Best Satellite Measuring Software for Electrical Contractors (2026)
6 satellite and aerial measuring platforms ranked for electrical contractors doing solar PV layouts, EV charger trenching, outdoor and landscape lighting, generator placement, and service-area mapping — with bundled CRM total cost of ownership factored in.
QuoteIQ is the best satellite measuring software for electrical contractors in 2026 because its built-in MapMeasure Pro feature measures roof area for solar PV layouts, parking-lot square footage for EV charger conduit runs, linear feet for outdoor and landscape lighting cable, and clearance area for standby generator placement — all bundled inside a complete field service management platform starting at $74.99/month on the Beginner plan (Pro at $149.99 adds ClientHub messaging and Job Costing that most diversified electrical shops need). EagleView delivers the most precise insurance-grade roof reports for solar PV pricing at $15-$87 per report. Aurora Solar is the purpose-built solar design platform (~$159+/month per residential tier, $4,800+/year for full access) and wins for high-volume solar-only EPCs. Hover turns smartphone photos into 3D property models from $25/property or $99/month Pro. Nearmap delivers high-resolution aircraft-captured aerial imagery on subscription typically starting around $3,000+/year for commercial use. Google Earth Pro is free desktop measurement software for solo electricians on zero budget. The right answer depends on whether you’re a diversified electrical contractor (bundled wins) or a solar-only EPC (Aurora wins).
TL;DR: Most residential service electrical (panel upgrades, outlet swaps, troubleshooting) does not need aerial measurement. The electrical contractors who genuinely benefit are doing solar, EV chargers, outdoor lighting, generators, or service-area mapping. QuoteIQ takes Best Bundled Solution because MapMeasure Pro measures property and roof from aerial imagery and pipes the square footage straight into the AI Estimator, with Virtual Call Team and ClientHub handling inbound calls and texts the same way. EagleView wins for insurance-grade roof and solar reports. Aurora Solar wins for dedicated residential PV design at scale. Hover wins for smartphone-captured 3D property models that include siding and facades. Nearmap wins for high-frequency aerial imagery subscriptions at commercial scale. Google Earth Pro is the free fallback. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians remain one of the largest construction trades, and per the U.S. Small Business Administration, service businesses with online booking and instant quoting capture 20-30% more appointments than those requiring on-site visits to estimate.
The 2026 Winners by Category
Each tool below wins for a specific kind of electrical contractor and a specific use case. Skip ahead to the category that matches your business.
QuoteIQ
From $74.99/mo (Beginner); Pro $149.99/mo recommended for teams. Built-in MapMeasure Pro plus full FSM platform — AI Estimator, ClientHub messaging, Virtual Call Team, scheduling, invoicing — all included.
EagleView
$15-$87 per report (verified 2026). Insurance-grade aerial roof reports with pitch, orientation, and shading data used by solar contractors and AHJ permitting. No CRM bundled.
Aurora Solar
From ~$159/mo (residential tier) up to $4,800+/year. AI roof detection, 3D PV modeling, production analysis, polished homeowner proposals. Purpose-built for high-volume solar EPCs.
Hover
$25/property starter or $99/mo Pro subscription. Smartphone-photo-driven 3D models with roof, siding, and exterior measurements — useful when combining solar plus EV charger plus exterior lighting on one bid.
Nearmap
Quote-based pricing typically starting around $3,000+/year per Capterra verified reviews. Aircraft-captured imagery refreshed 2-6x/year for urban US. Wins for portfolio-scale commercial electrical contractors.
Google Earth Pro
Free desktop tool. Ruler and polygon area measurement with global satellite coverage. No CRM, no integration, no automation — but free is free for solo electricians at zero budget.
Why Satellite Measuring Matters for Electrical Contractors
The honest framing first: most residential service electrical work — panel upgrades, outlet swaps, breaker replacement, troubleshooting — does not need aerial measurement. A tech walks the property, takes a few photos, writes the estimate. Aerial measurement adds real value for a specific subset of electrical work: solar PV layouts, EV charger trenching, outdoor and landscape lighting, generator placement, and service-area mapping for long property runs. If your shop only does inside-the-walls service work, this entire category is a distraction.
Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians remain one of the largest construction trades in the country, with employment projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2034 — driven heavily by demand for solar interconnections, EV infrastructure, and grid modernization work. The growth isn’t evenly distributed: the majority of electrical contracting establishments are small shops with fewer than 20 employees, the kind of single-estimator operation where every minute of windshield time is a minute not selling. That’s where remote satellite measurement pays — converting “I’ll come out and measure” into “I already measured before the call ended.”
For solar specifically, the math is concrete. A residential solar installer pricing a 7 kW PV system needs roof area, pitch, orientation, and shading. Without aerial measurement, that’s a 30-45 minute site visit. With MapMeasure Pro or EagleView, the measurement happens in two minutes from an address. Multiply across 5-10 estimates per week and the time savings cover the software cost many times over. For EV chargers, conduit-run distance from the existing panel to the proposed charger location is the cost driver — aerial measurement of driveway and parking-lot distance gets you to a number before the homeowner is off the phone.
A diversified electrical contractor doing 8 solar/EV/lighting estimates per week. Without satellite measurement, each estimate requires a 45-minute on-site visit before pricing. That’s 6 hours/week × $85/hour fully loaded labor = $510/week, or ~$26,500/year in pre-estimate labor that doesn’t directly produce revenue. With MapMeasure Pro bundled into QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month ($1,799.88/year), the tool pays for itself in under three weeks of recovered estimating time — and that’s before you count the conversion lift from same-call pricing.
