Quick answer
Keep the first estimate free when you are only checking whether the site looks worth pursuing. Start charging when the client wants site-specific work such as checking half-hourly data, choosing the battery size, inspecting the electrical setup or producing figures they can use for approval, finance or comparing bids.
Provide your first estimate free of charge while you’re running checks on whether the site has a job that’s likely to be worth pricing properly.
Start charging when the client wants site-specific checks and figures from you. That usually means:
- Checking the half-hourly data
- Choosing a battery size for that site
- Inspecting the electrical setup
- Giving them figures they can use to approve the spend, raise finance or compare your prices against competitors’.
Providing figures they can use to approve the spend, raise finance or check your price against other quotes
At that point, you’re no longer qualifying the job. You’re giving the client figures they may use to make a buying decision.
Free estimates: when they’re right and what needs to be in them
Use a free estimate when deciding whether a site is worth a proper data review, site check and priced proposal. Never use it to choose the final battery size for a project or present the free estimate in a way that the decision-maker could mistake for a full proposal.
You can usually create a free estimate from the client’s:
- Recent electricity bills
- Annual electricity use
- Recorded maximum demand
- Current tariff
- Existing or proposed solar capacity
- Basic operating hours
- Known import and export limits
With this information, you should be able to give your client a rough battery kW and kWh range, an early installation cost, an indicative annual saving and a rough payback period.
Be clear about what you have not checked yet. At this stage, you may not have reviewed the half-hourly data, matched the model back to the bills, looked at the switchgear or confirmed the DNO position.
The free estimate should answer one question. Is the site worth checking properly as paid feasibility work?
Don’t promise a particular battery size or annual saving. It’s impossible to calculate those figures properly without knowing how large and long the site’s peaks are and whether there’s enough time, spare solar or cheaper grid electricity for the battery to recharge before the next peak.
When to start charging for the work
Start charging when the client wants a full feasibility report and proposal based on their own meter data, tariff and site setup.
That normally means doing the following work:
- Checking the half-hourly file and matching it back to the bills
- Putting the client’s actual tariff into the model
- Comparing real battery and PCS combinations
- Separating solar, peak, tariff and trading savings
- Visiting the site
- Checking switchgear, CT positions and connection points
- Reviewing G99 or G100 requirements
- Obtaining firm supplier and installation prices
- Producing NPV, IRR, cash flow or downside figures
- Writing a report for directors, lenders or procurement
This takes real engineering and modelling time. At that point, you are no longer giving a free estimate. You are doing paid feasibility work.
Other work you should charge for includes checking battery location, fire measures, ventilation, access or maintenance assumptions. These can affect the design, cost and risk of the project.
Agree what you are going to check, what you’ll send the client and what you will charge before you start. You could offer to deduct some or all of the feasibility fee from the installation price if the client goes ahead.
Contact GridVolt about our free simulator so you don’t have to buy separate modelling software to produce an early battery-plus-solar estimate.
Related questions
Do I need half-hourly data to quote a commercial battery to a client?
How do I get and check a client's half-hourly data before sizing a battery?