The electrician sitting in the van
The roofers are due to finish the array by lunchtime so the electrician can connect the inverter and battery in the afternoon. The roof has more broken tiles than expected and they finish at four. The electrician has been on site since one, doing what he can in the loft, then waiting. Tomorrow he is booked on a job whose roofers have not been scheduled, because the person who does the calendar thought the same team was doing both.
Why trades collide
- The calendar books people, not job stages.
- Stage durations are guessed rather than based on what similar roofs took.
- Some stages need particular skills, such as battery installation or three-phase work, and only some electricians have them.
- Subcontract roofing teams have their own diaries.
- When one stage overruns, nobody updates the next one until the phone rings.
What poor sequencing costs
Paid time waiting on site. Extra visits to finish a job that should have been done in one go. Homeowners who took a day off and see a van parked outside with nobody working. Installs per week lower than your teams could manage. And tired crews driving between sites to fill gaps.
A schedule built from job stages
- Each job is split into stages from its design: roof work, electrical first fix, battery installation, commissioning, handover.
- Each stage has a typical duration based on roof type, panel count and equipment, refined from what past jobs took.
- Teams and individuals carry their skills and qualifications as recorded by you, so a stage is only offered to someone who can do it.
- The scheduler places stages in order, with the electrician's slot following the roofers' planned finish rather than a fixed time.
- Install leads update progress from their phones; if roof work overruns, the electrician's slot moves and they are told.
- Subcontract teams receive their stages by link and confirm them.
- A weekly view shows gaps and clashes before they happen.
Who is competent to do what is your decision and your certification body's. The schedule applies the skills you record.
Stages for a typical job
| Stage | Team | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Scaffold up | Scaffolder | Booking confirmed |
| Roof work and array | Roofing team | Scaffold up |
| Electrical and inverter | Electrician | Array cabled to roof exit |
| Battery | Electrician with battery skills | Inverter in place |
| Commissioning and handover | Install lead | All above |
Teams working, not waiting
Each trade arrives when the previous stage is done or nearly done. Overruns move the next stage automatically, with a message. Stage durations get more accurate with every job. And the weekly plan shows where you can fit another install.
Learning how long jobs really take
The first version of the schedule uses your estimates for stage durations. They will be wrong in places, usually optimistic for tricky roofs and pessimistic for simple ones. As install leads record when each stage actually started and finished, the durations adjust by roof type, panel count and team, so the schedule becomes more realistic with every job.
That record is also useful beyond scheduling. It shows which roof types consistently take longer than quoted, which feeds back into pricing, and which teams work well together.
Is your schedule a calendar of people?
- Electricians wait on site for roofers to finish.
- Jobs need a second visit to finish something that should have been done.
- Schedule changes are made by phone.
- Stage durations are guesses.