Helios Field: from site survey to subsidy payout for a rooftop solar installer
A rooftop solar installer was growing fast and drowning in the process: site surveys on paper, designs in spreadsheets, subsidy paperwork chased by phone and customers asking whether their panels were actually producing. We built Helios Field: survey app, system design and quoting, installation tracking, subsidy workflow and generation monitoring — 24 features covering the full journey of a solar customer.
Growing faster than the process
Helios Field installed rooftop solar for homes and small businesses. Demand had surged with government subsidies, and the team had tripled. The process had not changed: a surveyor measured the roof and filled a paper form, a designer worked out the system in a spreadsheet, sales sent a PDF quote, and a coordinator chased subsidy applications and electricity-board inspections by phone.
Customers waited weeks between steps without updates, and after installation many had no idea whether their system was performing as promised.
“We sell a twenty-five-year relationship. Our customers felt it ended the day we left the roof.”
Mapping the customer journey
We mapped the journey from enquiry to first subsidy credit: roughly a dozen steps across four teams and two external bodies. The biggest delays were paperwork — subsidy portal submissions, net-meter applications and inspection scheduling — and re-surveys caused by incomplete first visits.
- Incomplete surveys requiring a second visit
- Manual designs and quotes taking days
- Subsidy and net-meter paperwork chased by phone
- No visibility for customers after installation
Designing a guided survey and a live system
The surveyor app guides every measurement a designer needs — roof dimensions, shading, structure, meter photos — and will not let a survey be submitted incomplete. Satellite imagery gives a head start before the visit. Designs are generated from the survey with a panel layout and expected generation, and quotes go to customers the same day.
After installation, the customer app connects to the inverter's data and shows daily generation and savings, turning a silent roof into a visible investment.
The team
Inverter integrations required a dedicated backend engineer working through several manufacturers' APIs.
Journey mapping and rollout.
Survey, design tool and customer app.
Surveyor, installer and customer apps.
Sales, design and operations web app.
Inverter integrations and generation data.
Generation analytics and performance alerts.
7 people in total, working as one team.
Decisions we made
Agreed with the founders and operations lead.
Paper surveys or guided app?
- Improved paper forms
- Guided app that blocks incomplete surveys
Our call: Guided app that blocks incomplete surveys. Incomplete surveys caused repeat visits. The app made missing data impossible.
Manual or generated designs?
- Designers work from scratch
- Generated layouts reviewed by designers
Our call: Generated layouts reviewed by designers. Generated designs gave same-day quotes; designers review and adjust rather than start from zero.
One inverter brand or many?
- Integrate one brand
- Adapter layer for several manufacturers
Our call: Adapter layer for several manufacturers. The company installed several inverter brands. An adapter layer made monitoring work for every customer.
Monitor after installation?
- No post-install app
- Customer generation monitoring with alerts
Our call: Customer generation monitoring with alerts. Monitoring caught underperforming systems early and kept customers engaged for referrals.
The 24 features
Everything that shipped from enquiry to monitoring.
- 01Enquiry capture
Leads from website, referrals and campaigns.
- 02Satellite roof preview
Roof outline before the visit.
- 03Guided site survey
Every required measurement and photo.
- 04Shading assessment
Shading captured and factored into design.
- 05Same-day quotes
Generated design, generation estimate and price.
- 06Installation scheduling
Crews, materials and dates.
- 07Installer checklist
Step-by-step checks with photos.
- 08Material dispatch
Panels, inverters and structure tracked to site.
- 09Commissioning report
Test results and handover documents.
- 10Document checklist
Every document needed for subsidy and net-metering.
- 11Application tracking
Status of each submission.
- 12Inspection scheduling
Electricity board inspections tracked.
- 13Customer status updates
WhatsApp updates at each step.
- 14Generation monitoring
Daily and monthly generation from the inverter.
- 15Savings tracker
Estimated savings in rupees.
- 16Performance alerts
Alerts when a system underperforms.
- 17Service requests
Raise cleaning or repair requests.
- 18Referral programme
Refer friends from the app.
- 19Operations dashboard
Pipeline, installations and subsidy status.
- 20Role-based access
Sales, surveyors, installers, operations and customers.
- 21Audit trail
Documents and status changes recorded.
- 22Payments and invoices
Milestone payments with receipts.
- 23Fleet performance analytics
Generation across all installed systems.
- 24AMC management
Maintenance contracts and visits.
Rollout
We launched with new enquiries first, then migrated projects already in progress. Customers who had installed before launch were invited to the monitoring app, which produced a wave of referrals from people showing neighbours their daily generation.
- Weeks 1–2Discovery
Customer journey mapped across four teams.
- Weeks 3–4Design
Guided survey and customer app prototyped.
- Weeks 5–13Build
Apps, design tool, subsidy workflow and inverter integrations.
- Weeks 14–16Launch for new enquiries
New customers on Helios Field.
- Weeks 17–18Migration and monitoring
In-progress projects migrated; past customers invited.
What we learned
Get it right on the first visit. A guided survey removed the most expensive delay in the process.
Visibility sells the next system. Customers who could see their generation became the company's best salespeople.
- React Native
- Next.js
- NestJS
- PostgreSQL
- Inverter API integrations
- Satellite roof imagery
- WhatsApp Business API
- AWS Mumbai
