What the installer actually stands on
A solar job is edge protection, a boarded lift at eaves height, and a way to get panels up that is not a person on a ladder with a 25kg sheet of glass. Most domestic arrays sit on the front or rear pitch of a 2-storey house. The installer still needs a full working platform along the eaves, not a tower parked in the drive.
If the array wraps a hip, a dormer or a 3-storey town house, the design grows. We quote the access the MCS installer will sign onto, not the smallest tower that photographs well.
How long it stays up
A straightforward 2-storey rear array is often a short hire — a few days of erect, then the installer’s window, then strike. That only works if the panels, rails and inverter are on site the morning we hand over. If the kit is delayed, you are paying weekly hire for a roof with no one on it.
- Confirm the installer’s dates before we book the gang
- Say if they need a loading bay or a gin wheel for the panels
- Battery and inverter work at ground floor does not need the roof scaffold left up
Licence, neighbours, south-facing fronts
South-facing fronts in Essex are often the highway elevation. If the scaffold sits on the pavement in Chelmsford, Billericay, Southend or a London-fringe street, the licence is on the critical path — same as any other roof scaffold. Rear gardens on a semi usually are not.
Solar on a new-build or a commercial roof is a different conversation: loading, edge protection to the whole perimeter, and the principal contractor’s induction. Send the drawing.
Quick answers
Can the solar company put up their own tower?
Some try. A tower is the wrong kit for a full pitch of panels. If they want us to quote the access as its own job, that is cleaner than arguing about whose edge protection it was after a near-miss.
Do I need scaffolding for a ground-mount array?
No. Roof-mounted is the job. If you are not sure, a photo of the elevation is enough to say.