☀️ AI for Solar Panel Installer
AI for Solar Panel Installers - Survey Proposals, Permits & PTO Updates
Residential solar is soft-cost heavy and jurisdiction-dependent. i10X handles repeatable customer comms – inquiry routing, survey proposals, AHJ follow-up, PTO milestones – so you can stay on surveys, crew scheduling, and permit resubmittals.
Solar inquiry
Homeowner, referral, or install-day callback
Agent sorts it
New survey, service question, or AHJ thread?
You get a summary
Short brief or booked survey on your calendar.
If you are looking at AI for a solar install company, the useful question is not whether another app can replace Aurora or your CRM. It is whether customer comms – survey follow-up, AHJ corrections, updates through interconnection – can run without pulling you off the roof and the permit queue.
Three patterns that show up in solar soft-cost research and installer forums:
- Permit and AHJ ping-pong. Soft costs – sales, design, permitting, interconnection, and admin – can run to roughly two-thirds of a residential system price. Plan check revisions and inspection holds stretch weeks between install and sign-off, and every AHJ ping-pong cycle pulls the owner off crew scheduling and the next survey. Jurisdiction variation is the norm, not the exception.
- Site survey to proposal queue. After a drone or drive-by survey, turning roof notes into a priced proposal with production and payback often waits behind the next booking. Industry breakdowns list customer acquisition and design in those soft costs; homeowners comparing three installers rarely wait a week for numbers while your notes sit in a voice memo.
- PTO waiting silence. Panels can be on the roof while the utility interconnection queue still runs. Interconnection and permission-to-operate are a distinct phase after install – NREL and trade guides cite PII timelines as a major energize gap. When updates are manual, homeowners fill the silence with daily calls asking when the meter will spin.
You’ve heard you need to “do something with AI.” Fair. Here’s what that looks like for a one-van outfit, not a corporate IT project.
Help with the comms layer, not a new solar platform
i10X connects to your phone line, Gmail, calendar, and QuickBooks. It can route calls, draft tiered proposals from survey notes, chase permit status, and send PTO milestone updates during the install-to-energize gap.
You keep Aurora, Solo, or whatever drives designs and production models. i10X sits on the customer-facing side: messages, drafts, reminders. Large proposals and AHJ resubmittals stay with you unless you choose otherwise.
One installer told us permitting alone was eating a day a week in portal checks and correction emails – on top of surveys he was already late sending. Offloading inquiry summaries and PTO milestone drafts did not fix AHJ timelines – but it returned a few hours a week for the work only he could sign off.
What i10X can do
What i10X can run on rules you set:
Roof-day inquiry routing
New leads and install callbacks get scoped and queued while the crew is on the array.
Survey proposal drafts
Field notes become tiered estimate drafts in Google Docs with production summary for your review.
AHJ and inspection chasers
Correction responses and reinspection reminders drafted from the status you log.
Interconnection milestone messages
Scheduled updates from permit through PTO so homeowners are not guessing at energize date.
Same crew, less soft-cost drag
Not a magic install-per-day jump – just fewer tasks that pull you off surveys and permit work.
- Survey done Monday; tiered proposal still waiting behind AHJ correction reply Wednesday
- Homeowner emails in week two post-install asking when the utility will turn the system on
- Web lead and interconnection portal notice in the same unread inbox pile
- Inspection fail note by phone; nothing written down before resubmittal restarts
- Draft proposal from survey notes ready for your review Tuesday morning
- Interconnection-filed milestone sent; homeowner reply says thanks, no daily status call
- New leads summarized at the top of Gmail with suggested survey slots
- AHJ correction captured as a short response draft before permit resubmittal goes out
Five common starting points for residential solar installers. i10X can do more once connected – these are what owners usually set up first:
Examples of what i10X can handle
Route solar inquiries while crew is on the roof
A new lead, an install-day homeowner question, and a dealer referral need different scripts – and you are harnessed on a slope. i10X can answer or take a message, ask basic scope questions, and offer survey slots from your calendar while the crew stays on the array.
3 hrssaved / week
Draft proposals from site survey notes
Dictate or email notes after a survey: array size, inverter line, roof planes, consumption offset. i10X turns them into a draft tiered proposal in Google Docs with production and payback summary and can queue follow-up reminders on dates you choose.
