Every plan customer wants May.
Sell forty twice-a-year plans in one spring and you've booked forty cleans into the same two weeks every year after. Redline helps you spread plan visits across the calendar, keep roof work to the cool part of the morning and move a day when the weather turns.
Running a book of plan customers
Pick the cadence per site
Twice a year for most homes, every 3 months near a dirt road, a field or a pigeon problem, monthly for a commercial array if the contract says so. Save each as a preset with the visit length built in.
Start the series where you have room
Before you set the repeat, ask how full the month is. A plan that starts in March instead of May keeps its visits out of your busiest weeks for as long as the series runs.
Keep roof work early
Many cleaners book while the panels are still cool. Say the time when you book, because Redline's suggested times cover the whole 8 to 5 day and don't know about panel temperature.
Note the site once
Panel count, roof pitch, where to set the ladder, the hose bib, gate code and what the panel maker says about water and brushes. The next visit starts from the notes.
Move a day, not the plan
Wet or windy roof? "Move Thursday's cleans to Friday morning." Each visit moves on its own, so the rest of each customer's plan stays where it was.
After a dust storm, October
19 plan cleans through Oct 20. Three start after 11: Moreno Thursday 12:30, Ishii Friday 1:00, Grant next Tuesday 2:30, all in Chandler.
Moved: Moreno to Thursday 7:00, Ishii to Friday 7:00, Grant to Tuesday 7:30. Their later plan visits are unchanged.
March has 6 plan visits booked. May has 31. March is the better start for new twice-a-year customers.
Scheduling, repeating visits and presets work on every plan, Free included.
Panel cleaning work on the calendar
| Work | How to book it |
|---|---|
| Twice-a-year residential plan | A series every 6 months, preset "Twice a year" |
| Dusty or bird-heavy site | A series every 3 months |
| Commercial array | A series at the contract's cadence, monthly if that's what it says |
| One-time clean | A single visit, booked by chat |
| Bird proofing install | A visit on the job, often right after the first clean |
| Nest or debris callback | A single visit that doesn't touch the plan |
A series holds up to 52 visits. Twice a year, that's 26 years of one customer's plan from one save.
Why plan books get lopsided
Plans get sold in bursts. Pollen season or a dust storm makes everyone look at their production numbers, and that's when they say yes. If every series starts the day you sold it, the burst repeats every six months forever, and your busiest weeks get busier every year while the slow ones stay slow.
The fix is choosing the start date on purpose. Redline tells you how full a month is when you ask, so you can book the first clean now and start the plan's repeat from a quieter month. A plan customer usually cares more that the visits happen than which week they land in.
Redline doesn't send plan customers a heads-up before a visit, and it doesn't bill plans automatically. Each visit is booked on your calendar and invoiced on its own with a card pay link on Solo and up.
Straight answers on panel cleaning scheduling
Redline does
- Plans as series every 3 or 6 months, or any cadence you set
- Presets that hold the visit length per plan type
- Tell you how full a month is before you start a plan
- Move a batch of visits to mornings in one message
- Keep roof access and panel notes on each customer
Redline doesn't
- Know panel temperature or the time of sunrise
- Watch the weather or the wind and move jobs on its own
- Remind customers before their plan visit
- Bill plans automatically each quarter
- Read production data from the customer's inverter
Questions contractors ask
How do I set up a commercial array on a monthly contract?
Book the first visit, then set a monthly repeat that ends on the contract's end date. Each visit is its own appointment, so a site manager who needs a different day one month only moves that one. Invoice each visit on Solo and up; Redline doesn't bill the contract on its own.
Can a helper run their own plan visits?
On Team ($129 a month, 3 seats) and up, assign visits by chat or on the board, and they show up in the helper's app with the site notes and one-tap call. Helpers never see prices.
Will Redline tell me when a plan is about to run out?
Not on its own. Ask the chat what's left on a customer's calendar, or set a date reminder up to a year out for when you want to talk to them about renewing. Reminders land in the morning push on the iPhone app.
More for panel cleaners
- Solar panel cleaning softwareThe whole panel cleaning workflow in Redline
- Solar panel cleaning invoice templateFree, per panel with surcharges
- Recurring jobs and repeat presetsCustom repeats in detail
- Scheduling and calendarSuggested times and Optimize
- Hourly rate calculatorCheck a per-panel price against roof time
Keep reading
- Solar panel cleaning softwareQuote per panel, run quarterly or twice-a-year plans and keep photo proof.
- Recurring jobs and repeat presetsBook a whole season of visits in one save, and reuse the cadence as a preset.
- Pool service scheduling softwareWeekly pools booked once, routes covered by chat when a tech is out.
- Sprinkler scheduling softwareStart-ups and blowouts booked a year ahead and pulled forward when a freeze is coming.
Run your business by chat.
Redline is free to start. Tell it about the job and it handles the quote, the schedule, the invoice and the follow-up.