Solar lead generation is the work of finding homeowners ready to buy solar or a battery and turning them into installed systems. Judge it by cost per install, not cost per lead: EnergySage puts sales and marketing at $5,604, or 18%, of an average US$31,135 system, and every lead you buy has to fit inside that.
At a glance: solar lead generation
- Who it is for: residential solar and battery installers in the US, Australia and elsewhere.
- Published US price ranges: $0.10–$10+ for an aged lead, $40–$120 for a real-time lead and $100–$300+ for an inbound call, per The Leads Warehouse’s 2026 price guide.
- The budget every lead must fit: sales and marketing are 18% of an average US system in EnergySage’s cost breakdown.
- The 2026 policy context: the US 30% residential credit is not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025 (IRS); Australia’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program pays a discount of around 30%, set by the STC factor on the day the battery is installed (DCCEEW).
- The tools on this page: the Install Budget Ceiling and the Lead-Type Ladder.
What is solar lead generation?
Solar lead generation is attracting homeowners interested in solar or batteries, qualifying them, and booking consultations that end in signed contracts and installed systems. A lead is a name and number; the product is a five-figure system that needs a roof check, design, quote and often finance.
Three things make solar different from most home-improvement lead generation:
- The incentive drives the decision. Tax credits and rebate schemes change what a homeowner saves, so policy dates move demand.
- The lead market is industrialised. Marketplaces, vendors, call centres and door-to-door teams sell solar leads at every price point.
- Homeowners shop around. SolarQuotes in Australia offers homeowners “up to 3 free quotes”, and EnergySage in the US sends multiple installer quotes to each registered homeowner.
On this page, solar lead generation means everything between a homeowner’s first sign of interest and a sit (a completed consultation). That stretch is where most of the money leaks.
How it works
Solar lead generation in four steps
Set your ceiling
Multiply the lead share of your sales budget per install by your lead-to-install rate.
Work the quote file
Re-contact unsigned quotes whose reason for not signing has changed, such as battery program settings or finance.
Call within minutes
Attempt a call within five minutes of each new lead and text if it goes unanswered.
Book and protect sits
Qualify on the call, book the consultation and run reminders so the sit happens.
MAKE MORE SALES.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — We scale sales HARD aligned to your interests, better than anyone else.
What changed for solar leads in 2026?
Solar lead generation in 2026 runs on two policy clocks: the US residential credit ended after 31 December 2025, and Australia’s battery discount steps down on a published schedule, next on 1 January 2027.
- United States. The IRS says the Residential Clean Energy Credit equals 30% of the costs of qualified clean energy property installed from 2022 through 31 December 2025, and “is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025”. Treat close rates measured on 2025 leads as an upper bound for 2026.
- Australia. DCCEEW says households can get a discount of around 30% on the upfront cost of a small-scale battery (5 kWh to 100 kWh) through the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. On 1 May 2026 the STC factor fell from 8.4 to 6.8 per kWh of usable capacity, and DCCEEW’s schedule drops it to 5.7 for January to June 2027. The discount is set by the STC factor on the date the battery is installed, not the date the contract is signed.
In the US, any ad still selling the 30% credit to a homeowner-owned system is out of date. In Australia the pitch is time-bound by the install date, covered in our guide to solar and battery lead generation after the rebate changes. Rebate settings change: check the DCCEEW and IRS pages before you print a number in an ad.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
Solar lead types: exclusive, shared, aged and appointments
Solar lead types range from aged records costing cents to inbound calls costing $300 or more, priced by how fresh the enquiry is and how much qualification work the seller has done.
| Solar lead type | Published typical cost (USD) | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|
| Aged lead | $0.10–$10+ | Old contact data |
| Real-time lead | $40–$120 | A fresh enquiry delivered as it happens, often shared with other installers |
| Inbound solar call | $100–$300+ | A live caller |
| Door-to-door appointment | $200 to $400 or more | A consultation set by field canvassers |
The ranges come from The Leads Warehouse’s 2026 solar lead price guide, a lead seller’s own figures; ActiveProspect’s 2026 solar lead cost guide repeats them as “directional market benchmarks, not fixed rates”. We could not verify a primary range for shared or exclusive marketplace leads. They are US figures. Australian vendors publish their own tiers in Australian dollars, which we compare in our guide to lead generation for solar companies in Australia; the US numbers, worked through to cost per installed system, are on how much a solar lead costs in the US.
