To start a solar business, pick your model first — full installer, sales dealer, or lead generation — then handle licensing, partners, and a lead engine you can actually afford. The model sets your capital and licensing bar, and the thing that decides survival is cost per acquired customer, because solar is a high-ticket, weeks-long sale.
We run our own home-service companies and respect how unforgiving lead economics are at this ticket size. Here is the order to start, what each model costs, and the honest reason most new solar companies fail.
Choose your model
EPC installer (most capital and licensing, most margin), sales dealer (sell and subcontract install), or lead generation (lightest, you sell qualified leads). This choice drives everything after it.
Licensing and entity
Installing needs electrical and contractor licensing in most states. Register the LLC, get an EIN, and follow your state's consumer-sales rules for high-ticket home sales.
Line up partners
A licensed install partner if you are a dealer, financing providers so customers can say yes, and equipment suppliers. Have these signed before you sell a single deal.
Build the lead engine
Where leads come from, what each costs, and how fast you follow up. Map your funnel before you spend — solar leads are expensive and deals stall in slow follow-up.
Track cost per acquired customer
From day one, know what each signed customer costs you across every channel. This single number tells you whether to scale or stop.
Crews, equipment, bonding, and working capital to float installs. The highest margin and the highest bar.
You sell and subcontract install. Lower capital, smaller team, and you live on lead flow and close rate.
The lightest start, but a competitive lead market. You sell qualified leads to installers and live on your marketing edge.
Be honest with the lead math before you commit:
Start with the lightest model that proves you can acquire customers profitably, then add installs once the math works.
The lead engine and follow-up are ours. A solar site with AI lead capture that qualifies and books consults is $249/mo; add the SEO content engine plus attribution at $597/mo so you can see real cost per acquired customer by channel. Free working demo in 48 hours, month-to-month, you own it.
Related: solar business plan template, solar website design, solar lead generation, cost per acquisition explained, and how our SEO engine works.
We don't post stock testimonials. On a 15-minute call we screen-share the real dashboards behind our own businesses — live leads, rankings, and the exact page that produced each one. See the proof →
Choose a model, get licensing, register the LLC, line up install and finance partners, and build a lead engine you can afford.
Installing needs electrical and contractor licensing in most states. A dealer still needs a licensed install partner. Check your state board.
A dealer model can start for $10,000–$50,000; a full installer runs into six figures; lead gen is lightest.
Unmodeled lead costs and slow follow-up. Nail cost per acquired customer before you scale.
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