Drone and AI solar design: Northwest Electric & Solar cuts redesigns about 33% with Scanifly
Northwest Electric & Solar
What they did with AI
Northwest Electric & Solar (NWES), a Kenmore, Washington installer serving the whole state, first used Scanifly in 2020 to replace ladder, tape-measure and SunEye roof climbs with drone site surveys, which it says took its surveyors from two or three visits a day to five, six or more. After a stretch of remote-only design on satellite and LiDAR data, which handled Washington's tall conifers and outdated imagery poorly, NWES went back to Scanifly. Its designers now start from drone-built 3D models, where Scanifly's Automated Wireframes outline every roof segment, obstruction and fire setback automatically, cutting design time by up to 20%. Viewshed shading analysis on the actual trees backs the production numbers shown to homeowners. Redesign requests from the PM team fell from 25 to 30 per 100 projects to fewer than 15, roughly 33%, according to Marketing Manager Manuel Larrain. Figures are the company's, from Scanifly's own case study.
Results above are as reported by the vendor or company in the source and haven't been independently audited by this site. Listing a tool is not an endorsement, and nobody paid for this entry.
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