Solar Panels in Doncaster

What the survey checks on a Doncaster roof — and where the battery ends up

A satellite estimate can tell you roughly how much roof you have. It cannot tell you whether that roof will take the fixings, whether the timber underneath is sound, or where the equipment is going to live. These are the things that decide whether a quote survives contact with the property, and they are the reason we survey before we price rather than after.

The covering decides the fixing kit. Natural slate needs slates lifted and hooks set against the batten, often with lead work on reinstatement — it is slower and it is not a job for a standard tile hook. Concrete interlocking tile is the most straightforward. Plain clay tile is more brittle and breaks more readily during handling, so allow for replacements. Metal or profiled sheet on a garage or outbuilding is a different system again. Any installer who has not asked what is on your roof has not priced your roof.

Roof condition, before the panels not after. The panel product warranty on the systems we fit runs to as long as 30 years. If the covering or the flashing is close to the end of its life, the honest answer at survey is that the roof wants attention first — because the alternative is stripping an array off to do work that was needed anyway. We would rather tell you that on the day than after a deposit has changed hands.

Shading, and the tree you may not be allowed to cut. Chimneys, dormers, neighbouring gables and mature trees all matter more than compass direction. Where a property sits inside a conservation area the council also protects the trees in it, and works to them need notice to the council before they start — so a shading problem that looks like a quick pruning job can carry a lead time. We check the designation for your address at survey and design around the shade rather than assuming it can be removed. We design around the shade rather than assuming it will go away.

Where the inverter and the battery go. City of Doncaster Council's own climate page states the borough has already experienced heavy rainfall leading to local flooding that has affected housing and farmland, and that the Met Office expects such events to increase. Inverters and batteries are electrical equipment on a wall and they are not designed to be stood in water. If your garage or ground floor has taken water before, tell the surveyor how high it reached — mounting position is free to change on survey day and expensive to change afterwards.

0% VAT, export payments, and what happened to the South Yorkshire group-buy

0% VAT runs until 31 March 2027. Domestic solar and battery storage currently carries a zero rate of VAT. That relief is dated: it applies until 31 March 2027, so the date on your quote and the date the work is done both matter. Check that any quote you are given shows zero VAT on the eligible domestic elements rather than adding it and describing it as a discount.

Export payments: why we do not print a pence figure. Under the Smart Export Guarantee every large supplier has to offer an export tariff, but the rates differ by supplier and by tariff and they change over time. Any local page quoting you a fixed pence-per-kWh number is quoting the day it was written, not the day you will be paid, so treat a specific figure on any installer's site as decoration. Two things are worth knowing instead: your export supplier does not have to be the supplier you buy electricity from, so you can shop the export rate separately; and you will generally need the MCS certificate from your installation plus a meter capable of half-hourly export readings in order to register at all.

The group-buy scheme has moved. If you have been waiting for another council-backed round of Solar Together in South Yorkshire, there is no longer a regional page for it. The old solartogether.co.uk South Yorkshire address now redirects to a national page at switchtogether.co.uk, the brand having been renamed Switch Together. There is nothing South Yorkshire-specific to register for there at the time of writing, and the 0% VAT relief applies to a direct purchase exactly as it would to a group-buy one.

If you are buying for a business. Solar PV is special-rate expenditure for capital allowances, which means it does not qualify for full expensing — a claim we see made regularly and incorrectly. Relief comes through the Annual Investment Allowance, up to £1m a year, or the 50% first-year allowance. Confirm the treatment with your accountant before it goes in a business case.