Solar Detach and Reset – An Opportunity to Grow Your Business

By Seth Wells, Spark Solar.

Learn how you can grow your business by offering solar detach and reset services.

With the growth of solar and the increasing frequency of disaster level weather, there is a growing opportunity for roofing contractors to offer solar detach and reset (Solar D&R or Solar R&R). Many companies do not want to deal with solar panels especially after a large wind event or hailstorm, but there is a lot of opportunity around offering this service.

At Spark Solar, we are specializing in offering this service to contractors throughout Texas. Just like subcontracting removal services, we are focused on offering Solar D&R subcontracting. We ran some reports on the solar D&Rs that we tackled in 2021. There was an average of 30 solar panels per roof. We have heard many times that roofers are avoiding roofing with solar on them, to keep their job streamlined and easier.

We searched through our emails and texts and gathered as much data as we could from what our clients told us that insurance paid out per panel. On average we found that insurance paid $271 per panel. That’s $8,130 added to the roof claim gross total amount. With the numbers above there is an approximate $2,430 of additional profits going to the roofing company. Also, there is very little work needed to add a solar D&R in to the claim. 

Here is the process we have developed:

1. Submit a “Quote Request”
2. We email you the quote
3. You approve the quote
4. We remove the solar system
5. You complete your roof
6. We reinstall the solar system

More times than not, we are able to take care of the Solar D&Rs without even talking on the phone to our clients. We have done our best to make the process as smooth as possible. There are some common objections around solar D&R from roofers, but the answers are very easy.

Objection 1 - Homeowner is worried about voiding the solar warranty

Answers:

• Most solar labor warranties are already expired
• Often times the homeowner or the roofer cannot get ahold of the original solar installer
• If they can get ahold of them, they can be expensive and hard to schedule a removal date

Objection 2 - It’s too much of a headache/I just don’t want to deal with it.

Answer:

• When you subcontract with a company like Spark Solar you will not need to do anything. We complete the job with minimal contact. We’re a turn-key operation.

Objection 3 - I don’t want the liability. 

Answers:

• When you work with a subcontractor like Spark, they are there for the long haul.
• We’re offering a longer workmanship warranty for solar D&Rs than most companies.
• Two of our four core values are integrity and follow through. We don’t want the phone to ring unless it’s more business, not service issues.

Objection 4 - We specialize in roofing only.

Answer:

• Good idea. Keep roofing and pass the buck to us and we take over the solar D&R. That’s the sole point of hiring a quality sub-contractor!

Objection 5 - We have had a bad experience with solar.

Answer:

• Humbly, I tell you… it probably won’t be the last bad experience you’ll have. If you only use ONE company and it is a quality Solar D&R company, then you will minimize the number of issues that may arise. 

Objection 6 - Solar people always want to get information about my claim

Answer:

• Good subcontractors do not do that or ask for it.

Objection 7 - Solar people always want to partner and share leads

Answer: 

• Been there, done that. Guess what, we’re doing something else now. We are just a subcontractor for solar D&Rs.   

Just as many roofing contractors use tearoff crews, this is a great way to do more for your customers who have solar arrays. Those customers many times are waiting months for help to get their roof replaced. Work with Spark, and you can be the hero.

Learn more about Spark Solar in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit sparksolar.us.