A shared lead is sold to several installers, so you are buying a place in a race, not a customer. An aged lead is old contact data; ActiveProspect notes aged leads can need more outreach to establish contact.
An exclusive lead is only better value than a shared one if your close rate rises by more than the price does.
The Install Budget Ceiling: what can you afford per solar lead?
The Install Budget Ceiling is the most an installer can pay per solar lead: the lead-buying share of your sales and marketing budget per install, multiplied by your lead-to-install rate.
Install Budget Ceiling per lead = (sales and marketing budget per install × share spent on leads) × lead-to-install rate
The published input is EnergySage’s cost breakdown of an average US$31,135, 12 kW system before incentives, which puts sales and marketing at $5,604, or 18% of the price; EnergySage bases the percentage split on a 2021 National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL) study. That $5,604 also pays commissions, staff and design, so the model assumes 40% goes on leads. The 40% and the three lead-to-install rates are assumptions: replace them with your own numbers.
| Input or result | Low conversion | Mid conversion | High conversion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and marketing per install (EnergySage, US average) | $5,604 | $5,604 | $5,604 |
| Share spent on leads (assumption) | 40% | 40% | 40% |
| Lead budget per install | $2,242 | $2,242 | $2,242 |
| Lead-to-install rate (assumption) | 4% | 8% | 12% |
| Leads needed per install | 25 | 12.5 | 8.3 |
| Install Budget Ceiling per lead | $90 | $179 | $269 |
| Published lead types that fit under the ceiling | Aged, low-end real-time | Aged, real-time, low-end inbound calls | Aged, real-time, most inbound calls |
The same arithmetic works for appointments. If one booked appointment in five becomes an install (an assumption), the ceiling per appointment is $2,242 × 20% = $448. If only one in ten installs, the ceiling halves to $224. Doubling lead-to-install from 4% to 8% doubles the lead price you can afford.
If we can’t make you money, we don’t deserve yours.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — performance-based alignment.
How to measure solar lead generation
Solar lead generation is measured with five rates and one cost, tracked by lead source: contact, sit, close, install and lead-to-install rates, rolled into cost per installed system.
- Contact rate = leads reached in a real conversation ÷ leads received.
- Sit rate = consultations completed ÷ leads contacted. A booked appointment that does not happen is not a sit.
- Close rate = signed contracts ÷ sits.
- Install rate = systems installed ÷ contracts signed.
- Lead-to-install rate = contact × sit × close × install. This is the number the Install Budget Ceiling needs.
- Cost per install = total spend on a source ÷ installs from that source, including management fees and ad spend.
Measure by source, never blended. Measure on a rolling 90 days, because a lead bought this month may not install until next quarter.
Generating your own solar leads vs buying them
Generating your own solar leads costs more time and fixed spend up front than buying them, but produces exclusive enquiries no competitor is calling.
| Channel | What you pay for | Exclusive? |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces and lead vendors | Each lead or a subscription | Shared unless bought as exclusive |
| Paid search | Clicks | Yes |
| Paid social with lead forms | Impressions and clicks | Yes |
| Organic search and AI-search visibility | Content and staff time | Yes |
| Referrals and past customers | Referral rewards, if any | Yes |
| Your old quotes and enquiries | Staff or outreach time | Yes |
Buy when you need installs this month and can call every lead within minutes; build when you will still be in the market in two years, because rankings, reviews and referrals keep producing after you stop paying. The full comparison is in buying solar leads vs generating your own, written for Australia but applicable anywhere.
Battery attach and existing solar owners
Battery attach is the share of solar jobs that include a battery, and existing solar owners are often an installer’s cheapest battery leads.
In Australia the economics favour this segment directly. DCCEEW’s program applies to batteries connected to new or existing solar systems, and the STC factor tapers by size: 100% of the factor for the first 14 kWh of usable capacity, 60% from 14 to 28 kWh, and 15% from 28 to 50 kWh. The Clean Energy Regulator says the STC factor is the number of certificates per kWh of usable capacity, so a 10 kWh battery installed in December 2026 at a factor of 6.8 earns 68 certificates; installed in January 2027 at 5.7, it earns 57, a 16.2% cut. That is why an Australian battery lead has a shelf life measured in install slots, not months.
Three ways to work this segment:
- Mine your install history. Every system you installed without a battery is a battery prospect who already knows your name.
- Record battery interest on every new job, so the follow-up is a phone call rather than a new lead.