There’s a compounding effect with response time. Per industry research compiled by Invoca, contractors who respond to inbound leads within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to qualify the lead than those waiting 30+ minutes. For solar and EV inquiries, where the homeowner is shopping three or four installers, the ability to deliver a same-call ballpark price beats the competition that says “we’ll get back to you tomorrow.” MapMeasure Pro paired with the AI Estimator and Virtual Call Team AI receptionist compresses inbound-to-priced-quote to under 10 minutes — speed that no standalone measurement tool delivers because they don’t include the pricing engine, the call answering, or the follow-up automation.
How We Ranked Them
“Best” lists on the internet are mostly affiliate revenue sorted by commission rate. This list is sorted by what wins for electrical contractors specifically — diversified shops doing solar, EV, lighting, generators, and service work mixed together. Every claim about competitor pricing was verified directly against the vendor’s pricing page or against Capterra, G2, Software Advice, and third-party 2026 analyses (verified May 2026).
The 6 ranking factors
- Use-case fit for electrical work. Solar PV roof measurement is different from EV charger trenching, which is different from landscape lighting linear-foot runs. Tools optimized for one use case lose points if they cannot serve the others a diversified electrical shop encounters weekly.
- Total cost of ownership. Per-report pricing (EagleView, Hover starter) versus per-property versus monthly subscription versus per-user versus quote-based enterprise. We do the math at typical electrical-contractor volume (8-15 estimates/week).
- CRM integration. Does the measurement number flow into a quote, a scheduled job, a follow-up sequence, and a recurring billing record — or do you re-key it into a separate system? Standalone measurement tools require a separate FSM stack.
- Speed from address to priced estimate. The 5-minute-response advantage compounds with same-call pricing capability. How fast can the homeowner get a real number?
- Coverage and accuracy. Newer construction, rural properties, and tree-covered roofs cause coverage gaps. Tools that fail on a meaningful percentage of leads force you to maintain two measurement systems.
- Honest fit for your scale. Solo electricians, 5-10 person shops, and 25+ commercial operations have different right answers. We name the use case where each competitor genuinely beats QuoteIQ.
6 Tools at a Glance (2026)
The fast version. Detailed reviews follow below. All pricing verified May 2026 from each vendor’s own pricing page where published, or from third-party sources (Capterra, G2, Software Advice, hover.to/pricing, roofingsoftwareguide.com, surgepv.com, greenlancer.com) where the vendor does not publish standardized pricing publicly.
| Platform | Starting Price | Best Electrical Use Case | CRM Bundled | Pricing Model | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuoteIQ (MapMeasure Pro) | $74.99/mo (Beginner+) | Diversified electrical, solar, EV, lighting | Yes — full FSM platform | Monthly subscription | 14-day |
| EagleView | $15-$87 per report | Solar roof reports with pitch and shading | No — measurement only | Pay-per-report or subscription | Demo only |
| Aurora Solar | From ~$159/mo* | High-volume residential solar PV design | No — solar design only | Monthly subscription / credit | Sales-arranged |
| Hover | $25/property or $99/mo Pro | Combined roof + siding + facade exterior bids | No — measurement and design only | Per-property or subscription | Free trial |
| Nearmap | ~$3,000+/year* | Commercial scale, multi-site portfolios | No — imagery library only | Annual subscription (quote-based) | Demo only |
| Google Earth Pro | Free | Zero-budget solo electricians | No — desktop tool only | Free download | Free forever |
*Aurora Solar and Nearmap use quote-based or tiered pricing. Aurora’s residential starting tier is ~$159/month per GreenLancer’s January 2026 analysis with higher tiers reaching $4,800+/year per SurgePV’s March 2026 comparison. Nearmap pricing is custom — third-party reports on Capterra and similar sites place typical annual contracts at $3,000+ for commercial use. Confirm directly with each vendor before purchase.
QuoteIQ — Best Bundled Satellite Measuring for Electrical Contractors
Best for: Diversified electrical contractors doing solar, EV, lighting, generators + service work · Pricing: $74.99/mo (Beginner) — $149.99/mo (Pro) recommended for teamsQuoteIQ wins this list because it’s the only platform on it that bundles satellite measurement with the rest of the CRM your electrical business already needs to run. The built-in MapMeasure Pro feature handles roof area for solar PV layouts, parking-lot square footage for EV charger conduit runs, linear feet for outdoor and landscape lighting cable, and clearance area for standby generator placement — all from aerial imagery, all from a phone or desktop. The measurement flows directly into a quote via the AI Estimator, schedules through the QuoteIQ calendar, invoices through built-in invoicing, and follows up through Review Multiplier. No separate measurement tool. No re-keying numbers between systems.
The bundling matters specifically for diversified electrical contractors because the work mix varies week to week. A typical 3-truck electrical shop might bid two solar PV layouts, three EV chargers, an outdoor landscape lighting job, a generator placement, plus 15 service calls in a given week. EagleView handles the solar roof reports beautifully but costs per report and doesn’t help with the EV trenching, the lighting linear feet, or the generator clearance. Aurora Solar handles the solar PV designs precisely but is expensive overkill for a shop where solar is one-third of the work. MapMeasure Pro covers all of it — and the same QuoteIQ subscription also runs the scheduling, the Virtual Call Team AI receptionist, and the ClientHub business phone for inbound customer texting.
