Welcome pack for solar installers
How to join the Hopecraft pilot in Warwickshire as a solar installer, and what happens next.
Building extensions? The welcome pack for builders.
Welcome
Get your evenings back. Your customer turns up knowing what they want. This pack shows you how to join the Warwickshire pilot in about ten minutes.
You know the enquiry: "how much for solar?" No idea which way the roof faces, how many panels fit, or whether a battery is worth it. With Hopecraft the homeowner does that part first. They type their postcode, see their own house in 3D, put panels on the roof, and see a rough cost, a year's generation and a payback.
What reaches you is a short brief you can price from. It comes to you alone, as a PDF on WhatsApp or by email, whichever you choose.
What a solar brief holds
A brief is a few pages about one roof, made by the homeowner on their own house. Every figure is the tool's estimate, and the brief says what each one rests on.
| In the brief | What it rests on |
|---|---|
| Panels that fit | Laid out on the slope that faces nearer south, around any chimney, roof window or dormer the model knows about. If nobody knows the roof's shape, a range: fewer if it slopes on all four sides (hipped), more if on two (gabled). |
| Roof shape | The homeowner's answer, or "not confirmed", in which case the ranges cover both shapes. |
| System size and a year's generation | The panel count, the roof's pitch, and which way it faces if the homeowner says. Without their answer, a blended UK average, and the brief says so. |
| Used at home and exported | A fixed share used at home (40%, or 75% with a battery, never more than the house uses) at the price-cap rate. The rest at a top Smart Export Guarantee rate. Usage is Ofgem's typical low, medium or high. |
| Install cost, saving and payback | A rough £1,800 per kW, 15% either way: a UK ballpark that names no single guide and doesn't allow for a small job's fixed costs. Payback is for the panels alone, given as a range when the roof's shape changes it. |
| Inverter | A size for the array, and whether it fits under the 3.68 kW connect-and-notify limit (G98) or needs the network operator's approval first (G99). It doesn't consider export limiting. |
| Battery | A starting size (5, 10 or 13.5 kWh) if they asked for one, and what it adds. Sometimes the answer is "very little", and the brief says so. |
| Car charger | If they added one: a cost band and the facts that change it. It goes to an electrician as its own quote. |
| Planning | The national rules for panels on a house roof, made stricter where the house is listed or is a flat. |
| Budget and timing | Their own answers, if they gave them. |
What it isn't
- Not a system design or a quote. You survey and design the system; your number is the one that counts.
- Not a shading check. Trees and next door's buildings are not counted in the generation figure.
- Not a measured roof. The pitch and the shape may be assumed, so check them on your visit.
- Not a network application. The G98 or G99 line is a guide; you notify or apply as you always do.
- Not legal advice. The planning points are rules of thumb for England.
How a brief reaches you
Each brief goes to one installer, not to a list. During the pilot we choose that installer ourselves, by hand, from the firms we have met and checked.
- A homeowner types their postcode, and their own house appears in 3D at its mapped size.
- They put solar panels on the roof, answer which way it faces if they know, and see the figures above.
- When they want a quote, the design becomes a brief.
- We send it to one installer who covers that work and that area, as a PDF on WhatsApp or by email. There's no portal to keep checking.
- You price it, survey if you need to, and tell us how it went.
How to reply
- Reply to whoever sent it, within the time you agreed: a quote, a question, or a no.
- A quick no is fine. Tell us why (a north roof, too much shade, too small a job), because that shapes the next brief.
- Ask us anything you need from the homeowner. We pass questions on and do the chasing.
- Afterwards, tell us whether you quoted and whether you won it.
Where things stand today: sending briefs through Hopecraft isn't switched on yet, so nobody has been sent one. Until it is, your briefs come from customers you send your own link to (see Using it with your own customers). The first installers to join will be the first to get one through us, and your honest view of it is the most useful thing you can give us.
Getting set up: five steps, about ten minutes
You need your phone and your business details. Nothing is paid for and nothing is downloaded.
1. Open the trade page
Type hopecraft.co.uk/supplier into your phone's browser and press Join ›.
2. Create your trade account
Fill in your business (or your own name). A username is filled in from it, and you can change it. Choose a password of at least 8 characters, then press Create account. The email is optional; give one and you can reset a forgotten password yourself.
- Write your username and password down. Without an email, if you lose them, email us.
