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UDA Technologies’ ConstructionOnline offers a web-based, integrated approach to project management, project scheduling, and customer management. Designed for emerging construction businesses in the homebuilding and remodeling indu...Read more
Wherever you are in the estimating process – from initial conceptual budgeting to specialty execution – WinEst Essentials provides the tools you need to confidently make profitable decisions based on real-world data, all in one va...Read more
Flexible estimating tool to quickly and accurately create estimates, Trimble’s Accubid Estimating is a full-featured estimating solution. Available in multiple configurations, Accubid provides a flexible solution for contractors o...Read more
Accurately prepare and update estimates to reduce costly errors. Efficiently manage projects, contracts, orders, and overruns to ensure optimum productivity and profitability. Provide multiple employees access to powerful cloud-b...Read more
Realize the power of connected construction management functionality with a single-source of data truth. As part of the connected Trimble Construction One suite of solutions, Spectrum’s connected workflows allow you to effectively...Read more
JOBPROGRESS is a cloud-based construction management solution for residential remodeling contractors. The solution works with small businesses and can be customized as per the needs of an organization. It offers estimating, projec...Read more
Acumatica Cloud ERP provides the best business management solution for transforming your company to thrive in the new digital economy. Through leading-edge technology, best-in-class business functionality, and customer-friendly ...Read more
e-Builder is a cloud-based construction program management solution for capital projects that provides performance data across the project lifecycle. Facility owners can track business processes with centralized project informatio...Read more
B2W Schedule software for heavy civil construction scheduling and dispatching is a centralized, online solution for managing employees, crews, equipment, materials, and trucking across job locations and over time. Employees throug...Read more
IFS Applications is an extensive software system that serves the needs of large and medium-sized manufacturers with order-driven and mixed-mode management tools and full integration capabilities....Read more
monday.com, an award-winning collaboration and project management platform, helps teams plan together efficiently and execute complex projects to deliver results on time. monday.com team management and task management tool allows ...Read more
Visual Planning is a hybrid resource management and scheduling platform that helps businesses to manage their assets and day-to-day operations. The solution can be deployed on-premise or hosted in the cloud. Visual Planning o...Read more
Designing the layout for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels is a complicated process that many energy construction contractors need to manage while overseeing material costs and customer requirements.
Not only do contractors need to calculate the exact cost of raw materials required to install the solar panels, inverters, or power optimizers, they often also need to provide detailed return on investment (ROI) reports calculating annual energy savings for both commercial and residential customers.
All these administrative tasks can result in contractors having less time to spend on designing solar panel layouts. Enter solar design tools, which reduce administrative clutter by automating the design process and manage costs and customer requirements in a centralized dashboard.
In this buyers guide, we'll take a look at how solar design software helps automate key processes.
Here's what we'll cover:
What is Solar Software?
Common features of solar software
What type of buyer are you?
Benefits of solar software
Key considerations when purchasing solar software
Solar software (aka solar design software) helps residential and commercial solar construction businesses plan and design layouts for installing PV panels on rooftops or other locations to optimize energy efficiency. These systems also help business manage solar sales proposals by showing customers PV panel design layouts, track material costs for PV system installations, manage energy storage, and generate energy usage reports and estimates.
View of photovoltaic solar system design in HelioScope (Source)
Solar software often comes loaded with features, many of which may not be specific to your business needs.
When making your software purchase, focus on the core or common features offered by your shortlisted solutions to ensure you invest in the right tool. Here are the common features you should look for when evaluating solar software:
2D and 3D drawing |
Create 2D and 3D drawings of area layouts for PV panel installation. |
Animation |
Create 3D animations of PV panel layouts to gain a holistic view of PV electrical fittings. |
Electrical schematic design |
Create blueprints of the electrical schematics required to connect PV panels to main electrical units. |
Bill of materials |
Create a list of every part or component that makes up a product, including product numbers and quantities. |
Data import/export |
Users can import/export images, files, and PDFs as needed. |
Reporting dashboard |
View information related to solar power consumption, financial analysis, and energy savings in a single dashboard. |
Choosing the right solar software depends on the size and requirements of your solar industry business.
Here are three common types of solar software buyers and their unique considerations:
No matter which of the above three buyer segments you belong in, solar software can help your business. Let's take a look at three key benefits:
Your final step when purchasing solar software is evaluating these key areas to ensure your business makes the ideal purchase:
Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.