How Lightwave Solar Gained Operational And Sales Efficiencies with Scanifly Prelim
Since its founding in 2006, Lightwave Solar has focused on improving customer experience and internal efficiencies to take on complex projects no other Contractor is willing to try.
Leveraging the Scanifly platform, the team saw a huge improvement in accuracy and collaboration throughout the whole survey, design, procurement, and installation process for residential and small commercial projects.
Looking ahead, Lightwave is well positioned for growth, leveraging Scanifly as a key tool across its technology stack.
“Having one design software saves us time, avoids wasted resources, and has been essential in managing our residential and small commercial solar projects from start to finish.”
Results From Using Scanifly:
Minutes saved per survey using Scanifly
Solar panels installed by Lightwave since 2006
Stages of the project workflow where Scanifly adds value
The Challenge: The Rising Cost of Inaccuracy
Since its founding in 2006, Nashville-based Lightwave Solar has installed over 250,000 panels across multiple states, building solar arrays for residential, commercial, and utility projects.
Lightwave’s success came from the team’s ability to handle simple and complex projects, from multi-plane residential roofs to curved-roof commercial projects, said DJ Rosebaugh, the Director of Business Development.
Whatever type of project the company took on, though, quality was at the forefront. The team always provided the most optimal array possible, said DJ.
On the company’s mission to improve employee safety while delivering accurate customer results, they learned about Scanifly.
After trying the software on a few properties in mid-2020, the team confirmed that Scanifly’s core platform delivered more accurate on-site measurements than a Surveyor on the roof with a tape measure, and kept the surveying team safer. As a result, Scanifly became Lightwave’s chosen software partner for all post-sales work.
In early 2023, Lightwave was seeking to consolidate its software stack. They adopted Scanifly's preliminary design tool, Scanifly Prelim, with the goal of integrating remote and on-site data onto one platform.
“We liked Scanifly’s core platform for its safety and accuracy benefits. We know that whatever we survey and design, will fit on install day. But once we added Scanifly Prelim, we saw even more operational, pre-sale, and team efficiencies,” said DJ.
The combined solution now delivers efficiencies from the first customer conversation through to procurement and install planning.
How Lightwave Uses Scanifly for Business Growth
After starting with Scanifly as a survey and design solution, here’s how Lightwave began to leverage Scanifly’s holistic platform for broader business growth.
1. Consolidating preliminary designs for an improved sales experience
Lightwave creates a preliminary design using remote data for all projects. Prior to Scanifly Prelim, they were using an incumbent design tool, but prices skyrocketed and wasn't worth the value it provided. Given Lightwave’s reliance and trust on Scanifly's design tool accuracy, they inquired about potential solutions and learned about Prelim.
Lightwave’s sales team now utilizes Prelim for pre-qualifying sites, which helps them avoid unnecessary truck rolls. It also identifies projects that are a potentially bad fit.
“Scanifly Prelim gives our sales reps more information on what they might be able to deliver for customers and pre-qualifies the sites that aren’t a good fit,” said DJ. “It also gives customers a project scope so they have information before they commit any further time as well.”
2. Increased safety, accuracy, and speed in survey and design
Leveraging Scanifly Prelim, Lightwave will ink a contract with a property owner. Knowing it needs to verify on-site data, the team will send a site surveyor to capture measurements and real-time data.
Before Scanifly, all site assessments were done manually—Surveyors climbed on the roof and measured roof planes by hand. For safety reasons, the company would typically send two people. From there, data would be entered into basic sketching or modeling software to develop a layout. The process took hours and was expensive because it required more time and multiple Surveyors per site visit.
With Scanifly, DJ said the team saw massive efficiency gains. The first is that Surveyors are much safer, positively impacting team morale. Further, a Surveyor saves 20-45 minutes per site with drones while collecting more accurate measurements.
All in, DJ said a Surveyor can complete a survey and upload all data within 20-30 minutes; from there, a Designer can easily and quickly develop layouts using a photorealistic 3D model.
3. Scanifly’s all-in-one platform delivers confidence, consistency and cost-savings
The accurate measurements from Scanifly’s drone-based designs also help with downstream efficiencies. In particular, engineers trust the data coming from the platform, making it easier to export to CAD, and create stamped plan sets that inform procurement, government rebate applications, and installation planning.
Ultimately, having all of Lightwave’s survey and design data in a single platform gives engineers a simpler and more efficient downstream workflow.
“With our team using the same layout tooling, viewshed-rooted shade analysis, and export features, we can streamline our efforts from sales to install,” said DJ.
Aggressive Growth for the Future
After 15+ years in business, Lightwave Solar is planning to further increase its geographic presence and its team to serve even more customers. The company also offers strategic operations and maintenance services for solar arrays, an area they are bullish on, said DJ.
As Lightwave scales, DJ said the team will continually improve their processes, and look to centralize as much software as possible onto one platform.
“We're on an aggressive growth curve and expanding operations,” said DJ.