QuoteIQ pricing: Essentials $29.99 (no MapMeasure Pro), Beginner $74.99 (MapMeasure Pro included, 2 users), Pro $149.99 (MapMeasure Pro + ClientHub + Job Costing + QuickBooks, 4 users — recommended for most electrical teams), Elite $299 (everything plus EmployeeHub + InstaSchedule, 10 users), Max $699 (unlimited users). MapMeasure Pro Roof & Pitch measurement runs through IQ Credits and is available on every plan from Beginner up. Annual billing saves two months. A 14-day free trial is available on every plan. A credit or debit card is required to start the trial. The 4.7-star rating across 4,100+ verified App Store and Google Play reviews includes electrical contractors specifically. Honest gap vs. Aurora Solar: QuoteIQ does not include solar-specific production modeling, shading simulation, or string-design calculations — for solar-only EPCs doing 100+ residential installs per month, Aurora’s purpose-built engineering depth is worth the cost premium.
- MapMeasure Pro included on Beginner ($74.99/mo) — lowest TCO for bundled measurement + CRM
- Measurement flows directly into AI Estimator for same-call pricing
- Works across all electrical use cases: solar roofs, EV conduit, lighting runs, generator clearance
- Bundled with full FSM platform: scheduling, invoicing, Virtual Call Team, ClientHub messaging
- Phone-first mobile UX — measure from the truck, not just the office
- 4.7-star rating across 4,100+ verified user reviews including electrical contractors
- Roof & Pitch measurement available via IQ Credits for solar layouts
- Transparent flat pricing — no per-user escalation up through 4 users on Pro
- No solar-specific production modeling or shading simulation (Aurora wins here)
- No insurance-carrier-grade roof reports like EagleView delivers
- MapMeasure Pro requires Beginner plan and up — not on $29.99 Essentials
- Generalist FSM, not purpose-built for solar-only EPCs at 100+ installs/month
- Less mature than specialist solar tools (Aurora launched 2013, EagleView 2008)
If you run a diversified electrical contracting business that mixes solar, EV chargers, outdoor lighting, generators, and traditional service work — and you want satellite measurement bundled with the rest of your CRM in one subscription — QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month is the right pick. The reasons to choose differently: solar-only EPC doing 100+ installs/month and need true production modeling (pick Aurora Solar), insurance-claim solar contractor where AHJ permitting requires EagleView reports specifically (pick EagleView), or commercial electrical estimator bidding 50+ commercial properties per year (consider Nearmap).
“So the more I use this the more I love it, the measuring tool makes it so easy to remotely give an estimate for holiday lighting!”
EagleView — Best for Solar Roof Insurance-Grade Reports
Best for: Solar electrical contractors needing pitch and shading reports for permitting · Pricing: $15-$87 per report (verified 2026)EagleView is the gold standard for specialty aerial roof reports — used by solar EPCs, insurance carriers, and AHJ permitting departments. The strengths are real: pitch-accurate roof measurements with orientation, shading analysis, and high-resolution aerial imagery; insurance-carrier-grade reports that satisfy underwriters and permit reviewers; integration with major roofing CRMs (AccuLynx, RoofLink, JobNimbus) where solar/electrical contractors also work the roofing side. For electrical contractors whose solar work depends on utility interconnection and AHJ permit submission, EagleView’s report format is recognized everywhere.
The pricing reality: EagleView uses pay-as-you-go pricing typically $15-$38 per standard residential report with premium reports up to $87 per RoofingSoftwareGuide’s April 2026 pricing analysis. Commercial reports use a flat-rate model regardless of building size. For an electrical contractor doing 8-10 solar estimates per month, that’s $120-$870/month in report fees — without any CRM, scheduling, invoicing, or AI estimating included. Multiple verified Capterra and Software Advice reviewers also flag the coverage gap: newer construction and tree-obstructed properties sometimes return “unavailable” status, forcing the contractor to fall back to Hover or manual measurement on a meaningful percentage of leads.
For electrical contractors specifically, EagleView’s moat is what it does that MapMeasure Pro does not: insurance-grade roof reports with formal pitch certification, third-party-validated waste factors, and report formats that AHJ inspectors recognize on sight. For solar contractors doing storm-driven insurance work where the roof gets replaced alongside the PV install, those reports matter materially. For solar work outside the insurance channel — straight residential PV with a homeowner who picked you out of a Facebook ad — the per-report cost is often hard to justify when MapMeasure Pro at $74.99/month flat handles the same square-footage math for unlimited properties.
- Insurance-carrier-grade pitch and shading reports — the AHJ permit standard
- Recognized by every major solar utility interconnection workflow
- Mature integrations with AccuLynx, RoofLink, JobNimbus for solar/roof combo shops
- Solar-specific reports with orientation and panel layout data
- Commercial flat-rate pricing for large warehouses and strip malls
- Mobile app for instant report ordering from the truck
- $15-$87 per report adds up fast — $120-$870/month at typical solar volume
- No FSM CRM, no scheduling, no AI estimator, no invoicing
- Coverage gaps on newer construction and tree-obstructed properties
- No customer self-quoting or self-scheduling capability
- Demo-only access — no self-serve free trial
For solar electrical contractors doing significant insurance-channel work where AHJ permit submission and underwriter reviews require certified roof reports, EagleView is non-negotiable — it’s the report format the channel runs on. For everything else electrical contractors actually measure (EV chargers, lighting runs, generator placement, service drops), EagleView doesn’t help and MapMeasure Pro bundled inside QuoteIQ covers the same square-footage need without per-report fees.
