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Commercial & industrial solar · Zoho partner · Glendale, CA

Commercial solar software for C&I contractors, with every sign‑off on one project

A warehouse roof has an owner, a facilities manager, a finance team and a utility. Any of them can stop the job, so each gets a line on the record.

Elite Tech Global is a Zoho Advanced Partner with its office in Glendale, next to Los Angeles. For US commercial and industrial solar contractors we set up Zoho so the site walk, the purchase or PPA offer, every approval, the utility application and the progress invoices sit on one project.

Book a 30-minute discovery call Size a sample project
Zoho Advanced PartnerCertified Zoho consultants for C&I solar
You’ll talk to our founders, not a call center.300+ projects · opened in Glendale in 2025
  1. Building ownerRoof lease or consent signed
  2. FacilitiesRoof access and shutdown window set
  3. FinancePPA chosen over cash purchase
  4. UtilityInterconnection application filed

01In one paragraph

What does commercial solar software need to handle?

Four things a homeowner job barely has: several decision makers per deal, a choice of ownership models (cash, loan, lease or PPA), months of engineering and utility work, and progress billing with retention. The same customer often returns with more roofs. In our Zoho setups, each customer is an account, each roof is a project under it, and every approval, document and invoice hangs off that project.

Built for
Commercial rooftop, carport and small ground-mount contractors, plus developers selling to businesses
Core apps
Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, Zoho Sign, Zoho WorkDrive, Zoho Books
Usual scope
Stakeholder roles, offer versions, engineering and utility phases, milestone invoices, handover pack

02Heard from C&I sales and ops teams

Why do C&I solar deals stall between handshake and switch-on?

Because the work passes through more hands than one tracker can follow. Left, what contractors tell us on first calls; right, what the Zoho project does about it.

What we hear

  • “Facilities said yes, then finance wanted a new model.”Only one of four people had approved.
  • “We waited three weeks on a structural letter nobody chased.”No owner, no due date.
  • “The service upgrade came out of nowhere.”The switchgear photo was never reviewed.
  • “Our PPA paperwork lives in someone’s downloads folder.”Term sheet, lease and insurance in three inboxes.
  • “Progress billing gets worked out at month end.”Retention and change orders rebuilt in a spreadsheet.

What changes in Zoho

  • Every decision maker is a role on the deal.Owner, facilities, finance and board each show a status, so “yes” means all of them.
  • Engineering is a phase with owners.The structural review, single-line and plan set are Zoho Projects tasks with dates and reminders.
  • The site walk raises flags.A main panel or switchgear concern on the survey opens a utility task before the offer goes out.
  • One folder per site, one packet per signature.WorkDrive holds the files, Zoho Sign sends each packet in signing order.
  • The schedule of values is on the project.Each milestone becomes a Zoho Books invoice with its retention line already worked out.

03One rooftop project, stage by stage

How does a C&I solar project run in Zoho, from site walk to handover?

Seven stages on a sample warehouse rooftop sold under a PPA. Your stage names and order go into the build. Keep scrolling: the card slides to the next column and collects one more detail.

SampleHandover

Distribution warehouse rooftop

Owner-occupied · PPA · 4 decision makers

  • 12 months of bills, switchgear photos
  • Cash and PPA offers, version 3
  • 4 of 4 sign-offs on file
  • Structural letter in, permit filed
  • Interconnection ID logged
  • Mobilization invoiced, retention held
  • PTO filed, service account open

  1. Stage 1Site walk

    The site walk feeds the opportunity

    Your estimator walks the roof with the facilities manager. A year of bills, roof age, switchgear photos and access notes reach the Zoho CRM opportunity from a Zoho FSM survey form.

    CRMFSM

  2. Stage 2Offer

    Cash and PPA offers side by side

    Each ownership model is its own quote on the same deal, with your design tool’s layout attached. Every revision keeps its date, so nobody presents version two by mistake.

    CRMWorkDrive

  3. Stage 3Sign-offs

    Everyone who can say no, on record

    Owner, facilities, finance and, where needed, a board or landlord each carry a status. The contract packet goes out through Zoho Sign in your counsel’s order, and the stage closes only when every role is green.

    CRMSign

  4. Stage 4Engineering

    Structural letter, plan set and permit

    A signed deal opens a Zoho Projects project from your C&I template: structural review, single-line diagram, plan set and permit submittal, each with an owner and date.

    ProjectsWorkDrive

  5. Stage 5Utility

    Interconnection and any service upgrade

    The application ID, notices, study results and any service upgrade sit on the project. A late reply gives the coordinator a task.

