Industries / Solar and battery installers
Residential and small commercial solar and battery installers
Your design software draws the system. We cover the waiting on the city and the utility.
Jonroc finds the gaps around your solar software, such as survey notes, permit and interconnection status, kicked-back applications, and customer updates, and trains the person who runs the agents that fill them.
Most solar companies already have real tools for design, proposals, and tracking the project. They draw the layout, price the system, and hold the contract. Replacing them is rarely the answer, and we do not start there.
The install is often the shortest part of a solar job. The long part is the paperwork on both sides of it: the application to the city or county, the application to the utility, the inspection, and the final approval before the system can be switched on. Each place has its own forms and its own pace, and the job sits in someone's inbox between steps. An agent can work in that gap, beside your software, from your reports and exports, from emails and notes, and from the photos and voice memos your surveyors already take.
Solar is its own kind of work. It is a consumer sale followed by two outside approvals and a short day on the roof, which is why it has its own page. AI is good at keeping a status list and noticing what has gone quiet. It does not size a system, judge code or fire setbacks, or decide when a system is safe to turn on. Those stay with your qualified people, and the audit shows you which is which in your company.
Start free
Two free group sessions. Pick the one that fits.
Each one is an hour live with Benjamin: 30 minutes showing the advanced capabilities of AI for the solar installation industry, then a 30-minute question and answer. Choose a date and book it online.
Phase 1: Get the job leads
Before the site survey comes the inquiry. Is it reaching you?
Jonroc has built websites and run advertising for project-based companies since 2011, and Benjamin has directed more than $3 million in advertising budgets. Bring your own site, your ads, and your last few solar and battery inquiries and ask him anything.
Marketing session: up to three companies, twice a week.
Phase 2: Win them and run them
Where AI fits in a solar and battery installers business
Thirty minutes showing the advanced capabilities of AI for the solar installation industry, then thirty minutes of your questions. You see the eight steps of a job, what AI takes off your team at each one, and what a person still decides.
Operations session: up to four companies from similar industries, three times a week.
Where it goes wrong
What actually costs you time and money
Finished on the roof, waiting on paper
The panels are up and the customer is watching a dead system. The city has not signed off, or the utility has not given the final approval, and nobody has one list showing which jobs are waiting on whom and since when.
The application that comes back
The utility sends an application back for a missing detail or a mismatch with the plans. Whoever notices has to find the original, fix it, and resubmit, and in a busy week it sits for days.
A different form in every town
Each city and each utility wants its own forms in its own format. A job in a new area is a fresh puzzle, and what you learned on the last one lives in someone's head.
The panel or the roof is not ready
The site survey finds a main panel that needs work or a roof that needs repair first. The customer already signed, the price is now a conversation, and the install date slides.
Dates that have to line up
Equipment, crew, and inspection all have to land in the right order. One late delivery or one missed inspection slot moves everything behind it.
What the sale promised and what the survey found
The proposal said one thing and the roof says another. Surveyors and sales reps work from different notes, and the customer notices the gap before you do.
Silence between signing and turn-on
Weeks pass with nothing to tell the customer because nothing visible is happening. Updates get sent when someone has a minute, and the customer who feels forgotten is the one who starts calling.
Batteries and add-ons mid-project
A customer adds a battery or changes the design after the application is in. The plans, the utility paperwork, and the equipment order all have to change together, and one of them gets missed.
The eight steps
The eight steps, in solar and battery installers terms
Open a step to see where AI agents help and what a person still decides.
1 Lead and first call
Where AI helps
Capture the inquiry, ask a standard set of questions about the roof, the ownership of the home, and the electric bill, and book the visit or the design call. Prepare a short summary for whoever takes it, so the first conversation is not spent on basics.
What a person decides
Whether the home and the customer are a fit, and what to say about expectations.
2 Site survey
Where AI helps
The surveyor photographs the roof, the main panel, and the surroundings, and dictates what they see. The agent turns it into a standard survey sheet, lists anything not captured, and flags notes that point to extra work such as a panel or roof issue.
What a person decides
What the roof and electrical service can support, and every safety and structural judgment.
3 Design and proposal
Where AI helps
From the survey sheet, draft the plain-language summary of the system options for the customer and flag details that look inconsistent between the survey and the design. Your design software still draws the system and holds the pricing.
What a person decides
System design, equipment choices, pricing, savings claims, and every line before it goes out.
4 Sign and finance
Where AI helps
Follow up on open proposals on a schedule, answer common questions, and chase unsigned agreements and financing paperwork so they do not sit. Keep the signed documents organized by job.
What a person decides
Negotiation, financing choices, and whether any consumer or incentive rule applies. The person responsible confirms these locally.