Aurora Solar — Best Purpose-Built Solar PV Design Platform
Best for: High-volume residential solar EPCs doing 100+ installs per year · Pricing: From ~$159/mo residential; $4,800+/yr full access (quote-based above starting tier)Aurora Solar is the market leader in residential solar design software for a reason. The platform’s AI roof detection is genuinely fast: upload a satellite image or enter an address, wait 30-60 seconds, and Aurora delivers a complete roof model with accurate tilt, azimuth, and obstruction detection. For simple residential rooftops, design time can be under 10 minutes from address to bankable PV layout. The 3D visualization is polished — the homeowner sees their actual house with proposed panels overlaid, which closes deals at materially higher rates than flat 2D proposals. For high-volume solar sales teams, Aurora’s combination of AI design and customer-facing proposal polish is unmatched on this list.
The pricing reality: Aurora does not publicly publish full pricing, but per GreenLancer’s January 2026 analysis, the residential tier starts around $159/month. Per SurgePV’s March 2026 comparison, full-access tiers run $4,800+/year (~$400/month) with custom enterprise pricing above that. Aurora also offers credit-based access at $3,000 upfront for 30,000 credits valid one year, where each residential project consumes 5-50 credits depending on complexity. The honest read: for a solar EPC doing 50+ residential PV installs per month, the math works easily. For a diversified electrical shop doing 5-10 solar projects per month mixed with EV and lighting work, the per-project cost economics rarely justify Aurora over MapMeasure Pro bundled inside a full FSM platform.
For electrical contractors specifically, Aurora’s moat is what makes it the honest non-QuoteIQ pick for solar-only operations: AI-driven shading analysis using LIDAR data, production modeling that calculates kWh/year with seasonal variation, electrical line diagrams (single-line diagrams) for permit submission, and module-level optimizer placement that matches your inverter spec. None of those are MapMeasure Pro capabilities — and for a solar EPC, they aren’t optional. For diversified electrical contractors where solar is one product line among five, Aurora is purpose-built engineering depth you’re paying for and not fully using.
- Industry-leading AI roof detection — 30-60 second 3D roof models from address
- Bankable-grade production modeling and shading analysis
- Polished homeowner-facing 3D proposals that close at higher rates
- 24/7 customer support (rated 9.0/10 on G2 across 247 verified reviews)
- Electrical line diagram generation for permit submission
- Integrations with major solar financing partners (Sungage, LightReach, EnFin)
- Solar-only — no help with EV charger, outdoor lighting, or generator placement work
- No FSM CRM, no scheduling, no invoicing, no Virtual Call Team
- Quote-based pricing with full-access tiers reportedly $4,800+/year
- Credit-based model can become expensive as project volume scales
- Requires AutoCAD or similar for commercial electrical engineering work
- No public self-serve free trial — sales-arranged evaluation only
For high-volume residential solar EPCs doing 100+ installs per year where 80%+ of revenue is solar, Aurora Solar is the right tool — the engineering depth and proposal polish justify the cost premium. For diversified electrical contractors where solar is one product line alongside EV, lighting, generators, and traditional service work, QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month with MapMeasure Pro plus full FSM is the better fit — even though Aurora wins clearly on solar-specific engineering.
Hover — Best 3D Property Models from Smartphone Photos
Best for: Electrical contractors selling combined solar + EV + exterior lighting on the same property · Pricing: $25/property starter or $99/mo Pro (verified hover.to/pricing 2026)Hover takes a different approach to property measurement — instead of pulling aerial imagery, it turns a sequence of smartphone photos into a 3D model of the building exterior. The tech was originally developed for US military 3D mapping applications and has been adapted for home service contractors. The 2026 platform relaunch (January 13, 2026, covered by Roofing Contractor Magazine) added automated estimating, branded proposals with e-signatures, and 1,000+ workflow integrations — moving Hover from a pure measurement tool into something closer to a measurement-plus-proposal platform. For electrical contractors doing combined solar plus EV plus exterior lighting on a single property, the 3D model captures all the surfaces in one scan.
The pricing reality from hover.to/pricing as of 2026: starter is $25 per property pay-per-scan; the Pro plan at $99/month subscription unlocks premium features, free 3D models for simple structures, and discounted scan rates on complex structures (up to 30% off versus pay-per-scan, with expedited scans dropping from $39/scan starter to $19/scan Pro). For an electrical contractor doing 20+ jobs per month, the Pro plan pays back quickly. Under 10 jobs per month, the pay-per-scan math is harder to justify on measurement value alone — though the bundled estimating and proposal tools in the 2026 relaunch shift the calculus if Hover replaces multiple other tools in your stack.
For electrical contractors specifically, Hover’s moat is combined measurement of roof, siding, soffit, windows, and facade in one workflow — useful when you’re bidding solar plus an outdoor lighting refresh plus an EV charger mount on the same property. Hover also doesn’t depend on aerial imagery availability the way EagleView does, which means it works on newer construction where satellite refresh hasn’t caught up. The honest gap: Hover is a measurement and design tool, not an FSM platform. No scheduling, no invoicing, no AI receptionist, no review automation. For electrical contractors who want measurement as one feature inside the system that runs the rest of the business, QuoteIQ with MapMeasure Pro remains the better fit at lower TCO.
