which the customer hears nothing, starts reading forums, and begins to suspect they were oversold.
Map the whole timeline at signing
Set the expectation while they are still enthusiastic. A customer who was told at signing that it takes three to four months is patient at week six. One who assumed four weeks is furious.
| Stage | Typically | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Site survey and design | 1–2 weeks | Booked, then the design with a roof layout image |
| HOA review | 2–6 weeks | Submitted, and that this one is not yours to speed up |
| Permit | 2–8 weeks | Submitted, with the jurisdiction's current turnaround |
| Install | 1–3 days | Date, crew, power-off window, roof access |
| Inspection | 1–4 weeks | Scheduled, then passed |
| Utility interconnection / PTO | 2–8 weeks | Applied, then approved — the real finish line |
| Any silent week | — | "No change. Still with X. Next update Friday." |
The last row is worth more than everything above it
A fixed weekly update, sent even when nothing has moved, is the single highest-value habit in solar. It costs a minute. It is the difference between a customer who waits and a customer who calls the finance company to cancel. Same mechanic as case updates in law firms — the fear is not delay, it is abandonment.
Panels on the roof is not the finish line
The most damaging misunderstanding in this trade. Installation day feels like completion, and then the system sits dark for another month waiting on inspection and permission to operate. A customer who thinks they are finished and then cannot turn it on assumes something has gone wrong.
Meridian Solar
iMessage
Priya — install's done, photos attached, and it looks great. Important: the system stays off until the city inspects and the utility grants permission to operate. Inspection is booked for the 14th, then PTO usually runs 3–4 weeks. I'll message at each step. Don't switch anything on before then.
ah I thought we'd be generating from today
Very common assumption — it's the part the industry explains badly. You're through the hard part, this last stretch is just paperwork on other people's desks.
The design conversation
Panel placement is aesthetic as well as technical, and customers care more about how it looks from the street than most sales processes acknowledge. Send the roof layout as an image, name the production trade-off of any change, and let them choose.
"Moving those four off the front face costs about 6% of annual production" is a real decision presented honestly. Discovering the front-face panels on install day is a complaint that costs you the referral.
After switch-on
- Walk them through the monitoring app in the thread, with a screenshot. Most support calls in year one are app questions.
- Message at the first full month with what it produced and how that compares to the estimate.
- Message after the first winter, because production drops and customers panic. Explaining seasonality before they notice it prevents the call.
- Ask for the referral at the first good summer bill, not at install. That is the moment the thing has visibly worked.
What to measure
- Signed-to-installed conversion — the number this entire playbook targets.
- Cancellations by stage, to find where your silence is longest.
- Support contacts in the first 90 days, and how many are app questions.
- Referrals per install, and when in the lifecycle they were asked for.
- Reviews mentioning being kept informed through the permit wait.