4 hrssaved / week
Permit and inspection status chasers
Plan check corrections, resubmittal deadlines, and inspection holds pile up in AHJ portals and email threads. i10X tracks status you flag, drafts correction responses, and nags you before reinspection dates slip – so permit ping-pong does not live only in your head.
4 hrssaved / week
Interconnection and PTO milestone updates
Permit approved, install complete, interconnection filed, PTO granted – homeowners expect signal through a gap that can run weeks after the array is mounted. i10X can send milestone emails or texts on the dates you set and log utility questions before they become afternoon phone tag.
3 hrssaved / week
Code and equipment spec lookup for AHJ fixes
Ask in plain language: rapid shutdown layout for this string, inverter listing match, or wording for a failed inspection note. i10X pulls NEC references and manufacturer data and saves it to the job file so the crew does not walk off the roof for every correction detail.
1 hrsaved / week
Permitting variation and interconnection queues are real constraints in this trade; i10X does not collapse AHJ timelines. It mainly reduces the manual comms work that falls on the same person running sales and crew dispatch.
Works with your stack
No new software to learn. Phone, inbox, calendar, books, and proposal docs – where most residential solar crews already run surveys, AHJ email, and homeowner updates. i10X connects to the tools you already run:
Why solar panel installers choose i10X
Built around install-to-PTO workflows
Site survey, AHJ corrections, interconnection filing, PTO granted – not generic contractor dispatch.
Learns how your shop talks
Tone for a new survey lead vs a homeowner mid-interconnection can differ; you set that during setup.
You approve what matters
Proposals, AHJ responses, and customer-facing messages can stay ask-first until you trust the defaults.
Getting started takes about 10 minutes
No tech skills, no setup fee, no new app to figure out. Three steps and you’re live:
Connect your tools
Click to link your phone line, inbox and calendar – the same secure login your bank uses. Nothing to install.
Answer 3 questions
Tell it how you talk to customers and what it’s allowed to do. It learns from your past quotes and messages.
It starts working
From minute one it answers calls and drafts replies for your approval. Most solar panel installers see a booked job the same day.
What usually changes first
Most installers start in ask-first mode: drafts and summaries land on your phone, you edit or send. That alone cuts down evening email sessions after long roof days.
Once PTO milestone messages and survey follow-ups run on a schedule you defined, homeowners stop filling the interconnection gap with check-in calls.
None of this replaces a permit runner or lead electrician. It clears comms work off the owner so surveys, AHJ follow-up, and crew scheduling get more of the week.
Customer-facing actions need your OK by default
Proposals, AHJ draft replies, and outbound messages can wait for approval. Turn on auto-send for specific message types once the wording matches your company.
Your data stays in your tools. We do not train on your proposals or customer threads. Revoke access in one step.
I still approve every final proposal and permit package. But leads do not go to voicemail all afternoon on install days anymore, and I am not writing the same PTO waiting email from scratch at 9pm. Proposal drafts from survey notes save me a desk session I did not have.– Derek Voss, Phoenix, AZ · 8 years as a residential solar installer
Frequently asked questions
Will it draft AHJ permit replies from my inbox threads?
When a plan checker email lands with corrections or doc requests, i10X drafts a reply addressing each item and listing attachments to send. You review before it goes back to the AHJ – so permit ping-pong doesn't stall on nobody replying.
Can it send PTO waiting updates during the interconnection queue?
You define post-install milestones: install complete, inspection passed, utility submitted, PTO pending. i10X drafts homeowner updates on those dates during the multi-week queue so silence doesn't become daily status calls.
Does it build survey proposals with roof-age and utility-bill context?
Lead intake captures bill range, roof age, shading notes, and timeline. i10X turns survey notes into a draft proposal in Google Docs with production assumptions spelled out – not a generic one-page price.
Can it flag NEC rapid-shutdown questions without me leaving the roof?
Ask on site in plain language. i10X pulls code references and manufacturer shutdown documentation and saves it to the job file for the permit set or crew lead – without a truck ride to find the binder.
Does it route post-install homeowner calls separately from new lead intake?
Existing customers asking about monitoring, billing, or PTO status get a milestone script. New web leads and referral inquiries get survey-booking intake. Same phone line, different paths you define at setup.
See if it fits your install company
Connect your tools, skim a week of drafts and summaries, and decide whether the soft-cost comms load is lighter.
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