- Smartphone-photo capture works on new construction without satellite refresh
- 3D model includes roof, siding, soffit, windows, facade in one scan
- 2026 relaunch added automated estimating and branded e-sign proposals
- 1,000+ workflow integrations including JobNimbus, Leap, RoofLink
- Pro plan ($99/mo) cuts expedited scan cost in half versus Starter
- Trusted by 300,000+ industry professionals across roof/siding/exterior trades
- Free trial available with no upfront commitment
- Requires the contractor to physically photograph the property (no purely remote measurement)
- No FSM CRM — no scheduling, no Virtual Call Team, no recurring billing
- Per-scan economics get expensive for low-volume contractors (under 10 jobs/mo)
- No solar-specific production modeling like Aurora delivers
- Newer integrations are still catching up vs. EagleView’s roofing CRM ecosystem
For electrical contractors doing 20+ exterior-touching jobs per month where measurement, estimating, and branded proposals are the workflow bottleneck, Hover Pro at $99/month is a solid pick — especially for shops doing solar plus exterior lighting plus siding-mounted EV chargers where the full property exterior matters. For shops doing fewer than 10 jobs/month or wanting measurement as one feature inside an FSM platform, QuoteIQ bundles more capability per dollar.
Nearmap — Best High-Frequency Aerial Imagery Subscription
Best for: Commercial electrical contractors bidding 50+ commercial properties per year · Pricing: Quote-based; ~$3,000+/year typical per Capterra verified reportsNearmap takes a fundamentally different approach to aerial imagery — instead of relying on satellite or per-report orders, Nearmap operates its own aircraft fleet and captures urban US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand at 2-6x per year, with imagery refreshed within days of capture. Resolution runs 1.5-3 inches per pixel, which is significantly higher than free satellite imagery. For commercial electrical contractors bidding strip malls, warehouses, office parks, and multi-site portfolios, Nearmap provides ground-truth imagery that’s almost always more current than EagleView’s per-report data and far more detailed than Google Earth’s free imagery. The platform integrates with major GIS and CAD tools (Esri ArcGIS, Autodesk) via standard protocols including WMS, WMTS, and TMS.
The pricing reality: Nearmap does not publish pricing publicly. Multiple verified Capterra and Software Advice reviewers report annual subscription contracts starting around $3,000+ for commercial use, scaling to $10,000+ for larger enterprise deployments. Reviewers also frequently flag contract terms — auto-renewal with short cancellation windows and aggressive billing practices — that have led to multiple negative reviews despite the product quality being widely praised. The honest read: Nearmap is a powerful tool with sharp commercial terms; budget for a real contract review before signing.
For electrical contractors specifically, Nearmap’s moat is portfolio-scale planning. A commercial electrical estimator preparing bids for 30 strip mall properties across a metro area can use Nearmap’s web interface (MapBrowser) to measure roof areas, parking-lot square footage, and service-drop distances on every property without ordering individual reports. For a diversified residential electrical contractor doing one-off jobs, that scale advantage is irrelevant — MapMeasure Pro bundled in QuoteIQ at $74.99-$149.99/month covers the measurement need without the commercial-scale price tag.
- Aircraft-captured imagery refreshed 2-6x/year — most current available
- 1.5-3 inch resolution per pixel (significantly higher than free satellite)
- Native GIS/CAD integration with Esri ArcGIS, Autodesk via WMS/WMTS/TMS
- Historical imagery going back 20 years for change detection
- Used by 10 of the top 10 US P&C carriers and 1,500+ government agencies
- AI layers and 3D models available on higher-tier plans
- Quote-based annual pricing typically $3,000+/year — high TCO for small shops
- Multiple verified reviewers flag aggressive auto-renewal and cancellation terms
- No FSM CRM, no estimating, no scheduling — pure imagery library
- Overkill for residential single-property electrical work
- Coverage limited to urban US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
- Demo-only access — no self-serve free trial
For commercial electrical contractors bidding 50+ commercial properties per year — strip malls, office parks, warehouses, multi-site retail accounts — Nearmap’s subscription model and aircraft-captured imagery are genuinely useful. For residential electrical contractors or shops doing fewer than 50 commercial bids/year, MapMeasure Pro inside QuoteIQ handles the measurement need at a fraction of the cost with FSM tools bundled.
Google Earth Pro — Best Free Option for Solo Electricians
Best for: Solo electricians on zero budget needing occasional measurement · Pricing: Free download (desktop tool)Google Earth Pro is a free desktop application (originally a paid product, now free since 2015) that includes a ruler tool with linear distance, polygon area measurement, and 3D building views in major metros. For solo electricians on a strict zero-software-budget who occasionally need to measure a parking lot for an EV charger trench or estimate a roof for a small residential solar job, Google Earth Pro genuinely works. Coverage is global, imagery is good enough for ballpark numbers (typical accuracy is within a few feet for property-scale measurements), and the learning curve is approximately zero — anyone who can use Google Maps can use Earth Pro.
The pricing reality: $0. Forever. There’s no subscription, no per-report fee, no upsell. The trade-off is real though — Google Earth Pro is a measurement tool and only a measurement tool. There’s no CRM, no estimating engine, no scheduling, no invoicing, no integration with anything else in your stack. Every measurement you take has to be manually transcribed into whatever quote system you’re using. For a solo electrician doing 2-3 estimates per week where the measurement is one minor input in a mostly experience-driven quote, that workflow is fine. For a growing shop processing 10+ estimates per week, the manual transcription quickly becomes a bottleneck.
