Measure the roof before you design the array.
Measured roof plans, obstruction locations and structural context for commercial solar — so the array you design is the array that fits.
The cost of a wrong roof plan
An array designed off an outdated roof plan meets a curb, a vent stack, or a mechanical unit that nobody recorded. The redesign happens after mobilization, which is the most expensive moment for it to happen.
Arizona has more commercial roof area worth covering than almost anywhere, and most of it was drawn before the equipment on it was installed.
What you get
- Measured roof plan in DWG with obstruction locations
- Parapet heights and setback-relevant dimensions
- Measured wall geometry for shading and clearance analysis
- Drone imagery of the roof surface and surrounding shade sources
- Interior capture where structural context matters
From $2,500. Multi-site portfolios priced as a program — up to 20% below single-site rates.
Do you go on the roof?
Yes, with appropriate access and fall protection arranged by the site. Drone-only capture is an option where roof access is impractical.
Can you assess structural capacity?
No — that is an engineer's call. We give the engineer accurate geometry to work from.
Multi-site portfolios?
That is where this pays. Batched capture across sites costs meaningfully less per roof.
What a solar designer cannot get from an aerial image
Most commercial rooftop arrays are laid out from satellite imagery and a rough roof area. That works until it does not, and the way it fails is always the same: the obstructions and the heights are invisible from directly above.
- Obstruction footprints and heights — curbs, vents, hatches, skylights, existing mechanical units. An aerial shows you a shape. It does not tell you the unit is 48 inches tall and will shade three rows in December.
- Parapet height, which drives both shading at low sun angles and the setback geometry.
- Fire-code access pathways and setbacks, which are dimensional requirements measured from real edges rather than from an image's guess at where the roof stops.
- Existing penetrations, so the array layout and the attachment plan do not fight the roof that is already there.
- True measured roof area rather than an area derived from a satellite trace with a few percent of error baked in.
Arizona makes this worth more, not less
In a market where the roof is the asset, the cost of a layout revision after the structural review is larger than the cost of measuring properly at the start. Roof condition also matters more here: a single-ply membrane that has taken fifteen Phoenix summers is a different attachment problem from a new roof, and a documented capture of its condition before an array goes on it is worth having when a leak argument starts three years later.
What the deliverable contains
A measured roof plan in DWG on AIA standard layers with obstructions located and dimensioned, parapet and obstruction heights, penetration positions, plotted sheets in PDF, and a walkthrough of the roof surface for anyone who needs to see the condition without going up there. Roof plans are priced on roof area at $0.16/ft², not on gross building area, which for a multi-story building is a materially smaller number than most vendors quote against.
We do not assess structural capacity, we do not stamp anything, and we do not tell you whether the roof can carry the array. That is a structural engineer's judgment and it needs a seal we cannot provide. We measure the roof and document its condition; your engineer decides what can go on it.
Do you need roof access?
Yes — safe, code-compliant access via a hatch, an interior stair or a permanent ladder. We do not work off portable ladders or unguarded edges, and we will decline a roof that is not safely accessible rather than improvise.
How accurate is the roof area?
About one centimeter on measured distances, roughly 1% on area. That is considerably tighter than a satellite trace and is the number your array count is actually sensitive to.
What does a roof plan cost?
$0.16 per square foot of roof area, minimum $450. A 40,000 ft² single-story roof adds $6,400; the same building at three stories has a roof of roughly 13,300 ft² and adds $2,128. A roof plan is an add-on on top of the base capture, never a job on its own. Run yours through the calculator.
What we actually deliver here
The services this work is usually scoped as: measured roof as-built drawings, measured square footage and what an as-built costs. Everything comes off one capture of the building, and all of it is priced publicly — you can price your own project without talking to us first.