- Raise your ceiling with attach. A job with a battery carries more gross profit, so a lead source that produces battery jobs can justify a higher Install Budget Ceiling. Calculate the ceiling separately for solar-only and solar-plus-battery jobs.
In the US, with the residential credit gone, check current state and utility programmes in each market you sell into.
Solar appointment setting and speed to lead
Solar appointment setting is the step that converts a lead into a booked consultation, and speed of first contact decides it more often than lead quality does.
A shared lead is a race by design: several installers have the same phone number, and the one who calls in minutes reaches a homeowner still at the screen. Our guide to speed to lead for trade businesses covers the response-time evidence and how to staff for it.
What a working solar appointment-setting process looks like:
- First call attempt within five minutes of the lead arriving, during and after business hours.
- A text immediately after an unanswered call, and a follow-up cadence over at least the next week.
- Qualification on the call: home ownership, roof type and shading, average power bill, battery interest, and decision timing.
- A booked consultation with a reminder sequence.
- Consent and calling rules for the market you are in: the rules differ in the US, Australia and the UK, and our do-not-call compliance guide is a starting point, not legal advice.
The Lead-Type Ladder: which solar leads to buy, and when
The Lead-Type Ladder is a decision rule: climb to more expensive solar lead types only when the cheaper rung already converts within its Install Budget Ceiling.
| If your numbers look like this | Use this rung | Avoid | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hundreds of quotes and enquiries from the last two years that never signed | Your own quote file first | Buying new volume before working it | The roof check and quote are already done |
| Median first contact slower than 1 hour | Exclusive leads, own channels or booked appointments | Shared leads | You will lose most shared races |
| Lead-to-install below 4% | Fix contact and sit rates before buying more | Any extra lead spend | At 4% the ceiling is $90 a lead in the model above |
| Lead-to-install 8% or better, with empty consultation slots | Exclusive leads up to your ceiling | Aged data at volume | At 8% the ceiling is $179 a lead in the model above |
| Owner or estimator is also the salesperson | Booked appointments or outsourced follow-up | Raw leads you cannot call fast | The bottleneck is calling time, not leads |
| Strong battery offer and a large install base (Australia) | Past customers before new leads | Generic solar ads | Existing owners already trust you |
These thresholds are our decision rule built on the Install Budget Ceiling model, not an industry benchmark; replace the 4% and 8% lines with your own.
Where solar lead generation goes wrong
Solar lead generation most often fails because installers buy more leads to fix a contact or sit problem, which multiplies the cost of the leak instead of closing it.
- Judging vendors on cost per lead. A $25 shared lead that never installs costs more than a $200 exclusive one that does.
- Selling a dead incentive. US ads still promising the 30% residential credit to buyers of homeowner-owned systems, or Australian quotes priced at a battery factor that will have changed by install day.
- No source tracking. Without installs by source, the cheapest vendor and the most expensive look the same.
- Ignoring the quote file. Quoted-but-unsigned homeowners are the warmest leads most installers own, and the least worked.
- Counting appointments, not sits. A calendar full of consultations that do not happen still costs the salesperson’s day.
Every one of these shows up as a low lead-to-install rate, the number to watch weekly.
A worked example: speed beats a cheaper lead
A worked solar example shows that raising contact and sit rates cuts cost per install by about a third, more than a 20% lower lead price does.
The installer, funnel rates and lead price below are illustrative assumptions, not a client.
| Step | Before | After fixing speed and follow-up | Cheaper leads instead ($40) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leads bought | 200 at $50 = $10,000 | 200 at $50 = $10,000 | 200 at $40 = $8,000 |
| Contacted | 60% = 120 | 75% = 150 | 60% = 120 |
| Sat | 25% = 30 | 30% = 45 | 25% = 30 |
| Signed | 30% = 9 | 30% = 13.5 | 30% = 9 |
| Installed | 90% = 8.1 | 90% = 12.15 | 90% = 8.1 |
| Lead-to-install rate | 4.05% | 6.08% | 4.05% |
| Lead cost per install | $1,235 | $823 | $988 |
The faster installer spends the same $10,000 and gets four more installs. Only the two steps before the consultation changed, and that costs calling hours, not ad spend.
What I’d fix first
If I took over an installer’s solar lead generation tomorrow, I would fix response time and source tracking before spending another dollar on leads.
- Week one: measure. Pull the last 90 days by source: leads, contacts, sits, contracts, installs. Calculate lead-to-install for each source.
