Arden Meridian vs lead lists, GIS tools, and doing it in-house.
Four honest ways to get property research: buy rows, buy software, staff it yourself, or buy the finished work. This page sets out what each one leaves on your desk.
Every comparison below describes a category of approach or tool, not a named vendor.
A cheaper purchase can still be the more expensive year.
A spreadsheet of records costs less because the research has not happened yet. Somebody on your team still does it, usually the person you hired to sell or to engineer.
At the monthly tier: 100 properties reviewed in detail. Price your list the same way — what you paid, over the rows you would actually call.
What each option gives you, and what it leaves you.
| Approach | What you receive | What your team still handles | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk lead or property list | What you receiveRows: addresses, sometimes an owner name or a phone number, filtered on basic criteria. | What your team still handlesLook at every property, verify the records, rank them against each other, and write down why. | Best fitTeams with analyst hours to spare that would rather own the research. |
| Mapping or data software | What you receiveMaps, layers, search, and access to source data, licensed per seat. | What your team still handlesConfigure the tool, write the review rules, check the output, and turn it into something a team can act on. | Best fitCompanies that already have analysts and a research process to run inside it. |
| Manual in-house research | What you receiveComplete control over the method, the sources, and the quality bar. | What your team still handlesHire the people, buy the data, hold the standard, and rebuild when a market changes. | Best fitLarger teams with the capacity to operate the whole function, and a reason to own it. |
| Arden Meridian | What you receiveA finished deliverable: territory defined, properties reviewed by an analyst, ranked, evidenced, delivered on a fixed date. | What your team still handlesUse it — outreach, qualification, service planning, diligence, or site selection. | Best fitCommercial teams that want usable research without standing up an intelligence function. |
These reflect common market approaches. Individual providers, products, and internal processes vary widely.
How this differs from the solar tools your team already runs.
Each category below starts once you already have a site. They are complements to this work, not alternatives.
| Tool category | What the category is for | How Arden Meridian differs |
|---|---|---|
| Solar design and proposal platforms | What the category is forDesign, simulation, financing, proposals, and project delivery for a site you have already chosen. | How Arden Meridian differsWe run earlier: deciding which properties are worth opening a design tool for. |
| Self-service solar business platforms | What the category is forCRM, proposals, permitting, and payments, run by your own team on your own projects. | How Arden Meridian differsNothing here is a platform to operate. The research is done for you and handed over. |
| Aerial imagery and property-data providers | What the category is forImagery, roof measurement, and property attributes for addresses you already hold. | How Arden Meridian differsThat data is an input to our work, not a substitute: we add the criteria, the review, and the rank. |
Who should not buy this.
The fastest way to find out whether the rest of this page applies to you.
Buy this when the research is the bottleneck.
- Property research is eating analyst hours you would rather spend on customers.
- Bulk lists and map exports produce more low-context work than they remove.
- You need to explain to someone else why a property was prioritized.
- Several teams need to work from one report.
Do not buy this when something simpler will do.
- You want the cheapest possible parcel export and have the hours to work it.
- You expect a guarantee of owner interest, feasibility, permitting, or revenue.
- You already have the analysts, the data tools, and the time.
- You need engineering, legal, title, or permitting conclusions — those are professional opinions, not research.
The steps that normally stay with your team, done before delivery.
| What we do | What that means | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Territory setup | What that meansBoundary, target property profile, exclusions, and the decision the ranking serves, agreed in writing first. | Why it matters to youWork starts from your market, not a national database filtered down. |
| Property screening | What that meansAerial imagery, parcel and assessor records, and the infrastructure, environmental, and geospatial context. | Why it matters to youYour team starts from a smaller, more relevant set. |
| Analyst review | What that meansEvery property in your reviewed count is read by a person against the agreed criteria. | Why it matters to youA judgment with a name behind it, not an unexplained score. |
| Ranking, evidence, and open checks | What that meansProperties are ordered, with the supporting evidence, its limitations, and the next checks written beside each one. | Why it matters to youYour team can move fast, argue with the order, and see what a conclusion rests on. |
| Delivery on a fixed date | What that meansA structured report and an export, delivered on a date set in advance rather than when it is ready. | Why it matters to youOne artifact moves between commercial, risk, technical, and field teams. |
The objections worth raising before you buy anything.
A list sells rows. We sell the work that turns a row into a decision: the imagery opened, the records reconciled, the territory ranked against itself, and the reasoning written down.
Those categories start once you have a site: design, simulation, proposals, measurement, project delivery. They are complements, not alternatives — nothing here asks you to drop a tool you already use.
No, and we would not trust a vendor who did. What we commit to is the deliverable: on the $500 pilot, 20 of 25 properties to your written criteria in 10 business days, or a full refund.
Take the free preview: 3 properties from a territory you define, returned 3 business days after we confirm the boundary. Run the same properties through whatever you are comparing us with.
Aerial imagery, parcel and assessor records, other public records, and the infrastructure and environmental context relevant to the question. Each report states the evidence behind a rank and the checks still open on it.
Judge the work on 3 properties from your own territory.
Tell us the boundary, the property types, and the decision you are making. Once we confirm the territory, 3 ranked properties arrive within 3 business days, with the evidence and the open checks attached.
3 properties · 3 business days · no card