Most solar EPCs outgrow sales rep surveys around the same time. The rep needs the deal to close, the survey needs to be complete, and those two incentives stop agreeing somewhere between 100 and 300 installs a month. The question stops being whether to outsource surveys and becomes which model to outsource them to, and which one still holds up when a customer's job depends on it.
Radicl publishes this page, so read it as a Radicl page. It is also held to a standard: every description of another company comes from that company's own public materials as of September 2026, every public complaint carries a date and a link, and anything operators told Radicl directly is labeled as exactly that. Where a provider has a thin review footprint, that is stated rather than filled in.
Three different products hide behind one search term
"Solar site survey company" covers three businesses, and buying the wrong one is the most common mistake on this list. SiteCapture and Scanifly sell capture software: your own people collect the data, so the quality ceiling is whoever holds the phone or flies the drone. Ensite and Radicl dispatch people, and the differences inside that model decide everything: who the technicians are, whether the booking is a confirmed appointment or a request, whether anyone checks the work before the tech leaves the driveway, and what happens when a job goes wrong. Exactus Energy and, in a different form, GreenLancer come at surveys from the engineering side, which fits when engineering is the bottleneck and does not when the bottleneck is a trustworthy set of eyes on 400 roofs a month across eight states.
Comparison at a glance
Published claims only. Where a provider does not publish a number, the cell says so rather than guessing.
| Provider | Model | Who does the field work | Coverage claim | Published turnaround | Beyond the survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radicl | On-demand field network plus operations layer | Independent technicians vetted and mock-mission verified through the Radicl platform. Tech physically on the roof. Live QC while on site. | Nationwide, 48 states coast to coast | Confirmed appointment at booking. 24 to 48 hour dispatch. Survey to permit-ready design in 48 to 72 hours. | Dynamiq Design, permit-ready packs, install verification, O&M, detach and reset, damage assessments |
| Ensite | Survey app and web portal plus surveyor network | Independent surveyors who accept nearby jobs through the app. No on-site QC step published. | Nationwide | Speed language, no specific window published | Standard and Deluxe survey packages |
| GreenLancer | Marketplace for engineering and permitting partners plus field-service contractors | Vetted partner engineers and field-service contractors | All 50 states for plan sets and PE stamps | Plan sets in 1 to 2 business days | Permit packages, interconnection, residential repair network launched 2025 |
| SiteCapture | Field data-capture software | Your crews, your reps, or the homeowner via self-survey | Software, no geographic limit | Not applicable | Inspections, install documentation, integrations with financing and CRM |
| Exactus Energy | Engineering firm with an in-house survey team | Company surveyors and inspectors | All 50 US states and 9 Canadian provinces | Industry-leading claim, no specific window published | PE-stamped electrical and structural design plus geotechnical work and permit packages |
| Scanifly | Drone-based 3D modeling and PV design software | Your team flies the drone. Outsourced flight available for a fee. | Software, no geographic limit | Wireframes under 1 hour. PE plan sets under 48 hours. Outsourced flight 3 to 5 business days. | Remote preliminary design, field ops app, design services |
Why operators switch to Radicl
The public record and Radicl's onboarding calls tell the same story. Operators do not leave a survey vendor over price. They leave over two things: communication and the quality of the data. The second truck roll, the two-week wait, the booking that turned out to be a request, the homeowner who had to call for an update, and the design built on a survey nobody checked are all versions of those two.
- Missing items that surface after the tech is gone. The most detailed public Ensite customer review (BestCompany, October 2025) reports that more than half of 24 assigned jobs had to be rescheduled over missing items, with no refund. Radicl's live QC exists to make that failure structurally impossible: the survey is reviewed while the technician is still on the property.
- Waiting one to two weeks for a survey. Operators who come to Radicl from other networks consistently report waits of one to two weeks between request and completed survey, on top of a booking flow that looked like scheduling but did not lock a confirmed time. Radicl confirms the appointment at booking and dispatches in 24 to 48 hours.
