For solar installers
What is a solar lead actually worth to you?
Cost per lead is a vendor's number. Cost per install is yours, and it depends on your close rate far more than on anybody's price. Put in what you know — leave the rest alone and published benchmarks fill the gaps.
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is submitted, nothing is stored, and there is no form asking who you are.
Cost per install
$2,833
About 33 leads at $85 each to land one job.
Using our benchmark close rate of 3.0% — enter yours for a real answer.
Share of gross profit
49%
Tight
Acquisition is eating a large share of gross profit; fix close rate before buying more volume.
Left after leads
$2,967
Gross profit per job once the lead cost is paid — before overhead and sales labour.
Break-even close rate
1.5%
Below this, each job costs more to win than it earns.
A lead is worth up to
$44
Holding acquisition to 25% of gross profit at your close rate.
At that monthly volume
- Lead spend
- —
- Installs
- —
- Gross profit
- —
- After lead spend
- —
Deal figures come from your inputs above, or from this site's published assumptions where you left a field blank. Reviewed 2026-09-14.
Sensitivity
Close rate moves this more than price does.
The same $85 lead, across the range bought solar leads typically close at. Nothing about the lead changes between these rows — only what happens after it arrives.
| Close rate | Leads per install | Cost per install | Share of gross profit | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0% | 50 | $4,250 | 73% | Unviable |
| 3.0% | 33 | $2,833 | 49% | Tight |
| 4.5% | 22 | $1,889 | 33% | Tight |
| 6.0% | 17 | $1,417 | 24% | Workable |
Doubling your close rate halves your cost per install. Negotiating 20% off a lead price takes 20% off it. If the numbers above are not working, the cheaper fix is almost always speed to first call and follow-up discipline, not a discount.
How to read a verdict
The bands, and what they exclude.
Strongup to 15% of gross profit
Lead cost is a small share of gross profit; the channel has room to scale.
Workableup to 30% of gross profit
A normal, healthy acquisition line for bought leads.
Tightup to 50% of gross profit
Acquisition is eating a large share of gross profit; fix close rate before buying more volume.
Unviableup to 100% of gross profit
Most of the gross profit is spent acquiring the job. Do not scale this without changing close rate or price.
Loss-makingover 100% of gross profit
Each install costs more to acquire than it earns in gross profit.
What this model cannot see
- • This is arithmetic over the assumptions supplied, not a forecast of what a territory will deliver.
- • It models the lead line only. Sales labour, overhead, financing dealer fees and cost of capital are not deducted.
- • Close rate is the dominant term — it moves cost per install far more than lead price does — and it is supplied by the caller, not measured here.
- • Lead supply, competing installers, permitting and interconnection friction are not modelled and vary enormously by territory.
- • State market figures use this site's published homeowner assumptions. A real ticket depends on the installer, the roof and the financing product.
- • Gross margin is assumed uniform across job sizes. Larger systems usually carry a lower margin per watt.
Same model, no browser
Ask your own assistant instead.
This runs on the same function the API and the MCP server run. No key, no account, no cost — point whatever you use at it.
curl "https://whatsolarcosts.com/api/v1/lead-economics?lead_price=85&close_rate=0.04&system_kw=9&gross_margin=0.28"Or connect an MCP client to https://whatsolarcosts.com/mcp and call get_lead_economics. Both return the figures on this page plus what the model cannot see. Neither can enrol you as a partner — that part needs a person.
Questions
What is a good customer acquisition cost for a solar installer?
There is no single figure, because it depends entirely on your gross profit per job. The useful test is the ratio: acquisition much past a quarter of gross profit leaves nothing for the sales labour that converts it, and residential solar sales and marketing commonly runs 15–20% of revenue all-in. On the published deal here — job size 8 kW at $2.90/W with a 25% gross margin — that puts a workable cost per install somewhere under $1,740. Put your own ticket and margin in above and the calculator gives you yours.
How do I calculate cost per install from a lead price?
Divide the lead price by your lead-to-sale rate. At $85 a lead and a 3% close rate it takes about 33 leads to land one job, so acquisition costs roughly $2,833. That division is the entire model — everything else on this page is about which numbers to put into it and how to read the answer.
What close rate do I need for bought leads to be worth it?
Your break-even close rate is the lead price divided by your gross profit per install. Below it, each job costs more to acquire than it earns before a single overhead dollar is counted. At $85 a lead and $5,800 of gross profit, that is 1.5% — but break-even is not the target. Aim for a close rate several times that, so acquisition stays near a quarter of gross profit rather than all of it.
Should I use gross margin or net margin here?
Gross — revenue less the direct cost of the job: equipment, labour, permitting, subcontractors. Overhead, sales salaries and financing dealer fees are deliberately excluded, because the question this answers is how much room a job leaves for all of those. Putting a net margin in will make every channel look unviable, which is not an insight, just double counting.
Why does the answer say it used a benchmark close rate?
Because you did not supply one, so the calculator used 3.0% — the lower-middle of the 2–6% range bought residential solar leads typically run at. It says so rather than presenting our number as yours. The same flag travels in the API and the MCP tool as close_rate_source, so an assistant relaying this to you cannot quietly drop the caveat.
Can an AI assistant run this for me?
Yes. The same model is available at /api/v1/lead-economics as JSON with no key and no account, and as the get_lead_economics tool on this site's MCP server at /mcp. Both take your close rate, ticket and margin and return the same figures this page shows, along with what the model cannot see. Neither can sign you up as a partner — that needs a person.
How to get solar leads →
Every way a residential solar company gets customers, what each one costs per signed job, and which to start with.
What a solar lead costs →
What each type of solar lead sells for, why the cheap ones are usually the expensive ones, and what you should be willing to pay.
Buying leads vs generating your own →
Canvassing, paid search, referrals, content and bought leads compared on cost per signed customer rather than cost per lead.
Best states for solar installers →
Every state ranked on the two things published data can actually show: how easily solar pays back for the homeowner, and how much gross profit a job carries.