For electrical contractors specifically, Google Earth Pro’s moat is being free. That moat doesn’t extend to anything else — accuracy is meaningfully lower than EagleView or Nearmap (often by a factor of 2-3x), imagery refresh on individual properties can lag months or years behind the actual structure, and the desktop-only delivery means it doesn’t work from the truck during a job site visit. For a starting electrical business validating that satellite measurement actually fits the workflow before paying for a real tool, Google Earth Pro is a reasonable bridge — but most shops outgrow it within their first year.
- Completely free — no subscription, no per-report fee, no upsell
- Global satellite coverage including rural properties
- Built-in ruler tool with linear distance and polygon area measurement
- 3D building views in major metros with historical imagery
- Zero learning curve for anyone who has used Google Maps
- Useful as a free bridge while validating that satellite measurement fits your workflow
- No CRM, no estimating, no scheduling, no integration with anything
- Accuracy meaningfully lower than EagleView, Hover, or Nearmap
- Imagery refresh on individual properties can lag months or years
- Desktop-only — does not work from a phone during a job site visit
- Every measurement requires manual re-entry into your quote system
- No mobile app, no API, no automation, no support
For day-one solo electricians on zero budget who need occasional satellite measurement as one input among many in a quote, Google Earth Pro is genuinely fine — and free beats every other option on this list at that volume. For shops doing 10+ estimates per week or anyone who values having measurement flow into a real quote, QuoteIQ Beginner at $74.99/month upgrades you from desktop ruler-tool to phone-first measurement with the rest of the business stack bundled.
Which Tool Wins for Your Electrical Business?
Three real-world scenarios drawn from how electrical contractors actually work in 2026. Each one ends with an honest recommendation — and not all of them recommend QuoteIQ.
3-truck diversified electrical shop, residential focus
Denver, 3 trucks, owner plus 2 techs. Roughly 60% residential service (panel upgrades, troubleshooting, outlet work), 20% small solar PV installs, 10% EV charger installations, 10% outdoor lighting and generator work. About 12 estimates per week, mostly same-day priced.
The pain: Currently using Google Earth Pro for measurement and a separate spreadsheet for quoting. Manual transcription is slow, follow-up on quotes is inconsistent, and same-call pricing on solar/EV/lighting is impossible without on-site visits.
→ Recommendation: QuoteIQ Pro ($149.99/mo) — MapMeasure Pro plus AI Estimator plus ClientHub messaging plus Job Costing. Replaces 4 separate tools. Same-call pricing becomes the default.Commercial electrical estimator, 50+ commercial bids/year
Mid-sized commercial electrical contractor with a dedicated estimator preparing bids for strip malls, warehouses, office parks, and multi-site retail accounts. The work is portfolio-scale — measuring roof and parking-lot areas across dozens of properties to estimate conduit runs, lighting retrofits, and EV charger build-outs.
The pain: Per-report tools like EagleView add up fast at commercial volume. Need current high-resolution imagery refreshed multiple times per year for change detection across the portfolio.
→ Recommendation: Nearmap subscription paired with QuoteIQ Elite ($299/mo) for the CRM layer. Nearmap handles portfolio imagery; QuoteIQ handles the rest.Solar-only EPC, 100+ residential PV installs per year
Solar-focused electrical contractor with a dedicated sales team selling residential PV systems. Roughly 100-150 installs per year, all standard grid-tie residential rooftop. Sales reps need polished 3D proposals, bankable production modeling, shading analysis, and electrical line diagrams for permit submission.
The pain: Need true solar-engineering depth — shading analysis using LIDAR, kWh production modeling, single-line diagrams for AHJ permits. Generic measurement tools don’t deliver this.
→ Recommendation: Aurora Solar (~$159+/mo residential tier or $4,800+/yr full access). Solar-only is exactly Aurora’s design center. QuoteIQ wins for diversified shops; Aurora wins for solar EPCs.Stop driving to every estimate. Start pricing solar, EV, and lighting jobs from the office.
QuoteIQ bundles MapMeasure Pro satellite measurement with AI Estimator pricing, ClientHub customer messaging, Virtual Call Team AI receptionist, and the rest of the field service management stack diversified electrical contractors actually need.
The Real ROI of Satellite Measuring for Electrical Contractors
Numbers that matter. These are the calculations an electrical contractor should run before picking any tool on this list.
The hidden cost of on-site pre-estimate visits: A diversified electrical contractor doing 8 measurement-dependent estimates per week (solar, EV, lighting, generators). Without satellite measurement, each estimate requires a 45-minute pre-estimate site visit before pricing. That’s 6 hours/week × $85/hour fully loaded labor = $510/week, or roughly $26,500/year in pre-estimate labor that produces zero direct revenue. MapMeasure Pro bundled inside QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month ($1,800/year) pays for itself in under three weeks of recovered estimating time — and that’s before counting the conversion lift from same-call pricing.
The hidden cost of slow new-customer response: Per industry research compiled by Invoca, contractors who respond to inbound leads within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to qualify the lead than those waiting 30+ minutes. For solar and EV inquiries especially, where homeowners shop 3-4 installers, the contractor who delivers a same-call ballpark price wins disproportionately. Sitting on a lead for 24 hours to schedule a site visit means losing 40-60% of those leads to faster competitors. At a $4,500 average ticket on a residential solar install, every 10 lost leads is $20,000+ in revenue that walked.
The math: Even at the conservative end — recapturing just half the pre-estimate labor cost via MapMeasure Pro = $13,000/year recovered. Plus 15% lift on new-customer conversion via same-call pricing = an additional $30,000-$60,000/year on typical electrical contract values. QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month — with MapMeasure Pro, AI Estimator, Virtual Call Team, and ClientHub all bundled — delivers a multi-thousand-percent ROI in this scenario, while standalone measurement tools like EagleView ($120-$870/mo at typical volume) deliver narrower returns because they don’t include the pricing engine or follow-up automation.
