The quote is the only part of a solar job the customer can read before they decide. Whatever is not on it, they assume is missing, and whatever is vague on it, they price at the worst number they can think of.
A quote has seven parts, and a firm gets each one right or wrong on its own: the system, the price, the tax, the savings, the terms, the way it reaches the customer, and what happens when they say yes. This is the map: for each part, the principle, the one mistake firms make there, and where a guide in this series goes deeper. It needs no software, only a price list, a template and a diary.
1. The system, exactly: every component by model and quantity, from the design
The quote lists what will be on the roof and in the house, by make, model and quantity: panels, inverter, battery, mounting, isolators, cable, monitoring, the generation meter. Each number comes from the design, not from memory. If the drawing shows thirteen panels, the quote says thirteen, because the customer will put the two side by side. Kit the firm is not supplying, an existing consumer unit or meter, is named as existing, so the customer can see what is new.
The mistake: the quote written from the survey conversation rather than the design. The inverter on the quote is the one the salesperson usually sells, not the one the designer sized for the strings. Somebody finds the difference later, and the quote is reissued with a little less trust than before.
2. The price, line by line, with the scope stated
One line per thing, each with a quantity, a unit price and a line total, so the customer can see what each part costs. Labour on its own line. The electrical work, the grid application, the registration or certification, each as a line. Scaffold and access on their own lines with a number on them: if the scaffolder has not quoted yet, use your standard price for that elevation and say so. Then the scope in two short lists, what is included and what is not: making good, trenching, roof repairs, removal of an old system. Nothing says "TBC", "POA" or "to follow". A quote with a hole in it is not a quote, and the customer fills the hole themselves.
Extras go on as optional lines the customer can add or leave, off the price until chosen, so a bird guard or a second battery is a choice on paper rather than an argument on the day. And know the margin on each line before it goes out, cost beside price, so a discount is a decision and not a hope.
The mistake: scaffold left off, or folded into "installation" and argued over when the scaffolder's bill arrives. Its cousin is the one-number quote, a single total with no lines, which leaves the customer nothing to compare but the total.
3. Tax shown on every line and in the totals
Every line carries its own tax rate, and the customer sees it. Then the totals: net, tax at each rate, and the total the customer pays. The rate depends on what the line is, who the customer is and, in some countries, the date, so it is decided when the quote is priced and written against the line. Whoever raises the invoice copies the rate from the accepted quote. Nobody re-decides it.
The mistake: one total "including tax", which hides the rate until the invoice. That is the worst moment for the customer to find out. A UK-specific guide to solar and battery VAT follows in this series, with the rule and the routine that keeps the quote and the invoice on the same rate.
4. The generation and savings estimate, with its inputs printed
A savings figure is a claim the firm makes to its customer, so the quote prints the inputs beside it: the annual generation in kWh and the method it came from, the share used in the home, the import rate, the export rate, the price rise assumed and the fall in output over the years. From those come the first-year saving, the payback and a lifetime figure, followed by one line: these are estimates and not a guarantee. A customer holding two honest quotes with two different savings can only tell which to believe if the inputs are on the page.
The mistake: a payback figure with nothing behind it, inherited from a template or a leaflet. How a solar savings estimate is worked out covers the five inputs, with a worked example and the arithmetic shown.
5. The terms: validity, deposit, payment stages, cancellation, warranties
The terms answer the questions the customer asks before signing, so they are on the quote, not in a separate document. How long the price holds, as a date, not "30 days from issue". The deposit due on acceptance and when the balance falls due. The customer's right to cancel after accepting, where the law gives one, and how long it lasts. The warranties: panels, inverter, battery and workmanship, each with its years, and any protection of the deposit and the workmanship warranty, with the name of whoever provides it. The terms are decided once for the firm and printed on every quote, so nobody reinvents them.
The mistake: a validity date that passed before the customer answered, so the price is reopened on the phone with no record of what was agreed.
6. How it reaches the customer, and how it is followed up
The quote is one document, readable on a phone, with the questions and the acceptance in the same place as the lines. Send it fast: the customer is warmest on the day of the survey, and a quote that arrives in three days is in the comparison while one that arrives in three weeks is not. Then treat the follow-up as part of sending. The day the quote goes out, two dates go in the diary: a call a few days later, and a nudge before the price expires. Each follow-up asks a question, has anything changed or is anything unclear, rather than repeating the offer.
The mistake: the quote treated as sent and done, and the silence after it read as the customer's answer. The survey and the design are already paid for, so this is the dearest silence in the business. The week after the survey sets out the four-day routine from the roof to the inbox, with an owner on each day.
7. Versions, and what happens when the customer says yes
A quote changes. The customer adds a battery, drops a panel, asks for a different inverter. Each change is a new version, with the earlier ones kept, so the firm can say what was offered when and go back to it. On acceptance, the version the customer accepted is locked: its lines, prices, rates and terms cannot change. That locked copy becomes the job. It is what the installers fit, what the office invoices against, and the record of what was agreed. Any change after acceptance is a new version the customer agrees to, not an edit to the old one.
The mistake: the live quote edited after acceptance, so that by the install the deposit, the invoice and the kit on the van each rest on a different version.
Installa does the quote for you
- Stop typing the kit in. A quote built from the design carries the design's components at the design's quantities, priced from your own price list. A product with no price shows as unpriced, not as zero, and the quote cannot go out until it is priced or taken off.
- Stop pricing blind. The quote builder shows your margin on the lines you have costs for, to your team only. Templates add your standard lines in one go, and any line can be an optional extra the customer adds or removes online.
- Stop deciding the tax twice. Every line carries its own rate, set from the product and the customer and changeable on the line, and the totals show tax at each rate on the PDF and the online quote.
- Stop writing the small print. The validity date, the deposit on acceptance, the payment terms, the right to cancel, the warranty years and the savings estimate with its assumptions print on every quote. Savings appear only when you switch them on for that quote.
- Stop sending and hoping. Before a quote goes, Installa says what stops it and what deserves a second look, and shows it as the customer will see it. The customer reads it online, asks a question on it and accepts it there. You see when it was opened, a quote with no answer after a few days is flagged for a call, and quote reminders, once switched on, email a nudge after a set number of days and again before the price runs out.
- Stop losing what was agreed. Every change to a quote is a version you can go back to. Acceptance locks a copy, and that copy is the job's record of what was sold.
The system from the design, every line priced with its tax shown, the estimate with its inputs, the terms on the page, sent fast and followed up on a schedule, and a locked copy when the customer says yes. That is what a solar quote should contain, and what the quote screens are built around. See how proposals and quoting in Installa work, or check a savings figure with the solar savings calculator.