FSM software for solar installers
From the first roof survey to permission to operate, FSM Flow runs every phase of a solar and storage project as a tracked work order with its permits, serials and photos attached. Then it keeps earning on the same record: O&M visits, inverter warranty swaps and takeovers of systems other installers left behind.
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PTO received
Inverter serial logged · O&M plan live
At a glance
Solar installer software is field service management software built for the way solar and battery storage contractors work: a project pipeline that runs from site survey through design, AHJ permitting, installation, inspection and utility permission to operate (PTO), followed by years of recurring service on serialised equipment such as inverters, optimisers and batteries. FSM Flow holds each phase as a work order on one customer and site record, keeps every module, inverter and battery serial on the equipment register, and generates O&M visits, warranty swaps and invoices from the same system. The result is a sale-to-PTO cycle you can see and shorten, and an installed base you can service profitably.
The market has changed shape. SEIA and Wood Mackenzie report 43.2 GWdc installed in the US in 2025, 14% below 2024, with the residential segment at 4,647 MWdc as the Section 25D homeowner credit ended for systems completed after 31 December 2025. Third-party-owned systems (leases and PPAs) remain eligible under Section 48E through 2027, so more projects now run on a fleet owner’s milestones and paperwork rather than a homeowner’s. At the same time, more than five million systems are already installed and over 100 residential installers closed in 2023 alone, leaving arrays with failing inverters, unfinished commissioning and no one to call.
FSM Flow is built for that two-speed business. Dispatchers schedule survey, electrical and install crews on one drag-and-drop board with AI matching by skill and proximity; crews work from an offline-first mobile app that scans serials and completes commissioning checklists on the roof; the office sees which projects are waiting on a permit, an inspection or the utility, and the AI assistant answers “which systems are due an O&M visit this quarter?” from live data.
43.2 GW
US solar capacity installed in 2025, 14% below 2024
Source: SEIA / Wood Mackenzie, US Solar Market Insight
4,647 MWdc
US residential solar installed in 2025
Source: SEIA / Wood Mackenzie, US Solar Market Insight
280,119
US solar workers in 2024; roughly two-thirds in installation and project development
Source: National Solar Jobs Census
100+
US residential solar companies that closed or filed for bankruptcy in 2023
Source: North American Clean Energy
Job types
Each job type carries its own checklist, required certifications, duration and pricing method, so a project’s phases land on the scheduler already knowing what crew and what evidence they need.
Site survey & shade analysis
Roof, attic and main-panel photos, shade readings and measurements captured on the mobile app, offline.
Design, plan set & AHJ permit
Stamped plans, permit submissions and HOA approvals attached to the project with status visible to all.
Utility interconnection application
Application, net-billing tariff and utility correspondence filed on the job so PTO never stalls unnoticed.
Racking & module install
Crew-day scheduling, with module serials and wattage scanned to the site record as they go on the roof.
Inverter, optimiser & microinverter install
Serials and firmware recorded per device for monitoring enrolment and future RMAs.
Battery (ESS) & backup sub-panel
ESS serials, state of health and backup-loads panel details kept with the system from day one.
Main panel upgrade & rapid shutdown
MSP upgrades, derates and rapid-shutdown devices run as their own phase with electrician skill matching.
Inspection & PTO
Rough and final inspection outcomes, correction lists and the PTO letter stored on the project.
Commissioning & monitoring enrolment
Commissioning checklist, production check and monitoring sign-up completed before the job can close.
O&M visit & panel cleaning
Annual or biennial inspections generated from service plans, with cleaning and critter-guard add-ons.
Inverter warranty swap (RMA)
Failed unit, replacement serial and manufacturer claim reference logged on one no-charge work order.
Orphaned-system takeover inspection
Assess another installer’s array, finish commissioning and quote repairs with full records from visit one.
Where time gets lost
The problems that show up between the signed contract and the PTO letter, and in the years after, and what FSM Flow does about each one.
Sale-to-PTO takes months and nobody can see where each project is stuck.
Every phase is a work order with a status and an on-hold reason: permit submitted, awaiting inspection, interconnection pending. The dashboard shows how many projects sit at each gate and for how long, so the office chases the AHJ or the utility before the customer calls.
See how it worksCompletion dates now decide eligibility and fleet milestones.
With 25D keyed to the date a system was completed, and 48E deadlines running for lease and PPA fleets through 2027, idle time costs money. Workflow rules alert a project manager when a phase has not moved for a set number of days and escalate if it still has not.
See how it worksSubcontractor crews and in-house electricians work from different information.
Roles and permissions give a sub-crew only its assigned jobs, with the plan set, the checklist and the photos required to close. Their photos and serials land on the same project record the office and the electrician see.
See how it worksSerial numbers live in a photo on someone’s phone.
Modules, inverters, optimisers, batteries and rapid-shutdown devices are scanned to the site’s equipment record during install, with firmware, install date and warranty term. Ten years later the RMA starts from that record, not from a search.
See how it worksO&M and warranty work are an afterthought that never gets invoiced.
Service plans generate annual or biennial visits automatically. Warranty swaps are a separate no-charge job type, so labour reimbursed by the manufacturer is tracked rather than lost, and billable O&M becomes an invoice the moment the work order closes.
See how it worksOrphaned systems arrive with no history at all.
A takeover inspection builds the customer, site and equipment record on the first visit. Document intelligence reads the old plan set, inverter datasheet or PTO letter the homeowner has and fills in model, serial and capacity, so the second visit starts informed.