5 Permit and utility interconnection
Where AI helps
From your exports, emails, and notes, keep one status list per job: what was submitted to the city, what was submitted to the utility, the date, the last contact, and what is waiting. Draft a checklist when an application comes back, and draft the customer update that explains the wait.
What a person decides
What gets submitted and how, which forms each place requires, and any follow-up call. Permit and utility rules vary by state, city, and utility, so confirm locally.
6 Install
Where AI helps
There is little for AI in the install itself, and we say so. The roof work belongs to your crews. The agent can turn the crew lead's photos and voice notes into a complete install record, and read an exported schedule to draft the crew and customer confirmations.
What a person decides
All installation and wiring, every safety decision, and any change to the plan on site.
7 Inspection and approval to operate
Where AI helps
Track the inspection date and the final utility submission from your notes, assemble the inspection documents and photos in one place, and flag jobs where the final approval has been pending for a while. Draft the customer message that says what is happening.
What a person decides
Whether the system is ready for inspection, and when it is safe and allowed to turn on. The city and the utility decide when approval is given.
8 Turn-on and follow-up
Where AI helps
Gather the warranty, monitoring, and closeout documents into one packet for review, draft the customer handoff message, ask for a review, and ask later about referrals. If the customer agrees, the finished photos can become a portfolio entry.
What a person decides
Any dispute or warranty decision, incentive questions, and whether the customer agrees to have their home shown.
Who runs it
The people who keep it working
AI agents need an owner inside your company. In solar and battery installers, that usually looks like this.
Business operator
Often an operations manager, project coordinator, or owner who knows how permits and utility approvals really move for the places you work. Decides what to automate, checks the status lists and drafts against real jobs, and makes sure the team uses them.
Technical operator (part-time)
Connects agents to your solar software where it offers a way in, and works from its reports and exports where it does not. Owns security, testing, and fixes, and keeps customer and application records handled properly. Often shared with other small companies.
Smaller companies can start with one person covering both roles, or share a technical operator with others.
Working together
Start with an audit
Consulting
Find It, Plan It, or Staff It. You get the plan and the operator role, and carry it out yourself. Right for smaller companies and tighter budgets.
Install, by application
For companies with a project of $25,000 or more, Benjamin builds and installs the system, hands it to your operators, and supports it for six months. Benjamin takes one install at a time so each one gets his full attention, which means there can be a wait. Reserve your spot by requesting an audit.
First 90 days
Pick one step, one problem, one result
A good first target is the permit and interconnection status list. Take the jobs that are signed but not yet turned on, and keep one running list for each: what was submitted to the city, what was submitted to the utility, when, who you are waiting on, the last contact, and a draft customer update for a person to send. It works beside any project software with no integration, because it can be built from your reports, emails, and notes. You can measure it from your own records: how many jobs have a current status, how many days an application sat before someone acted, and how many customers got an update. Survey sheets from photos and voice notes are a natural second step.
The goal is never "automate the office." It is one measurable fix, running reliably, before you take on the next one.
Why we start with an audit
We would rather show you the fit than ask you to trust us
Jonroc has not published a result for this industry yet, and we will not invent one. The audit exists so you can see exactly where AI would help in your business, what it would cost, and who would run it, before you commit to anything larger.
Solar and battery installers FAQ
Questions we hear from companies like yours.
Are you replacing my design or project software?
No. Your software draws the system, builds the proposal, and tracks the job. We look at what falls outside it, such as the permit and utility waiting list, the survey notes, the customer updates, and the closeout packet, and fill those gaps.
Can AI submit my permit and utility applications?
We do not assume that. Forms and portals differ by city and utility, and some have no way in for an agent. What we can do is keep the status list, draft the checklist when something comes back, and organize the documents. A person submits and decides.
Can AI size the system or check code and fire setbacks?
No. Design, sizing, and code decisions stay with your qualified people and your own design tools. An agent can organize the survey notes and photos that feed that work, but it does not decide what fits a roof or what is safe.
How do you handle the rules that differ by utility and city?
We do not state them. Rules vary by state, city, and utility, and the person responsible confirms them locally. An agent can keep your own notes on what each place asked for last time, so the next job starts with that record.
Where does AI not help in a solar business?
The work on the roof, the electrical and safety decisions, getting a city or a utility to move faster, and the design itself. It can keep the list and draft the message. It cannot make a decision or an approval for you.
What happens to my customer records and application documents?
Before anything starts, the audit covers which data would be used, where it would go, and who could see it. If you have a specific worry, raise it and we will answer for your setup.
Related industries
Not your industry? If your business follows the eight steps, the audit will show where AI fits.
Want more jobs coming in as well? See marketing.
Find out where AI fits
in your solar and battery installers business.
A fixed-price audit gives you a written plan and a described operator role, whether or not you ever need an install.
Book an auditNot sure it fits? Tell us about your business and Benjamin will say so honestly.