We build lead-generation systems for UK MCS-certified renewable energy installers. Solar PV, air-source heat pumps, ECO4 and BUS grant funnels, run end to end.
The UK renewable energy installer market is booming and broken at the same time. Booming because the BUS grant (£7,500 toward heat pump installation), ECO4 obligations, and rising energy prices have created the strongest demand signal in the industry's history. Broken because the lead-generation ecosystem is dominated by aggregators who sell the same homeowner enquiry to seven different installers, each of whom calls the homeowner within an hour and burns the customer relationship before it begins.
The installers winning right now have stopped buying leads. They've built their own customer-acquisition systems. They run Google Search for high-intent queries like 'air source heat pump grant' and 'solar panels Newcastle'. They run paid social with creative built around real installations, not stock photos. They have AI-handled enquiry qualification that converts at 3x the rate of phone tag. They own the customer relationship from first ad click to installation day and beyond.
ElevateX builds those systems. Below: the specific problems renewable installers face right now, what we ship to solve them, the regulatory and MCS landscape, and the kind of installer this works best for.
The four problems we see in nearly every renewable energy installers engagement audit. Each is independently fixable. Compounded together, they're the difference between an acquisition system that scales and one that stalls.
The lead aggregator model is broken. Most installers we audit are paying £100-£200 per lead, converting 5-10% of them, and ending up with effective cost-per-installation of £1,500-£3,000. Owned acquisition through proper paid search, paid social, and SEO consistently produces installations at £300-£800 each.
Government incentive schemes change quarterly. ECO4 obligations shift between providers. BUS grant amounts adjust. Most installers find out about changes through trade press or supplier emails and lose 30-60 days of marketing relevance. We track the policy landscape so your ads and landing pages reflect current scheme details from day one of any change.
Heat pump and solar installations are considered purchases. Homeowners take 6-14 weeks from first enquiry to signed contract. Most installers respond to the initial enquiry, follow up twice, and then go silent. The leads that quietly convert with a competitor were yours to keep — you just had nothing in place to keep them warm.
MCS certification is required for BUS grant access and is a meaningful trust signal for homeowners. Most installer websites mention it once in a footer. The installers who lead with their MCS credentials in their hero sections, treat it as a brand pillar, and explain why it matters convert significantly higher.
Six systems built end-to-end. None of this is bolted on. Every layer is designed to work alongside the others.
'Air source heat pump installation', 'solar panels [city]', 'BUS grant heat pump', 'ECO4 free boiler'. Tight ad groups, location targeting, audience signals from existing customer data. Enhanced Conversions properly configured. Generates installations at significantly lower CAC than aggregator-bought leads.
Separate pages for air-source heat pumps, solar PV, ground-source heat pumps, ECO4-eligible installations, BUS-grant pathways, battery storage. Each built around the specific homeowner journey for that technology. Government scheme details kept current as policy moves.
Homeowners who clicked but didn't enquire get retargeted across Meta and Google Display with installation gallery content and customer testimonials. The 8-14 week sales cycle gives you a long window to compound brand presence.
12-week nurture sequences walking homeowners through energy bill comparisons, installation case studies, government scheme deadlines, and seasonal urgency triggers. The systems that capture leads who would have otherwise gone cold.
Trained on BUS grant eligibility (off-gas-grid status, EPC requirements, MCS installer requirement), ECO4 eligibility (means-tested, ECO4 Flex routes, tenure), solar PV economics. Qualifies homeowners properly before they reach your team. Books surveys directly into your calendar.
Long-form content on technology comparisons, scheme guides, regional installation case studies. The slow-compound channel that pays back over years. Especially valuable in renewables where homeowners spend weeks researching before deciding.
We don't publish invented case studies or borrowed logos. What we can point to is the work we run right now: six companies in parallel for one operator — property, fintech, social housing and consumer apps — with £10M+ a year in advertising spend managed across them.
The figure beside this is real and recent. A 90-day email programme for a social-housing client: 2,878 sends, opened by 72% of recipients and clicked by 53% of the councillors it targeted. Industry benchmarks sit around 20%.
Client names are withheld by default — discretion is part of what partners pay for. On a call we'll walk you through the detail in the sector closest to yours, and tell you honestly whether we've solved your specific problem before.
Not every channel works in every niche. Here's where the money goes — and where it doesn't — across our renewable energy installers engagements.
The dominant channel for renewable installers. Captures homeowners actively researching. 'Air source heat pump installer near me', 'solar panels [area]', 'BUS grant eligibility'. CPL ranges from £40-£120 depending on technology and competition; significantly cheaper than aggregator leads at much higher quality.
Best for cold awareness and retargeting. Cold campaigns work for solar PV (the visual sells) but struggle for heat pumps (lower awareness, harder to communicate value in a single image). Retargeting is strong across both technologies given the long sales cycle.
Pure retargeting use case. Homeowners who clicked but didn't enquire get kept warm across the 8-14 week consideration period. Cheap inventory, compound brand effect, easily measured impact.
Foundational layer. Treatment-specific landing pages targeting 'technology + city' keywords compound over 6-12 months. Especially powerful in this niche because homeowner research is deep and Google-trusting.
Underrated. Coverage in Solar Power Portal, Renewable Energy Hub, and similar publications builds backlink authority and lends credibility for homeowner-facing content.
We don't recommend cutting aggregator spend until owned channels are producing comparable volume. Phase-down approach typically takes 3-6 months. Cold-turkey transitions create installation-volume gaps.
Regulatory awareness isn't optional in this niche. Here's what we factor into every campaign, landing page, and creative we ship.
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The lead-generation system we build for MCS-certified installers — without buying a single aggregator lead.
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Different industries, same playbook structure. The systems compound across verticals where there's regulatory complexity and high-ticket clients.
Both. Single-trade installers are common in solar specifically. Multi-trade is more common in heat pump-plus-solar combinations. The marketing principles are identical; the campaign structure adjusts based on which technologies are in the offering.
We maintain a live scheme tracker for renewable installer clients. When policy adjusts — which happens quarterly with limited notice — landing page copy, ad creative, and nurture content updates within days. Most installers find out about scheme changes weeks after they happen; we don't let our clients have that lag.
Yes. Most renewable installers have a 60-90 minute service radius around their depot. Campaign geo-targeting matches that radius precisely. Local SEO content targets the specific towns and cities within range.
Six months minimum for installers doing 20-40 installations per month. The owned acquisition channels need 90-120 days to reach productive spend levels and another 30-60 days to scale to volumes that replace aggregator output. Faster transitions create installation volume gaps that damage operations.
Productive minimum for owned acquisition is £3,000/month combined across Google Search, Meta, and Display. £5,000-£8,000/month is where serious volume growth happens. These figures are separate from any existing aggregator lead spend and should run in parallel for the first 3-6 months.
Yes, though commercial-scale renewable marketing is a different specialism (longer sales cycles, multi-stakeholder buying processes, RFP-driven). We've handled commercial-scale acquisition for one installer client and the playbook adjusts significantly. We'll be honest about fit on the strategy call.
Each is a meaningful trust signal that should appear alongside MCS in the credential stack on landing pages and creative. We don't help installers acquire these memberships (that's a separate compliance process) but we make sure they're prominently displayed in marketing where you hold them.
30-minute strategy call. We audit your current marketing live, identify the gaps, and map a custom plan. Zero pressure. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
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