Installers rarely lose money because the work is unprofitable. They lose it on the cost of finding the work. Two firms fitting the same 4 kW solar system can have a £150 difference in acquisition cost per job, and that difference is usually the whole margin.
This is a straight look at where UK solar, battery and heat pump leads come from in 2026, what each channel actually costs, and how to tell a good lead from an expensive one.
The five channels, and what they really cost
1. Google Ads (paid search). The highest intent and the highest price. Competitive UK renewables terms run roughly £8-£20 per click, and at a 5-10% enquiry rate you are often looking at £120-£350 per enquiry before anyone has answered the phone. It works, but it needs budget, a good landing page and someone managing it weekly.
2. Your own SEO and content. The cheapest leads you will ever get, and the slowest. Location pages, cost guides and case studies compound over 6-18 months. Worth doing in parallel with everything else, never as your only plan.
3. Directories and listings. Low cost, low volume, useful for credibility. Homeowners often check a directory listing after they have found you elsewhere, so treat it as trust-building rather than a lead source.
4. Referrals and past customers. The best conversion rate in the business and almost no acquisition cost — but it only scales as fast as your completed jobs. A simple follow-up at handover and a small thank-you for a referral usually outperforms any paid channel per pound spent.
5. Pay-per-lead marketplaces. Immediate volume and a known cost per lead, which makes it the only channel you can turn on this week. Quality varies enormously between providers, which is what the rest of this article is about.
Shared versus exclusive leads
- Exclusive leads go to you alone. Higher price, higher close rate, no race to be first.
- Shared leads go to three or four installers. Cheaper per lead, and perfectly workable — but speed of response decides who wins, and the homeowner is explicitly comparing quotes.
Neither is better. What matters is that you know which you are buying, and how many others have it. Any provider that will not tell you how many installers receive a lead is telling you something.
What a genuinely good lead looks like
Before you pay for a lead, you should be able to see:
- A full postcode, so you can judge travel time and whether the area suits you
- The service wanted — solar, battery, heat pump — not a generic "renewables enquiry"
- Property type and ownership, because a flat or a rental changes the job completely
- Rough timeframe, so you know if it is a live job or research
- A timestamp. A lead generated four days ago is a different product to one from four minutes ago.
- Consent, so you know the homeowner asked to be contacted and is expecting your call
The numbers to hold yourself to
Work backwards from your own job value, not from the lead price.
| Metric | Reasonable expectation |
|---|---|
| Lead to booked survey | 25-40% on a good channel |
| Survey to signed job | 30-50% |
| Leads per won job | 6-12, depending on channel and speed |
| Acceptable cost per acquisition | Typically under 5% of job value |
On a £9,000 solar job, that means an acquisition budget of roughly £450, which comfortably covers eight to ten leads at marketplace prices. On a £12,000 heat pump job the maths is easier still. If a channel cannot get you inside those numbers after 20-30 leads, the problem is the channel or your response speed — not luck.
Response speed is the single biggest lever. Contacting a shared lead within five minutes rather than the next morning routinely doubles the close rate. If nobody can call within the hour during working days, buy fewer leads and call them faster.
What to avoid
- Providers who will not say how many installers get the lead
- Long lock-in contracts or monthly minimums before you have tested quality
- Leads with no postcode until after payment
- Recycled or aged data resold as new enquiries
- Any provider with no replacement policy for an obviously invalid lead
How it works on Home Energy Match
We generate enquiries directly from UK homeowners searching for solar, battery and heat pump installation, then make them available to verified installers on a pay-per-lead basis. No subscription, no monthly minimum.
- Solar £45 per lead · Battery £35 per lead · Heat pump £60 per lead
- You top up a wallet and buy only the leads you want, filtered by your service areas
- Every lead shows postcode area, service, property details and timestamp before you buy
- Installers are verified before they get access, including company and MCS checks
Joining takes a few minutes, and there is nothing to pay until you buy your first lead. Apply to join as an installer and see the leads currently available in your area.