    ProjectsCreator

  6. Stage 6Build

    Materials, crews and progress billing

    Modules, inverters and racking are reserved in Zoho Inventory, crews are scheduled by phase, and each milestone raises its Zoho Books invoice with retention held back.

    InventoryBooks

  7. Stage 7Handover

    Commissioning, PTO and the service file

    Commissioning records, the PTO letter, as-builts and warranties file into the site folder. A Zoho Desk account opens for service, and retention is released once closeout is done.

    DeskBooks

Sample project and details. Your contracts, utility and building department decide the real order and paperwork.

Skip to the apps

04The C&I stack

Which Zoho apps does a commercial solar contractor use?

Zoho CRM for accounts, sites and deals, Zoho Projects for everything after the signature. Sign, WorkDrive and Books join on almost every build; the rest depend on stock, crews and service contracts.

Zoho Projects

Engineering, permit, utility, build and closeout phases with task owners, dependencies and a timeline you can show the customer.

About Zoho Projects →

  • Zoho SignProposals, PPAs and change orders signed in order.
  • Zoho WorkDriveA folder per site: bills, drawings, permits, as-builts.
  • Zoho BooksMilestone invoices, retention and subcontractor bills.
  • Zoho CreatorA utility and permit tracker once you file with many offices at once.
  • Zoho InventoryEquipment reserved per site, serial numbers kept for warranty claims.
  • Zoho FSMSite walks and service visits with photo checklists on a phone.
  • Zoho DeskService requests from customers and monitoring alerts after handover.
  • Zoho AnalyticsBacklog by stage and days waiting on utilities.
  • Zoho OneThe bundle, once most of the company works in Zoho every day.

05Project sizer

What would your C&I setup include?

Describe a typical customer: sites, sign-offs, payment and extras. The sizer lists the Zoho apps, the package and the first things we would build. It is a sample, and nothing is sent unless you choose to.

Sites per customer
Who has to sign off
How the customer pays
Also on the job

One building · 3 sign-offs · PPA

Sample

Package that fitsSingle Site Desk

Zoho apps

  • Zoho CRM
  • Zoho Projects
  • Zoho Sign
  • Zoho WorkDrive
  • Zoho Books

What we would set up first

  1. 3 sign-off roles on every deal
  2. PPA and cash quotes on one deal
  3. A C&I project template
  4. Milestone invoices with retention
Copies this list into the enquiry form below; you still review it and press send yourself.

06Six C&I builds

Which pieces do we set up for C&I solar contractors?

Six pieces that come up on nearly every C&I build, each written into the BRD in your own terms before anything is configured.

  • Approvals

    Stakeholder sign-off board

    Each decision maker has a status and a date, so managers see which deals wait on finance and which on the landlord.

  • Offers

    Ownership-model quote set

    Cash, loan, lease and PPA quotes side by side on one deal, each with its term sheet and revision date.

  • Portfolios

    Account, program and site hierarchy

    A retail chain becomes one account with a program above its sites, so twelve roofs report as one relationship.

  • Delivery

    C&I project template

    Engineering, permit, utility, procurement, build and closeout phases with task owners and dependencies, cloned for every signed site.

  • Billing

    Schedule of values and retention

    Milestones live on the project; Zoho Books raises each invoice, holds retention and tracks change orders.

  • Closeout

    Handover pack and service account

    As-builts, warranties and the PTO letter bundled per site, with a Zoho Desk account ready for the first service call.

07Files, dates and signatures

Can Zoho track net metering, SGIP and tax credit paperwork?

It tracks the paperwork: which documents exist, when they were filed, who signed and what is still missing. It decides nothing about tariffs, incentive eligibility or credit amounts; those belong to the utility, the program and your customer’s advisors.

TopicWhat the Zoho project holdsWho decides
Net metering or net billingThe tariff name, utility letters and the interconnection agreementThe utility and state rules
SGIP or other storage programsYour checklist for the program, with due dates and submitted filesThe program administrator
Federal tax creditsThe documents your customer’s tax advisor asks for, collected and filed per siteThe customer and their tax advisor
Contracts and site leasesSigned versions, signing order and the dates each one starts and endsYour counsel and the customer’s

None of this is legal, tax or engineering advice. Your advisors decide how programs and tariffs apply; we build the fields and reminders they ask for.

08What Zoho charges

How much are Zoho licences for a C&I solar team?

For a sample C&I contractor with ten office users, fifteen people in Zoho Projects and two contract senders, Zoho bills $362 a month for the four core apps on an annual plan.

Zoho’s US list prices, yearly, sales tax extra. If most staff will use Zoho, Zoho One costs $37 per employee covering everyone, or $90 per user on its flexible plan. A Zoho Creator tracker carries its own licence. Configuring all of this is a separate fixed fee from us, set in the BRD once your stages and billing terms are written down.

