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For solar installers

The Roof, the Array, the Disconnect, On the Real Lot.

A solar permit package starts with a site plan: the house on the lot, the roof faces the panels go on, and the locations of the inverter, the AC disconnect, the meter and the point of interconnection. Ground mounts add setbacks to the property lines. PlotForge™ loads the recorded lot from the address, drops the house on it, draws the roof's hips, ridges and valleys in one click, and you mark the equipment with pointer notes. A to-scale PDF and a PNG for the portal in minutes.

What does a site plan for a solar permit need to show?

A solar permit site plan shows the property lines with dimensions, the house drawn to scale with its roof planes, the roof faces where the modules are installed, and the locations of the inverter, the AC disconnect, the utility meter and the main panel. A ground-mounted array is drawn at its size with its distances to the property lines. North is shown so the orientation reads.

What the plan reviewer looks for on a solar site plan

The electrical plans are separate; the site plan answers where. The building department and the utility both read it, and they look for the same handful of things:

The lot, dimensioned — the recorded property lines with every side's length, loaded from the address

The house with roof lines — the footprint from public records and, in one click, the hips, valleys and ridges that define the roof faces

The array faces — a note or a labeled zone on each roof plane that carries modules, with the module count and the azimuth

Equipment locations — pointer notes for the inverter, AC disconnect, meter, main panel and the point of interconnection

North arrow and scale — the orientation the utility checks and the scale the building department requires

Ground mounts — the array at its real size as a structure with its setbacks to the property lines labeled

How a solar installer draws the permit site plan

Type the address

The recorded lot loads to scale on the aerial with the owner and parcel number filled in.

Add the house and the roof

One click places the house from records; one more draws the roof lines from the outline. Split the roof for a lower garage or porch.

Mark the array and the equipment

Label the roof faces that carry modules and drop pointer notes for the inverter, disconnect, meter and panel.

Export

The to-scale PDF with north arrow and title block, or a PNG for a permit portal that wants an image. Attach the electrical one-line as its own sheet.

The tools solar installers use

Roof lines on the houseHips, valleys, ridges, gable ends and a split for a lower roof, drawn from the footprint in one click. A drawing aid for the array layout, printed and exported to CAD.How it works → Auto-add existing buildingsThe house from public records in one click, corners draggable onto the roofline on the aerial.How it works → Drafter-style pointer notesDrafter-style pointers for the inverter, the AC disconnect, the meter and the point of interconnection.How it works → Survey-style presentationFive north-arrow styles and a scale bar, so the orientation and the scale both read.How it works → Structure builderA ground-mount array as a rectangle at its size; the setbacks to the property lines label themselves.How it works → PNG in any sheet sizeThe same clean sheet as a PNG in any sheet size for portals that want a picture instead of a PDF.How it works →

Which plan fits a solar installer

Installs every week

Contractor, $199/mo

Twenty permit-ready plans a month, every job saved in your account, the title block filled automatically. Higher-volume plans include team seats for the design desk and the crew; ask us.

A few systems a month

Job Pack, 12 plans for $144

Twelve clean exports at $12 a plan, no subscription, credits that never expire. Compare plans.

Your brand on the sheet

White-Label add-on

Your company logo in the title block of every sheet in place of ours, +$50/mo with Contractor. See White-Label.

▶ Watch the lessonAdd Existing Buildings to a Site Plan in One Click ▶ Watch the lessonLine Up a Building Footprint With the Roof ▶ Watch the lessonAdd Notes and Pointer Arrows to a Site Plan

Solar installers FAQ

Does a rooftop solar system need a site plan?

Nearly every jurisdiction asks for one in the solar permit package, alongside the electrical one-line and the structural information. It shows the house on the lot, the roof faces carrying modules, and the equipment locations the inspector and the utility need to find.

Are the roof lines accurate enough for the array layout?

The roof lines are drawn from the footprint outline as hips, valleys and ridges, and you can split them for a lower garage or porch roof. They are a drawing aid for showing which faces carry modules, not a measured roof survey; module counts and rafter spans come from your design software and your site visit.

Can I show a ground-mounted array?

Yes. Draw the array as a rectangle at its real size and the setbacks to the property lines label themselves, which is what the review of a ground mount turns on. Add the trench run to the house as a dashed line with a note.

Can I export an image for the permit portal?

Yes. The PNG export gives the same clean sheet as an image in any sheet size, for portals and utility interconnection forms that want a picture rather than a PDF.

Can I attach the one-line diagram and the spec sheets?

Yes. Upload the electrical one-line, the module and inverter spec sheets and the structural letter as PDFs or images and each becomes its own title-blocked sheet in one multi-page permit PDF, indexed on the cover sheet.

Is a PlotForge™ site plan a survey?

No. The property lines are the recorded parcel lines from public records, drawn to scale over an aerial photo. That is what most building departments accept for a permit site plan, and it is not a boundary survey or an engineered drawing. If your office requires a sealed survey for this project, PlotForge can trace that recorded survey as the boundary and the sheet prints a notice saying so.

Does it work where I am?

PlotForge™ covers all 50 states and Washington, D.C.; the only exceptions in the country are named on the coverage page. It is also expanding into Canada, starting with select counties in Ontario and Alberta. The most reliable check is free: sign up, type the address, and watch the lot load.

Draw the solar permit site plan in minutes

Load the lot, add the house and the roof lines, mark the equipment, export. Free for 30 days, no credit card required; a clean, permit-ready export is $29.

Start a Solar Site Plan Free → See Every Drawing Tool