Panels on the roof, customer waiting for paperwork
Scaffolding is down, panels generating, battery installed in the garage. The customer wants their handover pack so they can sort out their export tariff. The office opens the job and starts assembling: panel datasheets, inverter details, the shading assessment from the survey, string layout, commissioning readings, the network operator form, the certificate.
Half of it is in the designer's folder, a quarter in the installer's photos, and the serial numbers are on a whiteboard photo that's hard to read. It takes days to pull together.
Why the pack is hard to assemble
A solar or battery handover isn't one document. It pulls from the survey, the system design, the equipment actually fitted (which may differ from the design if stock changed), and the install day records. Different people own each stage, and none of them owns the final pack.
Your certification body, MCS where you are registered, and the network operator all ask for some of the same information in different forms. Typing the same serial number into four places is where errors creep in.
| Source | Feeds into |
|---|---|
| Survey | Shading, roof details, estimated generation |
| Design | String layout, inverter and battery sizing |
| Install day | Serials, commissioning readings, photos |
| Electrical testing | Certificate |
| All of the above | Handover pack, network operator forms, scheme records |
Battery retrofits onto existing solar add a further twist. The original installer's documents may be missing, the customer may not know the inverter model, and the handover pack has to describe the whole system rather than just the part you fitted. Collecting the existing system's details at survey saves a lot of guesswork at the end.
Where the time goes
The office spends days on each pack. Customers can't start their export tariff or claim anything until the paperwork arrives, so they ring. Mismatches between the design and what was fitted are found late. When your scheme assessor asks to see a sample of jobs, finding everything for each one takes another round of searching.
Delays also land in your reviews. Solar customers are often keen and well informed, and they post about their experience. A customer who waited weeks for a handover pack is more likely to mention it than to praise a neat cable run on the roof.
How we assemble it as the job goes
- Job record: one record per install, created at survey, which each stage adds to rather than starting its own folder.
- Kit capture: on install day the installer scans or photographs the serials of panels, inverter, battery and optimisers, and any change from the design is flagged.
- Readings and photos: commissioning readings and required photos are captured on a phone form in the order your installers work.
- Document assembly: the handover pack is built from your templates using the job record, with datasheets attached from a library by model.
- Operator and scheme details: the network operator application or notification, and your scheme's record, are pre-filled from the same data for a person to check and submit.
- Office check: a reviewer sees the pack beside the source data and approves it before it goes to the customer.
What your scheme and the network operator require is set by them and by your own compliance lead. We build to what they tell you.
A pack that is ready when the scaffold comes down
The office checks rather than assembles. Design and install mismatches show up on the day, when they can still be explained. Customers get their pack while the install is fresh, and scheme audits become a search rather than a dig.
Could this be you?
- Handover packs are assembled by hand after every install.
- Serial numbers are typed into several forms.
- Customers ring asking for paperwork to start their export tariff.
- What was fitted sometimes differs from the design, and nobody notices.
- Pulling a job together for an assessor takes hours.