The Taxman Cometh, Here’s How To Stop Him

May I save you hundreds of hours?

"Hi, I installed solar with your company last year and I need my paid-in-full invoice to receive my tax credit. Can you please send it to me immediately?

I’m not even going to ask if you’ve heard this. Of course you have.

I know because I used to field this exact call. Over and over again. Every tax season, without fail.

This is one of those tedious, repetitive, time-consuming things that nearly every solar company handles manually and reactively. It’s not a disaster. It’s not hard. It’s just annoying. And it adds up.

Ever April. Without exception.

And it’s not just invoices. It's warranty docs, referral info, user manuals, “how do I reset my WiFi,” and any number of follow-up questions that show up six months after install.

So... what's the fix?

Give customers what they need before they ask for it.

If you have a company app or customer portal, this is the low-hanging fruit. It takes a few minutes of setup and saves you hundreds of hours later. So, here’s what you should be dropping into every customer’s account at PTO:

• Paid-in-full invoice
• Contract and any change orders
• System user manual
• Engineering docs (three-line, permit set, as-builts, etc.)
• Spec sheets from the equipment manufacturers
• Drone shots (if you’ve got them)
• Service plan details
• Referral program one-pager
• SREC/subsidy info
• Any bonus or upsell material you feel like including

You know what’s even better? This doesn’t just help customers. It trains your internal team to be more proactive, too. It becomes second nature to think, “Let’s drop that in the portal now so we don’t hear about it later.”

You’re not just cleaning up your support process, you’re shifting your company culture from “reactive” to “default organized.”

That’s a big deal.

And here’s where it gets good.

When customers start to trust that everything they need is already inside your app, they stop calling you.

They stop emailing. They stop submitting tickets. They stop wondering.

They start assuming: “It’s probably already in the app.”

Which means they open it. They click around. They poke around your portal the same way we all poke around Amazon when we’re bored and maybe slightly hungry.

And what do they see?

• Their referral link
• A $500–$1,000 reward if they share it with a friend
• Real-time energy monitoring
• Your eShop
• A button to leave a review
• The next thing you want them to see

Now, all of that sounds like a dream scenario, but it’s completely realistic. If the app feels useful, customers come back. If it feels like a black hole, they don’t.

And if they never come back, guess what they’re also not doing? Referring you. Leaving a review. Remembering your name.

So yes, this all started with a tax form. But it ends with your brand being something they trust and revisit long after the install is done.

I’ve seen it go the other way.

I’ve seen companies dig through email threads from 11 months ago to find one missing document.

I’ve seen project managers waste half their week chasing paperwork that should’ve been uploaded already.

I’ve seen customers get so frustrated trying to track down their paid invoice that they never refer again and leave you a 3-star review just for the inconvenience.

It’s preventable. And frankly, at this point, it’s inexcusable.

You wouldn’t ship a solar system without panels. Don’t ship a solar experience without a central place for the follow-up.

But let’s zoom out even further…

Why does any of this matter?

Because solar is a trust game. Always has been. Always will be.

If your customer doesn’t know where to find their documents, or who to call, or what the next step is… they’re not going to feel taken care of. They’re going to feel like they bought something from a contractor. Not a company.

The best installers out there, whether they’re small, regional, or scaling like crazy, are winning not just on price or speed, but on confidence.

They give the customer confidence that:

• They know what they’re doing
• They’re going to be around next year
• Everything will be where it should be

And that confidence? It’s how you turn one job into ten. It’s how you get the second roof, the neighbor, the cousin, the workplace EV charger, the battery next year.

That’s how you build a referral-driven business. Not by asking. By earning it…every little step of the way.

So maybe we didn’t stop the Taxman completely...

But we did make him a little less annoying.

And if you can save 10–20 hours every April, and build trust that turns into new revenue down the road? That’s not a minor process improvement.

That’s brand equity. That’s customer lifetime value. That’s sanity.

So if you're not already dropping all the essentials into your customer app at PTO, start now.

Your team will thank you. Your customers will thank you. And hey, next April, your inbox might just survive the month. And if you want help figuring out how to do it without duct tape and spreadsheets, just ask.

I’ve been there.