How EPCs Get Underwriting, Software and Leads in One Subscription

An EPC's software shopping list usually reads like three separate purchases. Something to design and propose with. Something, usually nothing, to handle finance. And a lead source, bought warily from whoever is selling this quarter.

ArkFlow's bet is that these are not three products. They are three faces of one origination platform, and they work better bought together because they share one register. This post lays out exactly what a subscribing EPC gets, and what each piece costs.

The first thing: the underwriting tool

Every deal, whatever its origin, can run through ArkFlow's underwriting and prequalification engine. The client works through a guided application under your brand. Around 70 document types read themselves, company registrations, bank statements, financials and bills, with confidence scoring and nothing accepted silently. The deal is screened for affordability with a credit scorecard and KYC, then packaged into a lender report and routed to the client's bank, your own lenders, or the ArkFlow panel, reaching banks including FNB, Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Investec.

This is the piece almost no EPC has today, and it is the one that closes deals, because the most common reason a signed-off design never gets built is that the money was never arranged. The role it puts you in is described in what is a solar finance originator.

The second thing: the full EPC software

The same subscription carries the software that runs the rest of the job, twelve modules on one register:

• The proposal generator. A quote, BOQ or municipal bill in, an indicative proposal out in minutes, with cash, asset finance, rent-to-own, subscription and PPA priced side by side. See the automatic solar proposal generator.
• The Engineering Studio. Placement canvas, stringing, cable calcs, SLD editor and layered DXF export, plus hourly yield simulation with P50, P90 and P95.
• Site inspection. A structured site walk on a free field seat that seeds the engineering.
• CRM and pipeline. Kanban by real journey stage, WhatsApp and email threaded per deal.
• Documents and handover. One register from lead to as-built, with a one-click close-out file, plus milestones, payment claims and Xero or Sage sync.

Everything is white-labelled at no extra cost, down to the drawing title blocks. The full argument for one system over five is in what is a solar EPC operating system.

The third thing: lead generation

The subscription also feeds the top of the funnel, through four routes into one pipeline:

• Platform-referred leads. Customers who get an indicative proposal and prequalify on the public ArkFlow site are routed to EPCs operating in their area, warm, prequalified and carrying a sized system and an estimated saving. This pool comes with an engineering seat.
• Capture links and QR codes. Branded links for WhatsApp, signatures, flyers and site boards, with per-rep attribution so commission conversations run on data rather than memory.
• Embeddable website forms. The indicative proposal, prequalification and finance application widgets embed on your own website, styled to your brand, writing straight into your pipeline.
• Portal signups. Clients who sign up through your portal become tracked deals with their history attached.

The mechanics and the honest pricing are covered in solar lead generation for EPC companies.

What the subscription actually costs

The entry price is zero. The owner account is free forever with full platform access, capped at two engineering projects a month, and field seats for crews are free and unlimited. No card is required.

Paid seats are the subscription: sales seats at R450 per user per month for people running deals, and engineering seats at R999 per user per month, which unlock unlimited projects, the Engineering Studio and the routed lead pool. One engineering seat replaces roughly R4,100 a month of design, simulation and CAD licences, so the seat tends to justify itself before the bundle is even counted.

On top of that sits the success fee: where a deal funds through the ArkFlow lender panel, 1% of capex is added to the BOQ as a stated line and invoiced pro-rata as the lender releases each payment. Fund through your own lenders and there is no deal fee. Details in the 1% success fee explained.

Why the bundle beats the shopping list

Bought separately, the three purchases fight each other. The lead seller does not care whether your proposal tool can close what they send. The proposal tool does not know a lender exists. The finance process, if there is one, starts with retyping everything the other two systems already know.

Bundled on one register, a routed lead arrives with its bill already read, becomes a priced proposal in minutes, and flows into an underwritten application without anyone re-keying a number. The subscription is not three discounts stapled together; it is one deal moving through one system.

Sign up free, run a real deal end to end, and add seats when the volume justifies them.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does an ArkFlow subscription include for an EPC?

Three things together: the underwriting and prequalification tool for every deal, the full EPC software from proposal generator to Engineering Studio to handover register, and lead generation through capture links, embeddable forms, portal signups and platform-referred leads routed by area.

Which seat do I need for the routed leads?

An engineering seat at R999 per user per month. It unlocks the Engineering Studio, unlimited projects and entry into the platform-referred lead pool, which is bundled with the seat rather than sold per lead.

Can I start without paying anything?

Yes. The owner account is free forever with full access to the platform, capped at two engineering projects a month, field seats are free and unlimited, and no card is required. Paid seats come in when more people run deals or engineering volume grows.

Is there a separate charge for the underwriting tool?

No. Proposals, the client application, prequalification and lender submission are included free. ArkFlow earns a 1% success fee on capex only where a deal funds through its lender panel, added to the BOQ as a stated line and billed as the lender releases funds.