Battery Retrofit Survey and Quote Checklist for UK Installers

A retrofit starts with an existing system, not a blank equipment order. Ask whether the customer wants to use more solar generation, store purchased electricity, replace equipment, add capacity or discuss backup. Record each objective separately so a request for lower bills does not quietly become a promise of whole-home backup.

This checklist is a commercial record for the enquiry and the findings of a competent surveyor. HSE's electrical-work guidance makes competence specific to the task. Technical assessment, testing and design stay with the person responsible for that work; customers can supply records and normal photographs without opening electrical equipment.

• Job reference and address: ___
• Customer and access contact: ___
• Requested outcome, in the customer's words: ___
• Person authorised to agree the scope and price: ___
• Existing problems or faults reported: ___

Ask for what the customer already holds. Missing paperwork is a survey question, not a reason to fill a field from a similar house. Keep the original file and its date alongside any summary, especially where a previous installation has since been altered.

• Solar installation: installation date if known; installer; existing certificate and handover documents ___.
• Equipment: inverter make/model; existing battery make/model if any; available manuals and warranties ___.
• Network: existing correspondence and reference; known agreed export arrangement ___.
• Payments: FIT or SEG arrangement; supplier contact and available scheme documents ___.
• Use: monitoring information and electricity bills the customer agrees to share; relevant changes in household demand ___.
• Site: ordinary photos of the proposed location, access and visible route; permissions for shared or rented property ___.

Ofgem's co-location guidance addresses storage alongside FIT and SEG installations. Record which arrangement applies and who will establish the proposed alteration's effect. Do not assure the customer that changing an inverter or adding storage cannot affect scheme records.

Use three columns in your notes: confirmed finding, evidence, and next action. A finding is something the responsible person established; a preference is something the customer requested. Keep those different labels until the assessment resolves the preference.

Set a date for resolving each open question. If the chosen product changes, revisit the questions that relied on its specification before sending the final proposal.

Write the proposed work in the order the customer will understand it: the equipment, where it goes, what existing equipment remains, the installation work, making good, commissioning and handover. Include the parts the customer might otherwise assume are covered, such as moving stored items, decorating or unrelated existing faults.

• Included: equipment specification/revision ___; location ___; agreed route ___; labour and making good ___.
• Retained equipment: identity and assessed role ___.
• Excluded or optional: unrelated remedial work ___; backup package ___; future capacity expansion ___.
• Dependencies: unresolved information ___; responsible person ___; effect on price or date ___.
• Customer decision: quoted scope revision ___; agreed price and timing ___; acceptance reference ___.

UK Power Networks provides solar/storage and combined-technology connection guidance. Identify the actual operator and retain its response where needed. Use the job-quote template for the commercial proposal; accepting that proposal does not settle a separate network or property-permission question.

Fictional scope example, with no recommended price. An existing solar customer requests a battery in the utility room and asks for backup for selected appliances. Records identify the existing inverter; the surveyor still needs manufacturer compatibility evidence and a location assessment.

The first agreed service is the assessment, with its deliverable and price recorded. The installation proposal follows when the equipment and location are resolved. It describes the storage package and separately identifies the requested backup functions for assessment; backup is not silently bundled into the storage price.

If the assessed location changes to an outside position, record the changed equipment or route, making good, price and timing. Send the revised scope for agreement before ordering affected materials. The variation form helps retain that decision without rewriting the history of the original quote.

List the documents and demonstrations included in the offer. At completion, record what was actually issued, who received it and what is missing. Keep electrical certification, network correspondence, manufacturer documents and any scheme certificate as separate originals.

• Final equipment inventory and installed specification ___.
• Issued electrical and commissioning documents ___.
• Network and applicable scheme evidence ___.
• Manuals, warranty registration responsibility and support contact ___.
• Controls or agreed functions demonstrated; recipient and date ___.
• Outstanding action, owner and agreed date ___.

The solar and battery handover record is an index to that evidence. Use Tradehand's job record to keep the enquiry, visit and shared documents together, and quotes for your proposed scope. Select the services your business offers during setup; the checklist remains usable as written notes too.