How to Get Solar Work from Builders, Roofers and Trade Partners

Which trades send solar installers the most work?

The ones already at the property when the solar conversation starts naturally:

• Roofers are the big one. Every reroof is a "should we do panels while the scaffold's up?" conversation waiting to happen, and scaffold shared across both jobs saves the customer real money, which makes the roofer's referral an easy sell.
• Electricians get asked about EV chargers, consumer units and "would solar be worth it here" constantly. They're already the customer's trusted electrical opinion.
• Builders on extensions and renovations, because a homeowner spending serious money on the house is exactly the homeowner who adds solar to the project, and the Federation of Master Builders end of the market runs on exactly these cross-trade relationships.
• Heat pump installers and EV charger fitters, where the customer has already decided to electrify their life and solar is the obvious next conversation.
• Estate agents, more occasionally, at the moment of purchase when buyers are planning works anyway.

Notice what all of these have in common: the partner isn't selling solar. They're passing on a question they were already asked. Your job is making sure your name is the answer.

How do you structure a partner referral deal?

Simple enough to explain in a sentence, generous enough to matter, and paid without fuss. The models that work:

Flat fee per completed install. Cleanest and most common. The partner refers, you quote and close, they get paid when it completes. Everyone can hold the whole deal in their head.

Percentage of job value. Fine too, and better where job sizes vary a lot, though it invites more conversation about the number.

Reciprocal work. With electricians and roofers especially, the flow can run both ways: you need roofing remedials and electrical work on your own jobs, they need a solar partner. Traded work builds tighter partnerships than fees, when the volumes roughly balance.

Whichever model, three rules keep it alive. Pay on completion, promptly, every time, because one slow payment ends the referrals quietly. Keep the partner informed of their customer's progress, since it's their reputation riding on your service. And never, ever go around them or poach the client relationship. The deal is trust wearing a price tag.

How do you approach a roofer or builder about partnering?

Lead with their money, not your credentials. The pitch is one line: "you're already on jobs where the customer asks about solar, here's £X for every one that completes with us, and we'll never make you look bad." Then make the first one effortless, quote fast, keep them posted, pay the moment it completes, and thank them like it mattered, because it did.

Where do you find them? You already know some. Your own supply chain, the trades you hire, the ones you meet on shared sites, local merchant counters, the trade association meetups nobody enjoys but everyone gets work from. Start with five conversations, not a campaign. This channel is built one relationship at a time, which is exactly why the installers who do it face so little competition.

Does commercial solar work differently?

Same logic, longer game, different rooms. Commercial projects, warehouse roofs, factory units, farm buildings, offices, rarely start with an advert. They start with a relationship: the main contractor already on site, the consultant specifying the project, the facilities or finance director who owns the energy bill.

Two practical routes in. The first is the commercial version of everything above, partnering with the builders and M&E contractors who are already inside commercial projects when solar gets considered. The second is direct outreach to the decision makers, which in practice means LinkedIn, since facilities directors and finance directors are findable there in a way they're findable nowhere else. The approach that works is patient and specific: their building type, their roof, their daytime load profile, not a generic solar pitch. Expect the cycle in months. The projects are worth it.

One honest warning: commercial buyers check harder. Case studies, accreditations, MCS certification and referenceable installs get audited before you're shortlisted, so the proof assets need to exist before the outreach starts.

How do you keep partners sending work?

Treat the partner as the customer, because for this channel they are. A monthly check-in message with anything relevant, jobs completed, payments made, a lead you passed back the other way. Fast quotes for their referrals, faster than your normal queue, since their name is attached. Occasional passing of work in their direction, which transforms the relationship from commission to alliance. And feedback when a referral doesn't land, so silence never lets them wonder.

The failure mode is always the same: enthusiasm for a month, then the referrals dry up because nothing maintained them. Put partner contact in the calendar like any other pipeline activity, and it'll outperform most things in that calendar.