CASE STUDY · SOLAR INSTALLER · 4 MIN READ
Hunter Build and Solar: A Residential Installer's First Seven Leads, and the Three He Closed
- qualified leads sat at the interview
- 7
- qualified leads sat at the interview
- closed straight away
- 3
- closed straight away
- a job, each a one-day install
- About £7k
- a job, each a one-day install
- the type of work in this interview
- Residential
- the type of work in this interview
In short
Jason Hunter owns and runs Hunter Build and Solar in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. This interview is about residential (domestic) solar: he had spoken to our team about commercial work, but as he was fairly new he wanted to start with homes. After being let down by Facebook ad providers and a high-pressure sales pitch, he started with TNW Marketing, the team behind Solar Surveys UK. At the interview he had sat seven qualified leads and closed three straight away, at around £7,000 a job, done as one-day installs.
Who Jason is, and why this was residential
Jason Hunter is the owner and managing director of Hunter Build and Solar, based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in East Anglia. He had spoken to Roman about commercial work, "but because I was quite new to it, I was more interested in the residential really." So everything on this page is about homes, not businesses.
If you are newer to solar too, our guides to starting a solar business and MCS certification cover the set-up side.
What happened with Facebook ads
Jason spent about a year and a half talking to lead generation companies and tried Meta ads, Facebook and Instagram, more than once. One provider quoted "500 pound a month" to advertise, which he thought was very low. Two weeks in, another £500 invoice arrived, and he was asked for his card for the ad spend, with "nearly 400 quid in the first two weeks" spent and nothing coming in.
I said at the beginning, it just sounds too cheap, and it was just too cheap.
Ads can work, but they take budget, testing and someone who knows the rules. Our guide to solar advertising on Google and Facebook sets out what running them really takes.
The no-pressure chat that wasn't
The day before he spoke to our team, another company pitched him an in-house lead generation system. It started as a relaxed chat he could think about over the weekend, and ended very differently:
It was literally like a gun to my head telling me I've got to have it.
His answer: "I just said, walk away then." By contrast, he says our team explained how it would work plainly, and he decided by the end of that call. Our guide to choosing a solar lead company has the checks worth making whoever you talk to.
Seven leads sat, three closed
At the interview Jason had sat seven qualified leads: "Three of them are closed off straight away." Each is a home installation of around £7,000, and he planned to fit them from the 15th, each done in a day.
Our team's view was that speed helped: from the day his leads went live, Jason was on them straight away. On residential jobs the paperwork after the fit matters as much as the sale; our guide to the MCS Installations Database covers registering each job, and the Warm Homes Loan guide explains how installers can offer the government-backed loans to homeowners.
You only pay for appointments that are actually attended, and any that aren't viable we replace.
Support when lead generation is new to you
Jason had been on the fence about lead generation and told Connor at the start that he was worried, because it is not his strength. Connor promised the team would be there every step of the way, and Jason says it has been:
I can message Dan and he is back to me within minutes all the time.
He was taking on more people at the interview: "I've got more guys starting for me now. We're really gonna push it out there."
The full interview is in the video above. TNW Marketing's own write-up of Jason Hunter's interview is on tnwmarketing.com. More installers talk about their leads in our case studies and on the reviews page.
Hunter Build and Solar case study: FAQ
Is the Hunter Build and Solar case study about commercial solar?
No. This interview is about residential (domestic) solar. Jason Hunter had spoken to our team about commercial work, but as he was fairly new to solar he chose to start with homes.
How many of his leads did Jason close?
Three of the first seven qualified leads he sat closed straight away, at around £7,000 a job, each a one-day install.
What went wrong with Facebook ads?
One provider quoted £500 a month, then asked for another £500 after two weeks and wanted his card for the ad spend, with nearly £400 spent and nothing coming in. In his words: "it just sounds too cheap, and it was just too cheap."
Would Jason recommend the team behind Solar Surveys UK?
Yes, "100%". He said: "I'm just really happy that I went ahead with it."
Related guides
- How to start a solar panel business
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- MCS certification for solar installers
How to get and keep MCS: standards, certification bodies, consumer codes, costs.
- MCS Installations Database (MID)
Registering a job, the deadline, the fee and issuing the MCS certificate.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme for installers
How installers offer the government-backed loans on home solar and batteries.
- Solar advertising: Google and Facebook ads
Targeting, landing pages, ad rules and what running ads really takes.
- How to choose a solar lead company
Seven checks before you pay a lead supplier anything.
- All case studies
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