AI Estimating for Solar Installers 2026: Aurora vs OpenSolar

Chapter 1: The 2026 Solar Estimating Landscape: Why Design Software Became the Bottleneck For most of the last decade, solar design software was a back-office nicety. You closed the deal on the kitchen table with a rough production estimate, then someone in the office cleaned it up before permitting. The design tool was a formality. The sale was the sale. That era is over. In 2026, the design tool is the sale — and increasingly, it is the margin. If you run a residential or small-commercial install business, the software that produces your proposal now sits directly on the critical...