Solar installation Operations Questions
The questions that recur in solar installation share one shape: the sale closes on savings math that permitting, policy, and rate structures keep rewriting. Two big jurisdictions permit at four times the normal clock, and tax-credit shifts evaporate a pipeline segment before anyone measures it. Crews identical in output differ 30 points on inspection pass. The answers below instrument the policy exposure before the sales funnel.
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Sold customers refer at half the benchmark despite strong satisfaction. What happens between survey and referral ask?
Nothing, that is the gap. Satisfaction is passive. Referral is an activity requiring a trigger, an ask, and an artifact to share. The 12 to 24 month post-install window (first production anniversary, first true-up bill) is when advocacy peaks, and your process has no event there. Instrument the ask.
D5, §2.3, §8.2 blueprint
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Why does permitting take 4× longer in our two biggest jurisdictions, and have we redesigned around it instead of absorbing it?
Because they are the constraint and you have treated permit lead time as weather instead of a managed process: redesign options include jurisdiction-specific design templates (pre-approved racking/plans), dedicated permit runners, and sequencing installs by permit velocity. The bottleneck governs throughput whether you manage it or not.
A3, §7 drum-buffer-rope, §11.2
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Are battery-attach rates limited by customer economics or sales-team comfort, which does per-rep data support?
Per-rep variance answers it: if attach rates vary widely by rep within the same customer economics, it is comfort and skill, not the market. Codify the high-attach reps' pitch (outage math + bill math, not technology) and retrain.
§6.3 stratification, §13 standard work, §1.1
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Why does CAC swing 2.5× between quarters, which funnel variable actually moves it?
Decompose CAC by channel-quarter: usually one channel (paid search or lead-buy) drives the swing as auction prices and lead quality shift seasonally, while referrals stay flat. The fix is mix management. Grow the stable channels, treat volatile channels as marginal capacity.
§2.2 channel variance, §13, §1.3
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Installer production looks identical while inspection-pass rates differ 30 points between crews. What are fast crews skipping?
The invisible quality steps: torque verification, wire management, conduit fitting, labeling. Everything the inspector checks and the production metric does not. Speed without pass-rate is scrap in slow motion (rework + reinspection delay). Put first-pass inspection rate on the crew scorecard beside production.
§6.3 SPC/Cpk thinking, §13 Goodhart, §6.2 internal failure
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Why do roofs flagged marginal at survey produce most of our five-year service calls?
Because the flag was noted and then overridden by the sale. A documented risk absorbed without pricing or redesign. The flag must become a gate: re-roof first, or price the future panel detach/reset into the contract. Unpriced flags are deferred external failure.
§11.4 risk assessment, §6.2 external failure, §0.3 specifiedBy
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When tax-credit policy shifts, which pipeline segment evaporates first. Leading indicator or month-end discovery?
The marginal-economics segment (low usage, shaded roofs, financed deals) dies first, and the leading indicator exists: quote-stage conversion and site-survey bookings move weeks before revenue. Instrument leading funnel metrics weekly so policy shifts show up in time to react.
§2.2 leading indicators, §2.1 demand uncertainty, §11.4
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When utility rate structures change, do we re-price proposals within a week or sell old savings math until close rates force it?
Most installers sell the old math until the funnel screams. A governed-by-nothing pricing process. Rate schedules are public inputs. Assign ownership of a rate-watch trigger that invalidates stale proposals. Selling known-stale savings math is also a trust liability waiting for a dispute.
§0.3 governedBy, §2.3, §6.1 perceived quality
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Does our financing-first presentation select for customers who default, cancel, or resent us. What does cancellation by lender show?
Check it: if cancellations cluster on specific lenders/dealer-fee structures, the financing frame is selecting payment-sensitive buyers who remorse-cancel at the true monthly cost. Presenting cash price first, financing second re-anchors on system value and typically halves remorse cancels.
§13 behavioral ops, §2.3, §1.1 segment selection
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Do bought leads and self-generated leads produce different system sizes, or just different acquisition costs?
Compare cohorts on system size, adders, financing mix, and cancel rate. Not just CAC. Bought leads typically skew smaller and price-shopped. Self-generated skew larger and trust-based. If confirmed, the two channels are different products and should carry different close-rate expectations and sales staffing.
§2.2 cohort analysis, §1.1 MarketPositioning, §13
How these answers work
Each answer names the operational mechanism the question is circling, then states the directive that follows from the ontology in Part One of the book. Bracketed citations point to the ontology sections and axioms that produced the answer. Figures inside the questions describe each stipulated scenario. They are not industry benchmarks.
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General information only. This page and the book it excerpts provide general operational information for business owners. They do not provide legal, tax, accounting, medical, financial, employment, or other professional advice, and they do not account for the facts of any particular business. Reading them creates no consulting or advisory relationship of any kind.
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Reading the question that matches your situation is not the same as correcting the structure underneath it. World Consulting Group works with operators on the kinds of structural questions this book raises.
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