- Nobody on the roof, and existing systems guessed at. Switching operators report surveys completed from the driveway, with roof condition and flashing left to assumption and the attic never opened. The complaint is sharpest on homes that already have solar, where the existing array and inverter, plus the interconnection, have to be documented precisely for an add-on or a battery. Radicl puts a technician physically on the roof on every survey and treats existing-system and battery-placement surveys as a specialty, because that is where designs break.
- Reactive communication. The most common complaint after data quality: the homeowner calls the vendor for an update and the vendor does not know, so the operator hears about it after the fact, in a panic. Radicl runs a tight loop with the homeowner, the sales rep, and your ops team, so each of them knows where the job stands before they have to ask, and when something slips Radicl fixes it first and reports it second.
- Sales rep surveys that miss things on purpose. Action Solar's VP of Solar Ops described reps noticing a problem and choosing not to photograph it so the install would move faster. Independent technicians with no stake in the sale, and a QC reviewer watching in real time, remove that variable. The measured result was a lower as-built design error rate and faster speed to cash. Details in the Action Solar case study.
The other five, briefly
Real companies doing real work. The question is what each was built to do, and where its own customers say it breaks.
Ensite
Ensite Services is the closest like-for-like comparison to Radicl and usually the cheaper quote: an ordering app plus a nationwide network of independent surveyors who accept nearby jobs, pay-as-you-go, with a booking flow that resembles Radicl's live booking. It publishes no committed dispatch window and no on-site QC step. Where its own customers say it breaks: both customer reviews on BestCompany (October 2025 and March 2026) are one star, one reporting more than half of 24 assigned jobs rescheduled over missing items with no refund, and an October 2025 App Store review reports the Depart button texting homeowners by accident. Operators who switched to Radicl put it in two words, communication and data: one to two week waits, a booking that felt like an appointment without locking a time, homeowners calling for updates the vendor could not give, gaps that surfaced in design, and weak documentation of homes that already had solar. Ensite fits an EPC that wants the lowest-price survey vendor and has the QC staff and schedule slack to absorb what comes back.
GreenLancer
A Detroit marketplace (2013) for permit-ready plan sets, PE stamps in all 50 states, and interconnection, with a repair network added in 2025. Site surveys are not a standalone product. Its Birdeye reviews (4.7 from 48) praise named staff, and one August 2026 BBB complaint alleges a design that exceeded PV input specs with no review to catch it. Strong when engineering throughput is the constraint. It does not solve the field data problem.
SiteCapture
Oakland field-capture software for your own crews, reps, or homeowner self-surveys. Capterra (4.6 from 28) rates it easy to use, with November 2024 reviewers noting template updates that do not reach active surveys and slow uploads without signal. Right when you have field people and your problem is inconsistency. It cannot fix a survey done by someone who did not want to find the problem.
Exactus Energy
A Toronto engineering firm (2015) with an in-house survey team, PE-stamped design across 50 states and nine provinces, and short, positive public reviews (4.9 from 20) with no detailed complaints found. Fits contractors who want one engineering vendor from survey to stamped plan set, especially commercial. It publishes no dispatch window.
Scanifly
Drone-based 3D modeling and PV design software: your team flies, wireframes in under an hour, PE plan sets in under 48 hours, outsourced flights in three to five business days. Two reviews on G2, which G2 flags as too few to draw on. Excellent at the roof plane, and it needs a certified pilot, hardware, and a weather window. It does not put a person in the attic, at the service panel, or on the phone with the homeowner.
98.7%
first-time yield rate on survey accuracy, produced by live QC while the tech is on site
48 to 72 hrs
survey to permit-ready design through Dynamiq Design, vs. a 10-day industry average
25,000+
homes served across 48 states, coast to coast
What only Radicl does on this list
Five things separate Radicl from every other provider above. Each is a question you can put to any of them.
01. Live QC on every survey, before the technician leaves
Missing photos, an unreadable panel label, or an attic that was not accessed get caught while the tech is still on the property. Every other model on this list reviews after the fact or not at all. This one design choice is what produces the 98.7% first-time yield rate.
02. A technician on the roof, every time
Radicl is the only national provider that puts a technician physically on the roof on every survey. Drones measure the roof plane well and a surveyor in the driveway measures less. Neither sees the flashing or the conduit run, and those are the items that turn into change orders.
