Solar lead generation for contractors isn't one-size-fits-all. What works brilliantly for a 10-person company in California might be completely wrong for a two-truck operation in the Midwest. The channels available have also changed significantly — there are more options now than there were even three years ago, and the quality gap between the best and worst has widened.
This article walks through the main approaches — what each one actually costs (in time and money), who it works best for, and what the trade-offs look like. No method is universally the "right" choice, but by the end you should have a clearer sense of where to invest.
Buying lists of homeowner names and contact info has been around forever. In solar, you'll typically pay anywhere from $10 to $60 per lead depending on how the data is sourced and filtered.
Volume. If you have a large sales team that needs a constant stream of contacts and you can absorb a low close rate, purchased lists can fill the top of your funnel. Some vendors also offer filtering by roof orientation, home value, or utility provider.
Data quality is the main problem. Lists age quickly, and cold outreach to homeowners who have never expressed any interest in solar produces low conversion rates and a lot of frustrating calls. For smaller contractors without a dedicated sales team, the economics rarely pencil out.
Platforms like Angi, HomeAdvisor, and solar-specific aggregators sell leads — usually $50 to $150 each — where a homeowner has filled out a form saying they're interested in solar quotes. The model sounds appealing: only pay for people who raised their hand.
The catch is that the same lead is usually sold to three to five contractors simultaneously. That's a five-way race where the first person to call wins, and even then, you're competing on price against contractors who may be willing to undercut to win the job.
Close rates on shared pay-per-lead tend to hover around 5–15%. Depending on your average job size and margin, this can still work — but the math requires close attention.
Referrals are the gold standard in solar. A homeowner who comes to you because a neighbor vouched for your work is pre-sold on trust before you even pick up the phone. Close rates on referred leads regularly hit 40–60%, and they tend to require less discounting.
The problem is you can't scale referrals on demand. They happen organically based on customer satisfaction, neighborhood density, and timing. You can accelerate them with a formal referral incentive (cash back, gift cards, bill credits), but you'll still have months where the pipeline is dry even with happy past customers.
Referrals are essential — but they're not a full strategy on their own.
Ranking in Google for terms like "solar installer [city]" or running Google Search ads puts you in front of homeowners who are actively researching solar — the highest-intent traffic available. These leads convert well because the homeowner is already in discovery mode.
The trade-off is investment and patience. SEO takes six to twelve months before it starts producing meaningful traffic. Google Ads can produce leads faster, but solar CPCs are competitive ($15–$40 per click in many markets), and you need a well-optimized landing page to make the economics work. This channel rewards contractors who are willing to invest in it consistently over time.
A newer category has emerged that sits between "paid list" and "digital marketing agency." These are platforms built specifically for solar that handle the prospecting, targeting, and initial outreach — then pass you leads who have already received personalized information about their potential savings.
The approach Solr takes, for example, is to identify zip codes with the highest combination of solar incentives and homeowner fit, surface relevant property records, and then deliver ROI-focused campaigns to those homeowners before you ever make a phone call. The homeowner isn't responding to a generic ad — they're responding to information about their specific address, their local utility rates, and what the numbers look like for their house in particular.
That context changes the quality of the conversation significantly. You're not explaining solar from scratch — you're following up on information the homeowner has already had time to sit with.
There's no single right answer, but here's a rough framework:
See how Solr fits into your lead mix.
Solr handles the targeting and outreach so you can focus on conversations — not prospecting. Built specifically for solar contractors who want leads that arrive pre-warmed.
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