Part Four
How to get started
There are several ways for roofers to enter the solar market, meaning you can start small and work your way up. In this section, we’ll go over four ways you can start adding solar to your roofing business.
Strategy 1
Selling a lead to a partner
The easiest way to get started is simply by selling leads to partner companies. When you install a roof for a customer, you instantly know two things:
- Their roof is new and ready for solar
- They’re open to making home improvements
Sending this information to a local solar installer in your area is a great way to earn referral income with almost no additional work.
Strategy 2
Selling a converted lead to a partner
If you’d like to earn an even higher commission, you could also do a little bit of the leg work for your solar partner by pre-qualifying the homeowner.
Since you’re already speaking with the homeowner about their roof anyway, it’s very easy to ask, “Would you like me to just see if you qualify for installing solar? There’s no obligation, but it could be useful information.”
If they say yes, you can quickly qualify them using Aurora. All you have to do is:
- Get 1 month of the electricity bill
- Do a site design with just 1-click (takes about 30 seconds)
- Add solar panels to the design (again with 1-click)
This will let the homeowner see what solar could look like on their home. It’s also very valuable information for your solar partner and they’ll be happy to pay for it. In 2022, for example, solar companies paid $500-$2,000 for qualified leads, depending on the area.
Strategy 3
Selling a solar system and letting a third-party install it
If you would like to earn even more, you could go even further by closing the solar sale yourself. This would mean you would do all the steps mentioned above, plus three more:
- Sizing the system appropriately for the home and energy usage
- Going over financing options with the homeowner
- Sending the homeowner a proposal to sign
Once you’ve sold the deal, you can partner with a solar installation company who can take care of the installation. This is a fairly common way of selling solar, so it’s easier to set up then you might think.
Strategy 4
Selling and installing the system yourself
To maximize your profits, you can do both the selling and installing of the solar system yourself. This is by far the most involved way of making money from solar, but it’s also the most profitable.
This is also where smart solar software can make things much easier. If you decide to install the system yourself, you’ll need to model fire pathways, make sure production numbers are accurate, and submit permitting to your local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).
Luckily, Aurora can help with all of the above. Aurora allows you to take care of all these processes inside the platform and, in many cases, can even automate these processes for you.
If you’d like to see how Aurora can take you from beginning to end, sign up for a free demo today.
