Switch Together scheme surveys in Lincolnshire

Winning a group-buying contract creates a very practical challenge. Accepted jobs can arrive faster than an in-house survey team can visit them. When that happens, designers wait for measurements, installation dates begin to move and the survey stage becomes the bottleneck.

The early proposals are usually based on registration details and a desktop model. The delivery team still has to establish what can actually be built at each address, and that work does not scale simply because the contract has produced more enquiries.

Desktop solar modelling is useful at the offer stage. Aerial imagery can give an initial view of the roof and support a provisional layout. It cannot inspect the roof covering, confirm scaffold access or show what is inside the meter cupboard. It will not tell the designer whether a cable route works in the real property, either. That information has to come from a proper site survey.

This is where Vertex fits into programme delivery. We add trained survey capacity without taking the quote, design or installation away from the contract holder. We survey the roof, access and electrical arrangements, keep the evidence together and return a report that the installer's own team can use.

Our office team checks each submission while the surveyor is still at the address. A missed photograph can be retaken there and then rather than becoming another visit, and the installer can see which jobs are in progress, in review or ready through the Vertex Portal.

On suitable routes, the current team can complete 20-30 domestic solar surveys a day. The actual number depends on the distance between appointments, access and the complexity of the properties. We agree capacity from the real postcode list, not from a headline figure.

How our Switch Together scheme survey process works

A survey day starts before the first door is knocked. Each appointment is loaded into the Vertex Portal with its address, time window and survey brief. We then build the route around the postcodes, rather than asking a surveyor to zigzag across the county.

At the property, every usable roof face is recorded in its own right. The surveyor notes the covering, pitch, direction and azimuth, then adds the measurements, obstructions, shading and access information. If the brief includes a battery or electrical survey, the service head, meter, consumer unit, proposed equipment positions and cable route are captured during the same visit.

When the surveyor submits the job, it appears immediately in the quality-check queue. Straightforward omissions are sent back with a precise request: the missing roof direction, for example, or a clearer photograph of the cut-out. Anything that needs technical judgement stays in review. Once the record is complete, the report is produced against the same booking.

Current work in Lincoln and surrounding areas

Vertex surveyors are now visiting accepted jobs in Lincoln and nearby postcodes. The task is to turn the approximate information supplied at registration into measured evidence that an installer can review before final design.

Lincolnshire County Council describes Switch Together Lincolnshire as a group-buying scheme supported by councils across Greater Lincolnshire. Households can choose solar with battery storage, solar on its own or a battery-only installation. The council also makes clear that a full survey takes place before installation.

The 2026 registration round closed on 24 July. From the pavement, neighbouring houses can look identical; from the roof, they often are not. Extensions, dormers, rooflights, trees and later electrical work all change what needs to be recorded. That is why each accepted address is surveyed on its own merits.

What the installer gets from the visit

The people designing and installing the system may never have seen the property. A useful survey should answer their first questions without a chain of phone calls back to the surveyor.

For a typical domestic solar job, that means recording:

• a separate entry for each roof plane, including covering, pitch, compass direction, azimuth and dimensions;
• annotated overview and measurement photographs that identify the plane being measured;
• rooflights, chimneys, vents, valleys, dormers, nearby trees and other shading or layout constraints;
• visible roof-condition notes and tile or slate dimensions where they can be obtained safely;
• access and scaffold constraints around the property;
• the service head or cut-out, meter arrangement, consumer unit and phase where they form part of the brief;
• proposed inverter, battery and cable-route positions where required; and
• an honest note when something could not be confirmed, rather than a guessed answer.

The pair below comes from one completed survey. The unmarked drone image shows the roof as the surveyor found it; the annotated version turns the same view into evidence the installer can work from.

It is important to keep that distinction clear. These are survey measurements and site observations, not a finished array or electrical design. Suitability, structural requirements and the final system design remain with the installer.

How complicated roofs are broken into usable evidence

Simple rectangles are the exception rather than the rule. A change of direction, pitch, level or covering creates a separate roof-plane entry, so the designer can see which measurements and obstructions belong to which part of the roof. The three examples below come from different completed surveys.

Tile measurements are recorded with a scale reference

Where it can be done safely, the surveyor also places a tape against the roof covering and photographs the reading. The example below was recorded as a 300 x 255 mm man-made slate. Keeping the photographs with the roof-plane entry gives the installer a visible check on the dimensions entered in the form.

Quality check before the surveyor leaves

A missing ridge measurement can hold up a layout. A blurred cut-out photograph can leave the electrical team unable to confirm what is at the property. Discovering either problem after the route has finished is late and expensive.

Our portal checks the submission against the evidence required for that particular brief. It can flag empty fields, absent photographs and incomplete roof entries, while unusual readings and site exceptions are held for a person to review. The surveyor then gets a clear answer: either the record is complete, or this is what still needs attention.

The software helps us find omissions quickly; it does not decide whether a roof is suitable for solar or approve the final design. Those decisions remain with the competent people responsible for the installation.

The report follows the survey, not a second round of admin

Because the record is built at the property, the surveyor does not have to return home and reconstruct the visit from a notebook and a camera roll. Once quality check is complete, the portal produces the current PDF, keeps the supporting photographs with the booking and releases the report to the installer.

If something still needs evidence, the job remains visibly in review rather than being passed off as complete. If verified information changes later, a replacement report is generated against the same booking, making it clear which version is current.

Teaching the method as the team grows

Capacity is growing as more surveyors learn the Vertex method. They are trained on the same field names, photograph requirements and annotation style, then complete a test route before taking programme work on their own.

Their first records receive closer review. Feedback points to the exact roof face, photograph or measurement that needs attention, and lessons from unusual roofs or difficult access are added to the field guidance. Growth is useful only if the report remains recognisably the same whichever trained surveyor attended.

Vertex surveys the property; the installer designs the system

Vertex carries out the site visit and provides the evidence record and survey report. We do not run the group-buying programme, prepare the household's offer or sell the installation.

The appointed installer remains responsible for deciding whether the building is suitable, arranging any structural assessment, completing the array and electrical design, notifying the network operator, quoting and installing. That boundary also reflects the responsibilities placed on the MCS contractor by the current solar PV installation standard.

Planning the next survey programme

The useful starting point is a real postcode spread, the expected number and type of properties, the evidence required and the target dates. With that information, we can plan sensible routes, agree how exceptions will be handled and give an honest daily capacity before appointments are promised.

Installer teams can follow every booking in the Vertex Portal and open the report as soon as it is released. Where solar and battery evidence are both part of the brief, they can be collected during the same visit.