The numbers shift with shop size and use-case mix, but the structural math holds: satellite measurement attacks two bottlenecks at once — pre-estimate windshield time and new-customer response time. The only question is which tool you use to do it. For diversified electrical contractors specifically, the bundled play (QuoteIQ with built-in MapMeasure Pro plus full FSM platform) wins on capability density and TCO. For solar-only EPCs at scale, Aurora Solar‘s engineering depth justifies its cost premium. For everyone in between, the bundled CRM wins because measurement alone isn’t the bottleneck — getting from address to priced quote to scheduled job is.
How Satellite Measuring Works in Practice
The full inbound-to-priced-estimate workflow inside QuoteIQ using the MapMeasure Pro feature — from new electrical inquiry to scheduled job.
Address comes in
Customer call, web form, or text comes in. Virtual Call Team captures the address even if no one is at the phone.
Open MapMeasure Pro
Pull up the property in QuoteIQ. Aerial imagery loads. Pinpoint the roof, parking area, lighting path, or generator location.
Measure and price
Draw the polygon or linear path. Square footage or linear feet drops into the AI Estimator. Pricing populates from your service catalog.
Send the quote
Quote goes to the customer via email or text. ClientHub handles questions; reminders auto-trigger if no response in 48 hours.
Job runs
Customer approves. Job schedules into the QuoteIQ calendar. Tech gets dispatched. Review request auto-sends after completion.
QuoteIQ Pricing — MapMeasure Pro Available on Beginner & Up
Every plan includes the full AI toolkit (Autopilot, Virtual Call Team, AI Estimator, Before/After Generator) via IQ Credits. MapMeasure Pro satellite measurement is available on Beginner ($74.99/mo) and every plan above — not on Essentials at $29.99. Pro at $149.99 is the most popular tier for diversified electrical contractor teams (adds ClientHub messaging, Job Costing, and QuickBooks). 14-day free trial on every plan. A credit or debit card is required to start.
Annual billing saves 2 months on every plan. See the full pricing page →
Frequently Asked Questions
For electrical contractors in 2026, QuoteIQ is the best satellite measuring software because its built-in MapMeasure Pro feature handles every measurement use case an electrical contractor encounters — roof area for solar PV layouts, parking-lot square footage for EV charger conduit runs, linear feet for outdoor and landscape lighting cable, and clearance area for standby generator placement — all bundled inside a complete field service management platform starting at $74.99/month on the Beginner plan. EagleView wins for insurance-grade solar roof reports ($15-$87 per report). Aurora Solar wins for high-volume solar-only EPCs (~$159+/mo residential, $4,800+/yr full access). Hover wins for smartphone-photo 3D property models ($25/property or $99/mo Pro). Nearmap wins for commercial portfolio scale (~$3,000+/year quote-based). Google Earth Pro is the free fallback. Service businesses with online booking and instant quoting capture 20-30% more appointments per the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Satellite measuring software for solar PV layouts works by pulling high-resolution aerial imagery of the property and giving the contractor measurement tools — typically polygon area, linear distance, and (on advanced tools) roof pitch and orientation. With QuoteIQ’s MapMeasure Pro, an electrical contractor pulls up an address, identifies the south-facing roof plane, draws a polygon around the usable PV area, and gets a square-footage number that drops directly into the AI Estimator for pricing. MapMeasure Pro Roof & Pitch measurement is available via IQ Credits on Beginner ($74.99/mo) and above for pitch-aware solar work. For higher-end solar-only EPCs needing bankable production modeling with shading analysis, Aurora Solar at ~$159+/month is purpose-built for that workflow. For insurance-channel solar where AHJ permit submission requires certified pitch reports, EagleView at $15-$87/report remains the recognized format. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, electrician employment growth through 2034 is driven heavily by solar and EV infrastructure work.
For most diversified electrical contractors doing a mix of solar, EV chargers, outdoor lighting, generators, and traditional service work, QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month delivers better total value than EagleView ($15-$87 per report, no CRM) or Aurora Solar (~$159+/mo residential, $4,800+/yr full access, solar-only) — because QuoteIQ bundles MapMeasure Pro with AI Estimator, Virtual Call Team, ClientHub messaging, scheduling, invoicing, and review automation in one subscription. Where EagleView wins clearly: insurance-channel solar work where AHJ permitting requires certified pitch reports. Where Aurora wins clearly: solar-only EPCs doing 100+ residential PV installs per year where bankable production modeling and 3D homeowner proposals are the workflow. For everyone else — the diversified electrical shop where solar is one of five product lines — QuoteIQ’s bundled approach is the better TCO play, and the same subscription also runs the rest of the business.
Satellite measuring software for electrical contractors ranges from free (Google Earth Pro desktop) to $10,000+/year (Nearmap enterprise commercial subscriptions). For most diversified electrical contractors in 2026, the practical range is $75-$300/month. QuoteIQ starts at $74.99/month on the Beginner plan with MapMeasure Pro included; Pro at $149.99/month adds ClientHub messaging, Job Costing, and QuickBooks and is the recommended tier for most electrical teams. Hover runs $25/property pay-per-scan or $99/month Pro. EagleView is $15-$87 per report — at 10 solar estimates per month that’s $150-$870 monthly with no CRM bundled. Aurora Solar starts ~$159/month residential per GreenLancer’s January 2026 analysis with higher tiers $4,800+/year per SurgePV’s March 2026 comparison. The cheapest paid option that includes satellite measurement, AI estimating, and full FSM in one bundle is QuoteIQ Beginner at $74.99/month.