- A homeowner account on Hopecraft won't sign in on this page. Make a separate trade account.
3. Tick what you offer
Tick every service you genuinely cover. An unticked box means you never get that kind of work.
| If you fit… | Tick |
|---|---|
| Solar panels, and batteries with them | Solar installer |
| Car chargers as well | Electrician |
| Extensions as well | Builder |
A battery comes to you with the solar job. A car charger is quoted as its own job, so tick Electrician only if you fit them.
4. Add your details and save
Add your Contact phone (the number we'll ring for your setup call; a mobile is best). Under Send my briefs by, choose WhatsApp or email; for email, add the address under Email for briefs. Then press Save profile.
Under Your area and how busy you are there are five optional boxes: your base postcode, how far you'll travel in miles, how many briefs a month you could look at, how quickly you usually reply, and anything else. If you leave them, we'll ask on the setup call.
5. Try it on a real roof
Press Try it on a real job › and type the postcode of a roof you're pricing this week. Choose Solar panels, and answer which way the panel roof faces. That is exactly what your customers will see.
Your steps show at the top of your profile: Account, Your details, Setup call, Briefs. The line under them reads Registered, and changes to Vetted after your setup call. To sign back in later, use the same page: Sign in.
Your setup call
Once you have saved your profile, we'll contact you on the number you left for a quick conversation. Briefs start after it, because the whole thing falls apart if a homeowner is sent someone who doesn't turn up.
Have these ready:
- Your public liability insurance certificate. We ask to see it, even if we know you well.
- Your MCS certification. Homeowners usually need an MCS-certified installation to be paid for the power they export.
- How long you've traded under this name, and your Companies House number if you're a limited company.
- If you fit car chargers: your Part P registration.
- Photos of two or three past installs, and one past customer who's happy to be asked "would you use them again?"
- The area you really cover, as a distance or a list of towns.
On the call we'll agree two things:
- How fast you'll reply to a brief, as a number ("same day", "within 48 hours"), not "quickly".
- Telling us what happened to each brief: whether you quoted, and whether you won the job. That is the one thing we ask in return for the pilot being free, and it's how we find out whether any of this works.
Using it with your own customers
You don't have to wait for a brief from us. The tool works the other way round too, and the customer stays yours.
- On a "how much for solar?" call: send them your own link. It's on your page at hopecraft.co.uk/supplier, under Your link for customers: Copy a message to send copies a ready message to paste into WhatsApp or a text. The page tells them their builder or installer sent them. They type their postcode, put panels on the roof, and press Send to a builder › on the last step (the button says builder; it opens their phone's sharing, and they choose you on WhatsApp or email). They can also save a PDF and send it to you themselves.
- Before you go out: ask them to tell the tool which way the roof faces and its shape. The shape turns the panel count from a range into one figure, and the direction sharpens the generation figure.
- At the kitchen table: open it on a tablet together. Change their usage and watch the payback move. A battery shows what it adds, and a car charger its cost.
- For a customer who isn't sure: send the guided tour, Solar, a battery and the car, on a house in Southam. It walks them through with a single green button.
- What it doesn't draw: panels go on a house's roof only. Ground-mounted arrays and commercial roofs aren't in it.
Straight answers
What does it cost? Free during the pilot. What comes after hasn't been decided, and nothing will be charged without being agreed with you first.
Will other installers get the same brief? No. Each brief goes to one installer. The honest flip side: if another installer we've checked covers the same area, some briefs go to them, so you won't see every job.
Do I have to take every brief? No. A quick no with a reason is fine, and it helps.
Is there anything to sign? Not to start. The site's terms of use are at hopecraft.co.uk/terms.
What happens to my details? They are used to check you and to send you work, nothing else, and never for a marketing list. Your password is stored only in a scrambled form we can't read. More at hopecraft.co.uk/privacy.
Can I leave? Yes, at any time and at no cost. Email us and we'll remove your account and your details.
Ready to go
- Trade account made at hopecraft.co.uk/supplier
- Solar installer ticked (and Electrician, if you fit chargers)
- Phone and how you want briefs saved (area, capacity and reply time if you like)
- Tried the tool on one real roof
- Your link for customers copied from your page, ready for the next call
- Insurance certificate and MCS details to hand
- Setup call done, and your profile reads Vetted
Questions at any point: email us at bob@hopecraft.uk, or message whoever introduced you.