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Help Center Map and knocking

Solar estimates

Run a roof-based solar estimate for a house: system size, panels, production, cost before and after the tax credit, savings and payback.

On this page
Run an estimateWhat the estimate showsThe monthly bill mattersPhoto of billWhere the numbers come fromLimits

A solar estimate sizes a system for a house from its roof and the homeowner's electric bill, so you can talk real numbers on the doorstep. It lives on the Estimate tab of the house's card, and on the lead's Solar Estimate tab.

Run an estimate

  1. On the Map, tap the house and open the Estimate tab.
  2. If you know the homeowner's average bill, type it in Avg Monthly Bill ($).
  3. Tap the sun marked Tap to run solar analysis. You'll see Analyzing roof... for a few seconds.

The results stay with the house, so they're already there the next time anyone opens it.

Who can do this: everyone.

What the estimate shows

  • 20-Year Savings, with the number of years to pay the system back.
  • System Size in kW.
  • Panels, such as "18 of 32": the panels in this system, out of the most the roof can hold.
  • Annual Production: the electricity the system makes in a year, in kWh.
  • Sunshine: hours of sun a year on the sunniest part of the roof.
  • System Cost (Before Tax Credit) and the cost after the federal tax credit.
  • Roof Area in square feet.
  • A confidence line, explained below.

The monthly bill matters

The bill decides how big a system the estimate recommends. If you leave it blank, SolarKnock fills the box with its own guess at the bill, worked out from the size of the roof. When the homeowner tells you the real figure, type it in and tap the refresh arrow next to Solar Analysis to recalculate.

The confidence line reads High when you typed the bill, Medium when SolarKnock estimated it, and Low when only roof data was available. With Low, you may see roof and panel figures but no cost or savings.

Photo of bill

Photo of bill opens your camera (or your photos) and attaches a picture of the homeowner's bill to the lead for this house. If the house has no lead yet, SolarKnock creates one. The photo is kept with the lead; it doesn't change the estimate, so type the bill amount as well. Photos can be up to 25 MB.

Where the numbers come from

The roof analysis comes from Google's Solar data, which is built from aerial imagery. SolarKnock sends Google the house's location on the map, not the homeowner's name or details.

Savings and payback are Google's figures. The two cost lines start from Google's price and apply your company's pricing settings, including the tax credit rate.

Who can change the pricing: admins, under Estimate Settings. See Organization settings.

Limits

  • It's an estimate from imagery, not a system design or a site survey.
  • Google doesn't cover every house, and rural roofs may have less detail. If there's no data, you'll see "Failed to fetch solar data. Please try again."
  • An estimate doesn't update by itself. Tap the refresh arrow to rerun it with the current bill and your company's current settings.

Still stuck? Contact support.