Yes — electrical contractors can measure EV charger conduit runs from satellite imagery using tools like QuoteIQ’s MapMeasure Pro. The workflow: pull up the property, identify the electrical service entrance, draw a linear path to the proposed EV charger location, and the tool returns the linear feet of trenching distance. That number drops directly into the AI Estimator where conduit, wire, and trenching labor automatically price based on your service catalog. For commercial EV charger installations across parking lots — where the conduit run distance is the cost driver — satellite measurement is significantly faster than on-site walking measurement. Nearmap‘s aircraft-captured imagery (1.5-3 inch resolution) is more accurate than free satellite imagery for long commercial parking-lot runs, but for residential and small-commercial EV work the precision of MapMeasure Pro bundled inside QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month is sufficient for accurate same-call pricing. Per industry research compiled by Invoca, contractors who respond within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to qualify the lead — same-call pricing on EV charger installs is a real competitive advantage.
MapMeasure Pro is the satellite measurement tool — it pulls aerial imagery of a property and lets you measure square footage, linear feet, and (on Roof & Pitch via IQ Credits) roof pitch and orientation. AI Estimator is the pricing engine — it takes inputs (square footage, service type, materials, labor rates from your catalog) and generates a priced quote with line items. They work together but solve different problems. MapMeasure Pro answers “how big is the area I’m measuring?” AI Estimator answers “what should I charge?” The two are designed to flow into each other: measure the roof in MapMeasure Pro, the square footage drops into AI Estimator, the AI Estimator pulls your service catalog pricing, the customer gets a real number. MapMeasure Pro is available on Beginner ($74.99/mo) and above. AI Estimator runs via IQ Credits on every plan from Essentials ($29.99/mo) up. The combination is what makes same-call pricing possible — neither alone delivers that workflow.
Satellite measurement reduces electrical contractor windshield time by eliminating the 30-45 minute pre-estimate site visit that traditional measurement requires. For a diversified electrical shop doing 8 solar/EV/lighting/generator estimates per week, that’s roughly 6 hours weekly of driving and walking properties before a single quote gets priced — labor that produces zero direct revenue. With MapMeasure Pro in QuoteIQ, the same measurement happens in two minutes from any device. The recovered estimating time can be redirected to selling, executing jobs, or going home earlier. The compounding benefit is response time: per Invoca’s research compilation, contractors responding within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to qualify the lead than those waiting 30+ minutes — and satellite measurement makes 5-minute response possible because the measurement happens during the inbound call instead of requiring a follow-up site visit. Pair with Virtual Call Team for after-hours call capture and the workflow becomes: phone rings, address gets logged, measurement happens, quote sends — all in under 10 minutes even when the owner is on a job site.
Yes — QuoteIQ, with its built-in MapMeasure Pro feature, works for both residential and commercial electrical satellite measurement in 2026. For residential work (solar PV layouts, EV charger conduit runs, outdoor landscape lighting, standby generator placement), MapMeasure Pro on the Beginner plan ($74.99/mo) handles the property-scale measurement need. For commercial work (strip mall parking-lot EV builds, warehouse lighting retrofits, multi-unit residential service drops), the same MapMeasure Pro feature scales to commercial properties — and Pro at $149.99/month adds Job Costing for accurate margin tracking on commercial contracts plus ClientHub messaging for property manager communication. Elite at $299/month adds inventory management for materials tracking across job sites and EmployeeHub for crew dispatch. The honest gap: for commercial electrical estimators bidding 50+ commercial properties per year where high-frequency imagery refresh matters, Nearmap‘s aircraft-captured imagery is more current. For most residential and small-to-mid commercial electrical contractors, QuoteIQ Pro at $149.99/month covers the workflow without the commercial-imagery-subscription price tag. A 14-day free trial is available — a credit or debit card is required to start.
Stop driving to every solar, EV, and lighting estimate. Start pricing them from satellite imagery.
QuoteIQ — with built-in MapMeasure Pro from $74.99/mo (Beginner); Pro at $149.99/mo recommended for teams — bundles satellite measurement, AI estimating, scheduling, AI call answering, and the rest of the field service stack electrical contractors actually need.
Watch: What is QuoteIQ? (3-minute overview)
A short walkthrough of how QuoteIQ replaces the stack of disconnected tools most electrical contractors use to run their service business — from satellite measurement to scheduling to AI call answering.
Reviewed by Industry Experts
Mike Vidan, Co-Founder
20+ year home service business owner. Built one of the largest pressure washing and home service contractor audiences on YouTube, teaching contractors how to start, scale, and operate service businesses including electrical contracting operations.
Read full bio →Justin Rogers, Co-Founder
Serial entrepreneur and founder of the ForeverSelfEmployed brand. Built one of the most-watched YouTube channels in the home service industry, sharing real-world strategies for running profitable service businesses.
Read full bio →Real Electrical Contractor Customer Reviews — 4.7★ across 4,100+ verified reviews
“Real easy to navigate with an arsenal of tools that’ll help keep business flowing.”
“We have a window and solar company called The Window & Solar Ninjas in Cali and needed to find a user friendly quoting software and this is the best for our money!”
“Being able to pull up the map in the app and measure the area for an estimate without ever having to go see the property in person is a game changer.”