03. A confirmed appointment, and communication that runs ahead of the homeowner
Live booking on Radicl locks a time the homeowner and your team can plan around, and a technician is on site within two days rather than two weeks. Several networks now offer a similar-looking booking screen, so the test is whether a confirmed appointment exists when you close the tab. From there the loop stays tight: homeowner, sales rep, and your ops team each hear where the job stands before they have to ask. Proactive communication is an operating decision, and it is the difference between an update and an apology.
04. Independent technicians, verified before the first job and QC'd on every one
The technicians in the Radicl network are independent contractors who choose missions through the Radicl platform and are paid per completed mission. What makes it a network rather than a list of subcontractors is what sits around them: every technician is vetted, completes in-app training, passes a mock mission before accepting paid work, and has every survey QC'd live on site. Accountability lives in the platform and the deliverable, not in a supervisor. Jordan Smith, VP of Solar Ops at Action Solar, put the client-side result this way after running Radicl at two EPCs: "For the cost of a survey, you get the service, but you also get a backstop operational perspective and a soundboard you don't normally get with a service provider."
05. One platform from survey to permit-ready, on a network that flexes with demand
Survey, design, QC, scheduling, and status live in one system, with no handoff between a survey vendor, a design shop, and an engineering partner. Radicl carries 6,000+ bookable labor hours weekly across 48 states, launches a new market in 7 to 10 days, and the same technicians perform surveys, storm assessments, and detach and reset. Operators who start with surveys add a second Radicl service 76% of the time. Read how the handoff gap costs pipelines time in where your solar pipeline is actually losing time, and see the rest of the stack on the solar solutions page.
| Metric | Typical vendor | Radicl |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | A request that looks like an appointment | A confirmed appointment time, locked at booking |
| Time to survey | Days to weeks, depending on who picks up the job | 24 to 48 hour dispatch, same-day emergency capability |
| Field QC process | Review after the fact, if at all | Live, on site, before the technician leaves |
| First-time yield | Rarely published | 98.7% on survey accuracy |
| Survey to permit-ready design | 10-day industry average | 48 to 72 hours through Dynamiq Design |
| Who shows up | Varies by subcontractor and market | Independent technicians vetted, in-app trained, and mock-mission verified through the Radicl platform. Tech on the roof. |
| Existing solar and batteries | Documented like a standard roof, gaps surface in design | A specialty: existing array and inverter plus the interconnection documented for add-ons and battery placement |
| Capability | Typical vendor | Radicl |
|---|---|---|
| Communication | Reactive. The homeowner calls, the vendor checks | Proactive loop with homeowner, sales rep, and your ops team |
| Client portal | Varies, often none | Dedicated portal with real-time job status |
| Job tracking | Email and phone updates | Live tracking with automated notifications |
| Photo documentation | Inconsistent by crew | Standardized, geotagged, timestamped, built to your AHJ and TPO templates |
| Issue resolution | Surfaces days later | Caught and resolved on site |
| Data access and reporting | Monthly reports, maybe | Real-time dashboards, exportable audit-ready reporting, API access |
| After the survey | A second vendor for design, a third for engineering | Dynamiq Design from the same survey data, no handoff |
| Coverage | Regional, or a gig bench that thins out in new markets | 48 states coast to coast, new market in 7 to 10 days |
Five questions to ask before you sign with anyone
- Is the booking a confirmed appointment or a request? Ask what the homeowner receives when you book, and whether a time is locked before a surveyor accepts.
- Who physically performs the survey, and do they get on the roof? Ask for the vetting steps, the training content, and whether roof access is standard or optional.
- Does anyone check the survey before the technician leaves the site? Live QC is the difference between a go-back and a complete package. QC after the fact means a second truck roll.
- What is the committed dispatch window, and what happens on a no-show? A median in hours and a remedy, not adjectives.
- What is the first-time yield or go-back rate, and how is it measured? Any provider running real volume knows this number.
For the wider decision, including the in-house versus outsourced cost math, read the buyer's guide to outsourcing field operations. If roof replacements on solar homes are part of your book, the detach and reset guide covers that service end to end.