A solar installation quote request form that sorts real projects
Solar inquiries come from homeowners ready to sign and from renters who saw an ad. The facts that size a system and decide whether a site works at all are short: who owns the roof, what it is made of, how much shade it gets and what the household spends on electricity.
What should solar installers ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Do you own the property? | Without the owner, there is no project to quote. |
| Roughly how much is your monthly electric bill, summer and winter? | Usage sizes the system more directly than the size of the house. |
| What is the roof made of, and roughly how old is it? | An old roof may need replacing before panels go on it. |
| How much shade does the roof get from trees or nearby buildings? | Heavy shade can make a roof system a poor fit, or point to a ground mount. |
| Are you thinking of paying cash, financing, or leasing? | It decides which proposal you build and which partner is involved. |
| Are you interested in battery storage too? | Storage changes the equipment, the price and sometimes the electrical work. |
| Is there a reason for your timing, such as a planned roof replacement or a move? | Timing tells you how soon to follow up, and whether to coordinate with a roofer. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Do not promise savings, tax credits or incentives in the form or its replies. They depend on the household and the program, and are for the proposal and the customer’s own tax advisor.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “Our bills are really high.” | Roughly how much in a typical summer month: under $150, $150 to $300, or more? |
| “There are some trees.” | Do they shade the roof most of the day, or only in the morning or evening? |
| “The roof is fine.” | Do you know roughly when it was last replaced? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
Every solar project ends with a site assessment and a proposal; nobody signs from a form. The request decides who gets one first. An owner with a good roof, high bills and little shade is a strong lead today; a renter, or a roof that needs replacing first, gets a useful answer and a reason to come back.
How do you set this up from the Quote request template?
Acquainto has a Quote request template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Quote request, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
The template asks what the quote is for, a rough budget, a date, whether the person has another quote, and where to send yours. For solar, put the ownership question first, replace “How many people would be using this?” with the electric bill, add the roof, shade, payment and storage questions, and keep the competing-quote question, since solar buyers often collect several.
To see it from the other side, answer a demo built from the questions on this page. It is a demo: your answers come to Acquainto, not to a business, so leave out real names and contact details.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.