Solar installers: the install is one day. The paperwork is three.
Panels, an inverter, a battery, a mounting kit, a day and a half on a roof and a client who has been quoted by four other companies. The margin is real but it is thin, and it is decided by whether the components on the invoice match the components that were actually fitted.
Orbit is in development. Join the waitlist and we WhatsApp you when it opens.
fourways install done. 8 panels, swapped to the 5kw inverter, 62000
Tracking that now ✅
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
Where it goes
What costs a solar installer money after the job.
Component lists change between quote and install
The inverter that was quoted is out of stock, so a different one goes in. If the substitution is not recorded on the day, the invoice goes out with the quoted item and the cost difference disappears into your margin.
Site visits before the install are unbilled work
The roof survey, the DB inspection, the second trip because the client changed their mind about the battery. All real hours, none of them on an invoice.
Staged installs, staged payments
Panels this month, battery when the client can afford it. Two jobs that are really one, and a payment history nobody is tracking in one place.
What Orbit does about it
One message, at the end of the job.
Orbit is being built so that what actually got fitted is written down while the ladder is still against the wall. One message names the site and the components, and the record is made. The substitution that would otherwise cost you two thousand rand of margin is captured on the day it happens, by the person who made it.
Site visits go in the same way. A survey is a line; a second trip is a line. Whether you choose to bill them is your commercial decision, but you cannot make that decision about work you did not record.
Staged installs stay as one job with a running balance, so when the client comes back for the battery in November the history is there — what was fitted, what was charged, what was paid. Orbit drafts the invoice; you check it and send it. It never sends to a client on its own.
What it keeps for you
- What was actually fitted, recorded on the day of the install
- Surveys and return visits captured as real work
- Component costs against the site they went to
- A running balance across staged installs
Orbit drafts. You send.
Questions
Solar installers ask us this.
Can Orbit track which components went to which site?
Say them in the message and Orbit is being built to hold them against that site, including substitutions. That record is the difference between an invoice that matches the install and one that matches the quote.
Does it handle CoCs or utility paperwork?
No. Registration, compliance certificates and municipal approvals are yours and your electrician's. Orbit is being built for the job, the cost and the invoice.
Can I keep one job open for a staged install?
Yes. Panels now and a battery later stay on one job with a running balance, so the second visit is priced against a history rather than a memory.
Is R99 a month realistic for a business this size?
R99 per tradesperson per month is the intended price, and it is the same price for every trade. VAT-inclusive pricing is confirmed at launch. Founding pricing is locked for people on the waitlist.
Orbit for other trades
Orbit for solar installers.
Orbit is being built now. The list is free, it commits you to nothing, and founding pricing is locked for the people on it.