Roof suitability
Roof dimensions, orientation, pitch, usable space, obstructions, shading and other factors that determine where solar panels can realistically be positioned.
Independent solar survey Scotland
Know what your home needs before you choose a solar installer.
A Tom Solar survey looks at the property, roof, electricity demand, battery requirements and practical installation issues first — so you have a clearer idea of what a properly specified solar system should look like before comparing quotations.
Scottish homes
Roof & site assessment
Solar + battery design guidance
Why have an independent solar survey?
Most homeowners receive a quotation before they really know what they are comparing.
Solar quotations can look detailed while still leaving the homeowner with some very basic unanswered questions.
How much of the roof is genuinely usable? Is the proposed battery sensible for the household's electricity use? Is the inverter the right size? How will the equipment actually be installed? What happens if an electric vehicle or heat pump changes future demand?
Tom Solar starts with those questions.
The objective is to establish a sensible system specification first, giving you a better basis for assessing installer recommendations, equipment choices and prices later.
What the solar survey covers
A whole-property assessment rather than a panel-counting exercise.
Household electricity use
Annual consumption, monthly spend and the way electricity is used help establish how much solar generation and battery storage may actually be useful.
Solar panel layout
A sensible layout considers usable roof area, orientation, shading, string design and the relationship between installed capacity and household demand.
Battery sizing
Battery storage should be sized around real electricity use, expected solar production, tariff opportunities and the way stored electricity is likely to be used.
Inverter requirements
The inverter needs to work sensibly with the proposed array, battery system and household demand. Larger installations can also introduce additional grid-connection considerations.
Installation practicality
Meter position, electrical supply, equipment locations, loft access, cable routes, connectivity and other practical issues can materially affect how straightforward an installation will be.
Roof and site evidence
Some of the most important information cannot be seen from a satellite image.
Online satellite tools are useful for an initial view of a property, but a physical survey can reveal details that remote imagery cannot.
✓ Roof obstructions and usable panel area
✓ Actual roof and property access
✓ Loft access and relevant internal constraints
✓ Meter and electrical-supply evidence
✓ Suitable inverter and battery locations
✓ Practical cable routes
✓ Connectivity at proposed equipment locations
Where appropriate, photographic and drone evidence can also help establish the condition, geometry and usable area of the roof more clearly.
Solar and battery system design
The right system is the one that fits the property and the household.
Panels
The goal is not simply to fit the highest possible number of panels. The proposed array should make sense for the available roof, generation potential and household demand.
Battery
Storage capacity should be justified by electricity use rather than chosen because a larger battery happens to be available.
Inverter
The inverter should suit the array configuration, battery arrangement, household demand and likely grid-connection requirements.
Electric vehicles and heat pumps
Future electricity demand can completely change what good solar design looks like.
A household with an electric vehicle, heat pump or other significant electrical demand can require a very different solar and battery strategy from a household with relatively low daytime consumption.
The survey therefore considers not just how much electricity the home uses today, but how that demand may change.
✓ Existing electric vehicles
✓ Planned EV purchases
✓ EV charging requirements
✓ Existing heat pumps
✓ Planned electrification of heating
✓ Other significant future electricity demand
G98 and G99 considerations
Larger solar systems may need more than a standard grid connection.
The proposed inverter capacity and export potential can affect how a system is treated by the local electricity network operator.
Smaller installations may fall within G98 requirements, while larger systems can require a G99 application and approval before unrestricted export is permitted.
The survey can flag where those issues are likely to matter so they can be considered before a proposed system is treated as final.
What you should understand afterwards
The aim is clarity before commitment.
What fits
A clearer understanding of the roof areas that are genuinely useful for solar and what a sensible panel layout may look like.
What size system makes sense
A better-informed starting point for panel capacity, battery size and inverter requirements based on the property and household.
What installers should explain
A stronger basis for questioning and comparing installer proposals, equipment choices, design decisions and prices.
Independent solar guidance
Sometimes the right recommendation is smaller, different — or not to buy at all.
A survey should not begin with a predetermined number of panels, a particular battery capacity or an assumption that the homeowner must proceed with an installation.
If the evidence suggests that a smaller system is more sensible, the design should become smaller.
If another configuration would work better, it should change.
And if a proposed purchase does not make sense for the property, that should be understood before the money is spent.
Solar surveys across Central Scotland
Helping Scottish homeowners make better-informed solar decisions.
Tom Solar provides independent solar survey and system-design guidance across a broad Central Scotland service area, including Fife, Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross, Dundee, Falkirk, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, West Lothian, Midlothian, East Lothian, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
If you are considering solar panels, home battery storage or both, the first step is simply to send some basic information about your property and electricity use.