- Week one: speed. Every new lead gets a call attempt within five minutes and a text if unanswered, including at 7pm.
- Week two: the quote file. List two years of unsigned quotes, sort by reason, and re-contact those whose reason has changed.
- Week three: cut. Drop any source whose cost per install is above your Install Budget Ceiling after a fair test.
- Week four: climb the ladder. Only then add volume, on the rung the Lead-Type Ladder points to.
I would not rebuild the ads or switch vendors in the first month.
How LeadsNow applies solar lead generation
LeadsNow applies solar lead generation as appointment setting: AI calling, SMS and follow-up that contacts every lead fast, qualifies it, and books consultations into the installer’s calendar.
- Speed to lead. New enquiries are called and texted within minutes, with follow-up over the following days. The mechanics are on our AI appointment setting page.
- The quote file. Old quotes and enquiries are worked as a database reactivation campaign. Our Colliers-era reactivation campaigns averaged a 4.4% booking rate, peaking at 8.9%; that is our own record on reactivation, with no window or sample disclosed, and not a solar benchmark.
- Show rates. Reminder sequences protect the sit: appointment show rates vary by offer and reminder cadence, up to 93% on our best-performing accounts.
- Scale. 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments since 2017 and 1M+ leads generated, across industries.
Who should not use us: an installer whose team already calls every lead within minutes and converts above the ceiling should just buy more of the same leads.
LeadsNow: a pay-per-result way to put this into practice
LeadsNow is a pay-per-result option for solar lead generation: installers pay a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both, with no retainer.
- Pricing: 5–25% of the revenue we generate for you (revenue share), or an equivalent pay-per-appointment fee. Where you land depends on lead volume, what is being sold and its price, the type of product and business, and which part (or all) of the sales funnel we run. See our pricing page.
- What we absorb: no-shows aren’t charged, and the cost of contacting the people who never book is ours, not yours.
- Terms: cancel any time with 14 days notice.
Across the market a booked call costs $30–$400 depending on industry, offer, price and many other variables, so compare any appointment price against your own Install Budget Ceiling. Our ranked list of solar lead generation agencies in the US compares us with other providers.
Sources
The sources for this solar lead generation guide were all read on 14 October 2026.
- EnergySage, solar panel cost data: sales and marketing $5,604, or 18%, of a $31,135, 12 kW system before incentives (percentage split based on a 2021 National Laboratory of the Rockies study); EnergySage sends homeowners multiple installer quotes.
- The Leads Warehouse, how much do solar leads cost in 2026: US ranges for aged, real-time, inbound-call and door-to-door leads.
- ActiveProspect, how much do solar leads cost: “directional market benchmarks, not fixed rates”; aged leads and outreach.
- IRS, Residential Clean Energy Credit: not available for property placed in service after 31 December 2025.
- DCCEEW, Cheaper Home Batteries Program: around 30% discount, STC factor schedule and size taper, last updated 9 June 2026.
- Clean Energy Regulator, solar batteries: STC factor is certificates per kWh of usable capacity.
- SolarQuotes: homeowners offered “up to 3 free quotes”.
FAQ
Solar lead generation questions installers ask most are about lead prices, exclusivity and the 2026 incentive changes.
What is a good cost per lead for solar?
A good solar cost per lead is any price below your Install Budget Ceiling. In our model, using EnergySage’s $5,604 sales and marketing figure and assuming 40% goes on leads, the ceiling is $90 at a 4% lead-to-install rate and $179 at 8%.
Are exclusive solar leads worth the extra cost?
Exclusive solar leads are worth it only if your close rate rises by more than the price. Cost per install is the lead price divided by the lead-to-install rate, so a $200 exclusive lead must convert at four times the rate of a $50 shared lead just to match its cost per install.
Can homeowners still claim the US solar tax credit in 2026?
Not for new systems. The IRS says the Residential Clean Energy Credit is not available for any property placed in service after 31 December 2025. This is general information, not tax advice.
How does the Australian battery rebate affect solar lead generation?
The Australian battery discount is set by the STC factor on the day the battery is installed. DCCEEW’s schedule shows 6.8 for May to December 2026 and 5.7 for January to June 2027, so every battery lead should be quoted for its realistic install date.
Should a solar installer buy aged leads?
Aged leads suit installers with spare calling capacity and a sharp re-qualification script. They cost the least per record but need the most outreach, and your own unsigned quotes are usually better aged leads than any you can buy.
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