Monthly Zoho billSample C&I contractor · yearly billingSample

App and planUnit priceMonthly
Zoho CRM Professional × 10$23 / user$230
Zoho Projects Premium × 15$4 / user$60
Zoho Sign Professional × 2$16 / user$32
Zoho Books Professional$40 / org$40
Four core apps$362 / mo

On monthly billing, Zoho CRM Professional is $35 per user and Zoho Projects Premium $5.

09Sized by how you sell

Commercial solar packages, from one roof to a portfolio

Pick the shape of your typical customer. Each package grows into the next without starting over.

  1. One building per deal

    Single Site Desk

    • Accounts, sites and sign-off roles in Zoho CRM
    • Ownership-model quotes and signing packets
    • C&I project template in Zoho Projects
    • Milestone invoices with retention

    One agreed amount in a signed BRD that lists each stage and sign-off role.

  2. Where most C&I teams start

    Several sites per customer

    Portfolio Program

    • Everything in Single Site Desk
    • Program level above the sites, with rollup reporting
    • Utility and permit tracker across many offices
    • Equipment reserved per site in Zoho Inventory

    A fixed figure in the BRD, plus a launch date per batch of sites.

  3. Build, then service

    Build and Operate

    • Everything in Portfolio Program
    • Handover pack and Zoho Desk service accounts
    • Service visits in Zoho FSM
    • Backlog and margin dashboards in Zoho Analytics

    Split into phases, each with its own fixed amount you approve before it begins.

We don’t name solar clients on this page, so the warehouse, project card and figures are made-up samples. On a call we can talk through how comparable C&I builds were set up.

Your first call with us is free. Contractors with several entities sometimes start with a paid scoping round, priced before you agree to it.

10Our first four steps

What happens before your C&I build begins?

Four steps, and projects already under construction stay on your current tools until the switch. Our How we work page shows everything after step four.

  1. Discovery callYour customer types, ownership models and the tools sales and ops use today.
  2. Project walk-throughWe trace two recent jobs, one smooth and one painful, from site walk to retention release.
  3. Signed BRDStages, sign-off roles, project template, billing rules, our fee and the dates, signed before we configure.
  4. Build, import, trainOpen deals and live projects imported; sales, project managers and accounting trained on their own screens.
See the full new-project path →

11C&I contractors ask

Commercial solar software: common questions

Stakeholders, PPAs, multi-site customers, billing and cost. Bring the project that took longest last year and we’ll show where it would have sat in Zoho.

Bring us a tough projectOpen the project sizer →

Can Zoho handle several decision makers on one commercial solar deal?

Yes. Each person who must approve, such as the owner, facilities manager, finance lead, board or landlord, is a contact role on the Zoho CRM deal with a status and date. The stage can stay locked until every role has signed off.

Can we quote a cash purchase and a PPA for the same customer?

Yes. Each ownership model is a separate quote on the same deal, with its own term sheet and revision date in Zoho WorkDrive. The deal records which offer the customer chose, and only that one moves into the contract packet.

How does Zoho manage a customer with many sites?

The customer is one account, with a program record above its sites and a Zoho Projects project per roof or carport. Reports roll up per program, so a chain or district sees every site’s stage in one view.

Can Zoho Books handle progress billing and retention?

Yes. The schedule of values sits on the project, each milestone raises a Zoho Books invoice, and the retention share is held back until your closeout list is complete. Change orders adjust the contract value on the same project.

Does Zoho calculate net metering savings or tax credits?

No. Zoho stores the tariff name, utility letters and the documents your customer’s advisors request, with dates and reminders. Savings models stay in your design tool; credit questions stay with the customer’s advisors.

What happens to the project after PTO?

As-builts, warranties, commissioning records and the PTO letter file into the site folder. With a service contract, a Zoho Desk account opens for that site and visits are scheduled in Zoho FSM.

How much would Zoho cost a commercial solar contractor each month?

For a sample team with ten office users, fifteen Zoho Projects users and two contract senders, Zoho CRM, Projects, Sign and Books come to $362 a month on yearly billing. Our setup is a fixed fee agreed in the BRD.

12Let’s talk

Tell us what you’re building. We’ll map the fix.

Book a 30-minute discovery call with Elite Tech Global. We review your Zoho, AWS, Shopify or WordPress setup, show where AI agents can save time, and agree the next step. If we work together, every requirement and a fixed price go into a signed BRD before the build starts.

Real people, one team. Led by co-founders Ikramul Karim and Khris Kakosimidi, and a 40+ member team across Zoho, AWS and AI.

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