Ensuring quality, accreditation and compliance
Building a reputation for quality and customer service is no accident.
Triple ISO accredited for Quality Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and Environmental Management, RESINC Solar and Batteries has won multiple awards.
As a retailer, and non-electrician, Chief Executive Officer Leigh Storr doesn’t personally hold SAA accreditation but closely follows all aspects of accreditation for his employees and contractors.
Operating in parts of Victoria, New South Wales, Canberra and Queensland, the business is nearing equal numbers of employees and subcontractors who are SAA accredited.
Building a strong team
“We’re moving towards a 50-50 balance,” Leigh explains.
“We’ll be there in probably the next 2 months. We have used a lot of fantastic install contractors over time, so our average relationship with an install contractor with RESINC is probably 5 to 6 years.
“We have a number of long running partnerships where we provide a good amount of their regular work.
“I think looking after your contractors, where they’re never having to chase an invoice, they’re never having to worry about their cash flow, and they know when they’re going to get paid is really important.
“That creates a good foundation for relationships and just good positive engagement with contractors, suppliers and manufacturers. I think it’s important that everyone builds each other up and works as a team, because you’re all, at the end of the day, reliant on each other.
Also critical to RESINC’s success and the ability to access small-scale technology certificates for customers says Leigh, is ensuring all aspects of licensing and accreditation are up to date.
Robust systems
The business tracks employee and contractor licences, accreditation, insurances and expiry dates in their in-house Human Resources system.
“We make sure that we’ve got that covered from an administrative point of view. There are reminders when accreditations or insurances are coming up to renewal dates, so that we’ve got that updated all the time.”
While complaints are few – he says there are robust systems to manage them.
“You do have to systemise complaints. Otherwise, you’ll miss things. And then, a golden business rule is that what gets inspected, gets respected.
“We’ve built out our ISO accreditations and safety standards into our job completion documentation, and photos and requirements. We can desktop audit every single job for compliance and safety standards and following of the process.
“We then do our own spot audits with physical inspections.
The inspections undertaken by the business are in addition to any undertaken by the Clean Energy Regulator and state-based authorities.
Managing performance
“I think in a trade industry in Australia, if there’s no audit mechanisms in place, human nature can kick in.
‘It’s 4 o’clock, let’s knock off and have a beer’. So, you don’t want that in your trade teams. You want them proud of their own work, doing the best job possible.”
Education and continuous learning are embedded in RESINC’s processes.
“Anything that does happen, any points of improvement, toolbox meetings with your team and compliance meetings. Obviously, everything’s got to be covered on compliances, updates are made and communications through to the teams.
Leigh says issues can arise at any time – it’s how you manage them that matters.
“The difference is having systems processes and checks and balances in place, and how you respond to those mistakes or challenges or accidents that happen. Someone might drill through a ceiling, or scratch a gutter or break some tiles, it’s how you respond to that, take care, take action, engage with your customer. It makes all the difference.”
Follow the series
This article is the second in a 3-part series featuring RESINC CEO Leigh Storr.
RESINC is an award-winning solar and battery retailer and operates in New South Wales, Victoria, Canberra and Queensland.
This content is provided for information and education purposes. References to any individual, organisation, corporation, product, technology or service do not constitute endorsement, recommendation, approval or representation by Solar Accreditation Australia, and should not be relied upon as an indication of performance, compliance status or comparative merit.
Next time: Delivering customer satisfaction and value into the long term
Previously: Retailer readiness for the 1 May Cheaper Home Batteries Program incentives changes
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