There are seven ways UK solar installers generate leads in 2026: referrals and reviews, trade partnerships, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads, local SEO, bought leads, and database reactivation. You don't need all seven. The right mix depends on your average install value, your patch, and one number most installers have never actually checked: how many old enquiries are sitting unworked in the CRM. This guide compares all seven honestly, so you can work out where your next booked survey is really coming from.
How do UK homeowners find a solar installer?
The same way they find any expensive trade. They ask someone they trust, then they check Google. A homeowner who's watched panels go up two doors down asks who did it. One starting cold searches, reads reviews, and requests three or four quotes, often through a comparison site that sells their details to several installers at once. And before anyone spends five figures, they'll usually cross-check the installer against MCS certification and read what the Energy Saving Trust says about solar first.
Two things fall out of that. No single channel owns the customer, so a pipeline built on one lead source is fragile. And because most homeowners contact several installers, the first one to respond usually wins the survey. Research published in Harvard Business Review found firms that contacted a web enquiry within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify the lead than firms that waited even an hour longer. Hold onto that stat. It changes the maths on every channel below.
1. Referrals and reviews
The best solar leads you'll ever get. A referred homeowner arrives half-sold, trusts your price, and closes at a rate no paid channel touches. The problem is you can't forecast on them. Referrals arrive when they arrive, and most installers do nothing to influence the flow beyond doing good work and hoping.
You can systemise it, though. Ask at the two moments a customer is genuinely delighted: commissioning day, and the first bill showing export payments. Make referring effortless, one link or one card. Pay a proper incentive if you need to. And stack reviews relentlessly, because a strong Google Business Profile makes every other channel on this list work harder.
Full guide: How to Get More Solar Referrals
2. Trade partnerships
Roofers, electricians, builders, heat pump installers, EV charger fitters. They're standing on roofs and in fuse cupboards you've never seen, talking to homeowners who are already spending on the property. A simple partner deal, flat fee or a percentage on completed jobs, turns other trades into a sales force that costs you nothing until it works.
Commercial solar runs on the same logic at bigger scale. The warehouse and factory work goes to installers who know the builders, consultants and facilities managers already on site.
Full guide: How to Get Solar Work from Builders, Roofers and Trade Partners
3. Google Ads
Google Ads puts you in front of a homeowner at the exact moment they're searching for an installer. That's also why the clicks are expensive and getting worse. It works when you control three things: tight geography, buyer-intent keywords rather than research ones, and instant response to every enquiry that comes in. Miss any of those and you're funding Google's dividend, not your pipeline.
Treat it as a maths problem. Cost per click, cost per enquiry, cost per surveyed roof, cost per install. If you can't fill in that chain from your own numbers, fix the tracking before you touch the budget.
Full guide: How to Generate Solar Leads with Google Ads
4. Facebook and Instagram ads
Meta ads interrupt people. You're catching a homeowner scrolling their phone, not answering a search, so intent is lower and you'll need to qualify harder. What actually works is specificity. Real installs on real local roofs. Actual export payment figures. A reason to act now. Stock photos of panels against a blue sky perform exactly like what they are.
And Meta punishes slow follow-up even more than Google does, because a scroller's interest is gone in minutes. Treat every lead form like a ringing phone.
Full guide: How to Generate Solar Leads with Facebook Ads
5. Local SEO
When someone searches "solar installers near me", the map pack gets the calls. Ranking there costs time instead of ad spend: a properly built Google Business Profile, a steady drip of reviews, photos of real local installs, pages for the towns you actually cover. It's slow. It compounds. And once you're there, it defends itself in a way no paid channel ever does.
It also feeds everything else. The homeowner who got your name off a neighbour still reads your reviews before calling.
Full guide: How to Rank for "Solar Installers Near Me"
6. Buying solar leads
Lead providers sell speed. Pay today, enquiries tomorrow. The catch is that most bought leads are shared with three or four other installers, so what you've really bought is entry to a race. We've watched installers win that race and installers lose it, and the difference is always the same: the winners respond in minutes, qualify hard, and measure cost per install. The losers treat a bought lead like an inbound enquiry and wonder why nothing closes.
Before you sign with any provider, ask three questions. How many times is each lead sold? How was it generated? Does the consent trail actually satisfy UK data rules? The answers tell you a lot.
Full guide: Is Buying Solar Leads Worth It?
7. Database reactivation
Ask an established installer how many old quotes and enquiries are sitting in their CRM and they'll usually guess a few hundred. Then they export it and find four figures. Every one of those homeowners raised a hand once. The follow-up died, not the interest. Energy prices, battery costs and incentives have all moved since they enquired, which means an old "not yet" is often a current "yes, when can you come round".
Database reactivation works that list properly. AI voice and SMS agents re-open every conversation, reference the original enquiry, qualify the interest, and book appointments straight into your diary. In our own campaigns across home energy and other high-ticket sectors, a 15,000-contact dormant database produced 62 booked surveys and a £500,000+ pipeline in six weeks. A 3,475-lead database produced 63 qualified meetings and 7 closed deals. Different sectors, same principle: the cheapest lead you'll ever generate is one you already paid for.
It's also the only channel on this list with zero acquisition cost, because it runs pay-per-appointment. Nothing books, nothing is owed.
Full guide: How to Reactivate Old Solar Leads
Which solar lead channel has the best ROI?
| Channel | Cost to start | Speed to first lead | Lead intent | Scales? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals & reviews | Free | Slow, unpredictable | Very high | Poorly |
| Trade partnerships | Free | Weeks to months | High | Moderately |
| Google Ads | High | Days | High | Yes, at rising cost |
| Facebook ads | Medium | Days | Low to medium | Yes, needs qualification |
| Local SEO | Time, not money | Months | High | Compounds |
| Bought leads | Medium | Tomorrow | Shared with rivals | Yes, race conditions |
| Database reactivation | Zero upfront | Days | Warm, pre-existing | Limited by list size |
Scroll the table sideways to compare all five columns.
The honest answer: if you've been trading two years or more, reactivation usually delivers the cheapest booked appointments first, because the audience already exists and there's nothing to pay upfront. If you're new with no database, it's referrals plus local SEO plus tightly-run Google Ads. That mix is slower but it's durable.
What about converting the leads you generate?
Generation is half the job. Every channel above pours enquiries into the same funnel, and that funnel leaks wherever response is slow or surveyors drive to roofs that were never going to close. That's a conversion problem, not a lead problem, and we've written it up separately: the Solar Installer's AI Opportunity Report covers the five places installers leak jobs and time, with real recordings of AI agents booking appointments.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to get solar leads?
For an established installer, reactivating your own dormant database. The contacts already exist and pay-per-appointment pricing means nothing upfront. For a new installer, referrals and local SEO cost time rather than money.
How much do solar leads cost in the UK?
Varies wildly by channel and quality, which is why cost per lead is the wrong metric. Track cost per surveyed roof and cost per install instead. A shared bought lead that never answers the phone is expensive at any price. A reactivated enquiry at £100 to £200 per booked appointment against a £10,000 install is cheap.
Do AI agents work for solar lead generation?
Yes, in two places. Reactivating old enquiries at a scale no human team can match, and answering new enquiries within minutes, around the clock. They qualify and book. Your surveyors and closers still do the selling.
How many channels should a solar installer run?
Two or three done properly beat six done half-heartedly. Start with the channel that touches demand you already own, then add paid channels once your response process can actually keep up with them.
Lead The Way is a UK AI consultancy. We build database reactivation and speed-to-lead agents for solar installers and other high-ticket businesses, paid on performance. Book an AI assessment call or get your AI Readiness Score.