AI can write you a solar app.
It can’t sign a $65,000 imagery contract for you.
AI coding tools can build a convincing demo in a weekend. A platform you can run an installation company on takes years of solar, electrical and 3D engineering, plus data contracts priced for platforms rather than single installers.
Credit where it is due
What building your own does well.
A self-built tool is a reasonable idea for a narrow job. Done well, it offers:
- It fits your process exactly
- Every screen and field matches how your team already works.
- You own the code
- No vendor roadmap to wait on and no subscription to renew.
- A prototype costs almost nothing
- A quote calculator or job tracker can come together in an afternoon.
The demo is the easy part.
On screen, a prototype and software that can run a solar company look alike. The difference is everything behind it.
Years of solar knowledge
Powerlily has been in daily development since 2023, built by a team with decades of experience at solar EPCs and distributors, and grown from the software that runs a working installer. The single-line diagram generator and validator alone took over 1,000 hours, much of it spent by electrical professionals working out the systems and the NEC and CEC rules rather than writing code. It cannot be put together on vibes.
A 3D engine polished by game developers
The design tool is thousands of hours of refinement: roof modeling, shade, snapping, stringing and the details installers only notice when they are missing. We brought in former developers from large video game studios to polish the renderer. Roofs, terrain, trees, shade and arrays render live in the browser, at a level we believe no other solar platform matches. Open a Live Proposal and judge for yourself.
Data that only pays off when shared
Premium imagery providers sell API access on annual commitments, around $65,000 USD a year for Nearmap, and unused volume does not roll over. A single installer rarely pulls enough imagery to use it up, so most of that contract is paid for and wasted. Spread across every installer on Powerlily, it costs each company a small slice and the volume gets used. On your own, HD imagery outweighs the rest of your software budget before the first proposal.
What it really costs to run.
Software with this many features is expensive to keep running. Each line below is a contract, a server or years of specialist work, and none of it is optional. Powerlily carries all of it and spreads the cost across every installer on the platform. See Powerlily pricing ↗
| What it takes | Building it yourself | Powerlily |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time 3D design tool | Thousands of hours of refinement by solar designers and graphics specialists, then constant tuning as browsers and devices change | Essentials and above, in daily development |
| SLD generator and validator | Over 1,000 hours, much of it electrical professionals working out the systems and the NEC and CEC rules. An AI cannot invent code compliance | Pro, drawn from the real design with NEC and CEC checks |
| HD aerial imagery, DSM and LiDAR | Nearmap commitment of around $65,000 USD a year before your first proposal, with no rollover | EagleView on Standard and Pro, Nearmap on Pro |
| Google HD imagery, maps and DSM elevation data | Metered per request, plus your own keys, quotas and billing alerts | Essentials and above |
| Parcel boundaries and property data | A Regrid API license for the US and Canada | Included for US and Canadian properties |
| Drone site surveys | A GPU photogrammetry server to run, scale and keep fed | Drone survey processing on Pro |
| Job servers, cache, database and file storage | Always-on infrastructure that grows with every feature, monitored, backed up and patched | Included |
| Inverter monitoring | Enphase, SolarEdge, APsystems and Tesla Powerwall, each integration built and kept working as vendors change their APIs | Pro, no per-system fee |
| Field app | iPhone, iPad and Android apps, store reviews, releases and device testing | Lilypad on iOS, Android and iPad |
| Security, hosting and support | Someone on call when it breaks in the middle of a sale | Hosted and supported by Powerlily, with priority support on Standard and Pro |
| Upkeep | Every API, browser and phone update, for as long as you run it | Included. Releases are public in the changelog |
| Our estimate, per year | Well into six figures before anyone’s salary | One company subscription, monthly or annual |
The Nearmap figure is the annual API commitment quoted to Powerlily as of November 2026. Your quote may differ. The yearly estimate is ours: data contracts, hosting and services for one company running these features, before developer and engineering salaries. Other providers price by volume, region and contract. Plan details for Powerlily are on our pricing page. Product names are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the services described.
When to build. When to subscribe.
- Building may fit if
- You need a narrow internal tool, such as a quote calculator or job tracker, without premium imagery, engineering-grade design or a field app.
- Powerlily may fit if
- You want to sell and install solar, not run a software company, and you would rather pay one subscription than carry the imagery contracts, the engineering and the servers yourself.
Spend your time on solar, not software.
Book a walkthrough with one of your own roofs in mind, or create an account and start today. Imagery, parcel data and engineering are included by plan, with no data contracts of your own to sign.