See how it works
Built for solar installers
One platform for the office, the survey van, the install crews and the AI that connects them.
Crew scheduling & AI dispatch
A drag-and-drop board with day, week and month views for survey, electrical and install crews, with AI matching by skill, licence and proximity.
- Multi-day install blocks with crew assignments
- Electrician and NABCEP skill matching
- Unassigned pool for inspections and O&M fill-ins
Project phases as work orders
Survey, permit, install, inspection, PTO and commissioning each have a status, an owner and the documents they need to close.
- On-hold reasons: permit, utility, inspection, customer
- Phase durations on the dashboard
- Full audit trail of who changed what
Serialised equipment register
Every module, inverter, optimiser, battery and gateway recorded against the site from install to retirement.
- Serial, firmware, wattage and warranty term per device
- Service history and RMAs on the unit
- Lifecycle view for ageing early systems
Permits, plans & utility paperwork
Plan sets, permit approvals, interconnection applications and PTO letters attached to the job and readable by the AI.
- Document intelligence extracts model, serial and capacity
- Inspection outcomes and correction lists on the phase
- Everything in one place when the auditor or the fleet owner asks
Quotes & phased invoicing
Quotes with line items and expiry for systems, batteries and O&M plans; invoices generated from each completed phase.
- Deposit, install and PTO invoices from completed work orders
- Customisable tax, terms and templates
- Bulk invoicing for O&M rounds
AI assistant & workflows
Ask “which projects have waited more than 20 days on the utility?” or automate the monitoring-enrolment reminder after every commissioning.
- Natural-language questions on live project data
- Workflow builder with schedule and entity-event triggers
- AI dashboards for sale-to-PTO and O&M backlog
A day with FSM Flow
How a 40-person residential and small-commercial installer with two sub-crews keeps projects moving and the install base served.
- 6:30 am
Crews leave with the plan set on the tablet
Two install crews open today’s jobs on the mobile app: plan set, module count, inverter model and the commissioning checklist, all cached for roofs with no signal.
- 8:00 am
Permits and PTO queue reviewed
The project manager filters work orders on hold for “awaiting AHJ” and “interconnection pending”, sees which have idled past 14 days and sends the follow-ups.
- 9:45 am
Surveyor captures a C&I roof
Shade readings, main-service photos and roof measurements go onto the survey work order; a quote with a battery option is drafted on site and sent for approval.
- 11:30 am
Monitoring alert becomes a service ticket
An inverter fault on a 2017 system is logged as an RMA job type. AI matching suggests the technician nearest the site who carries that inverter family’s spares.
- 1:15 pm
Modules and inverters scanned on the roof
The crew scans each module and the inverter, records firmware and the rapid-shutdown device, and photographs the labelling for the inspector.
- 3:30 pm
Inspection passes, PTO application goes in
The final inspection phase closes with the outcome attached; a workflow creates the interconnection work order and emails the customer the next steps.
- 5:00 pm
Invoices and tomorrow’s O&M round
Install-complete invoices are generated from today’s closed work orders, and the dispatcher fills tomorrow’s gaps from service-plan visits that are due.
Compliance & records
FSM Flow stores the evidence against the project, the device and the technician, so inspections, warranty claims and fleet audits are a report away.
NEC Articles 690, 705 and 706
Rapid-shutdown devices, disconnecting means and ESS installations recorded per site, with 2026 NEC changes to 690 and 706 reflected in job checklists.
AHJ permits & inspections
Permit numbers, submission dates, rough and final inspection outcomes and correction lists on the phase; NREL found SolarAPP+ jurisdictions cut median permit cycles to 33 days from 47.5.
Utility interconnection & PTO
Interconnection applications, IEEE 1547 and tariff documents (Rule 21 in California, net-billing elsewhere) and the PTO letter attached to the job.
Energy storage listings
UL 9540 and 9540A documentation, battery serials and state of health kept on the ESS equipment record for the fire marshal and the warranty claim.
Fall protection & site safety
OSHA fall-protection checklists completed on the mobile app before roof work starts, with the crew lead’s sign-off in the audit trail.
Certifications & accreditation
NABCEP, electrician licences and manufacturer installer certifications on technician profiles for scheduler matching; MCS (UK) and SAA (Australia) accreditation details on the company profile.
Numbers worth watching
Every one of these is a dashboard widget in FSM Flow, or a question you can ask the AI assistant.
Sale-to-PTO days
The headline cycle-time number; calculated from the quote acceptance date to the PTO phase closing, per project and per AHJ.
Permit cycle days
Time between the permit phase opening and approval, broken down by jurisdiction so you know where SolarAPP+ or a better submittal pays off.
Inspection first-pass rate
Failed inspections are re-opened phases with a correction list, so the rate is honest and the recurring reasons are visible.
Track per crew and per inspectorInstall crew-days per kW
Crew hours logged on install work orders against system size, visible per crew and per roof type.
O&M tickets per 1,000 systems
Service demand across the install base, by inverter family and install year, to size the service team and spot failing product lines.
Inverter RMA turnaround
Days from fault logged to replacement commissioned, including time waiting on the manufacturer.
What is solar installer software?
Does FSM Flow track permits and PTO status?
Can I manage subcontractor install crews?
Can I track inverter and battery serial numbers for warranty claims?
How does it handle recurring O&M after the install?
Can FSM Flow help with orphaned systems from installers that have closed?
How much does FSM Flow cost for a solar company?
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