The solar industry is a fast-paced environment where quick turnaround times for designs and estimates are essential. Especially for growing companies such as Sandbox Solar, the need to scale up and automate engineering blockages is critical.

Sandbox Solar contacted SkyCiv to create a custom calculator to enable the company to conduct rooftop solar structural calculations in-house, saving overhead costs and speeding up design times by expediting the process of reviewing and approving designs.

SkyCiv offers custom solutions based on our Quick Design module for Sandbox Solar, enabling the company to input specific customer project parameters for each residential rooftop situation.

The tool utilizes structural engineering calculations for each scenario and presents the results with a Sandbox Solar letterhead. From this letterhead, the company can confirm the roofs’ capacity to support additional solar panels and subsequently submit them, stamped and ready, to the building departments for approval.

The open calculation reports, with full referencing relevant standards, gave Sandbox Solar ready-made calculation reports to quickly review and approve. Designs can now be turned around in minutes, not days.

The custom solution has significantly benefited Sandbox Solar by saving them thousands in engineering review time and fees. The standout feature is customer parameters and letterhead templates that help streamline the team’s process – “now I can review and stamp our team’s drawings seamlessly”. Sandbox Solar team is currently in the trial phase and actively planning for the future expansion of this tool, with enthusiasm for the possibility of integrating it directly with their other software tools through the API key and offering it to other installation partners.

We’re excited to be partnered with forward-thinking companies like Sandbox Solar – looking for a faster, better way to design!