The Truck-Roll Math
July 6, 2026 · 2 min read · SiteOps Command
The design pass is a computation. For years the industry has been paying for a plane ticket to run it.
That is the whole idea behind a virtual site survey: the predictive design — the heatmap, the camera coverage, the bill of materials — is produced from a model of the building, before anyone drives out. So it is worth being honest about what the old way actually costs, and where a visit still earns its keep.
What a survey trip costs today
These are published figures, framed as the buyer’s current spend — not our price, and deliberately not summed into a “you save $X” number, because your mix and contracts differ.
| Line item | Typical current spend | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ekahau (predictive design + reporting) | $4–12K / year | licensed per seat |
| Sidekick (measurement hardware) | $3K | one kit, one site at a time |
| Travel + a day on site | per trip | flights, badging, scheduling |
| Re-survey on a complaint | per trip | again, per site |
The subscriptions are the visible cost. The trip — the flight, the day, the re-visit when coverage is questioned — is the part that scales with every site and every complaint.
What a virtual pass replaces
The design-phase heatmap does not need the kit or the flight. You upload the plan, place real devices, model the walls and racking, and the physics produces the coverage and the BOM — the full workflow is in how to run a virtual site survey. For a fifty-branch rollout, that is the difference between fifty models and fifty truck rolls.
Where a site visit still earns it
This is not “never visit.” For final validation, RF troubleshooting, and compliance sign-off, you still measure — radio meets the real world, and the real world has surprises. The point is narrower: stop paying for a truck roll to produce a design that a model already computed. Let the virtual pass tell you which sites are worth the trip.
Do your own math
We do not total a savings figure for you, and we would not want a tool that did — your invoices are the source of truth, not a widget with flattering assumptions baked in. The ROI worksheet uses your own line items.
The trip you bill the customer for is often producing something your screen already computed. See how MSPs use it, why internal IT pays for the same trip, the platform, or why running this across six separate tools makes it more expensive than it needs to be; or book a demo on your own floor plan.
Frequently asked
- How much does a Wi-Fi site survey cost?
- As published, framed as the buyer's current spend: an Ekahau seat runs about $4-12K per year and a Sidekick kit about $3K, plus travel and a day on site per trip. A predictive design pass produces the heatmap without the trip; validation on site is separate.
- Can a virtual survey save money?
- It can remove the design-phase truck roll, which is often the expensive part. We do not publish a savings number because your mix, seats, and contracts differ — the ROI worksheet lets you run your own figures.
- Do you still need to visit the site?
- For final validation, RF troubleshooting, and compliance sign-off, yes. The virtual pass tells you where a visit is worth the trip, instead of visiting to produce a design that is fundamentally a computation.