What does an installed system actually cost you to land?
Quick answer: divide price per lead or appointment by your show rate times your close rate. Pick a preset to load sourced numbers for aged leads, exclusive leads, or VA Horizon appointments, or drag every slider to match your own market.
Price, divided by show rate times close rate.
Pick a preset to load sourced pricing and close-rate bands, or drag every slider to match your own numbers. Every output updates instantly and stays on your device.
Your Inputs
Start from a preset, then adjust anything to match your market.
Industry data puts the no-show rate at 30 to 40% even for paid leads, implying a 60 to 70% show rate.
Your Cost Per Install
Estimate based on the inputs you set. Not a guarantee.
Three numbers, one division.
This tool runs one calculation with two conversion stages: how many of a lead or appointment show up for a real conversation, and how many of those shows turn into an install.
Cost per installed system
Price divided by show rate times close rate. A $1.00 aged lead at 65% show and 10% close costs $1.00 ÷ 0.065, or about $15.38 per install.
Leads or appointments needed
The inverse of show rate times close rate. At 65% and 10%, you need 1 ÷ 0.065, or about 15.4, on average to land one install.
Why show rate is separate
Close rate alone hides how many leads or appointments never even reach a live conversation. Splitting out show rate makes that cost visible instead of buried inside one blended number.
Aged leads and exclusive leads are raw contact records: show rate here represents how many actually turn into a live, qualified conversation, and close rate represents how many of those conversations become an install. For VA Horizon's booked appointments, the appointment itself is already scheduled and double-confirmed, so show rate represents the appointment's own show-up rate rather than a cold-contact rate.
This calculator will not always show VA Horizon as the cheapest option. At the low end of aged-lead pricing, a $0.17 to $1.00 lead can post a lower cost per install on paper than a $249 appointment, even at a lower close rate, because the raw unit price is so much lower. What that low price does not capture is the volume of dead numbers and already-sold records behind it, which is exactly what the show-rate slider is built to let you model honestly.
Every default, traced to a source.
No number on this page is invented. Here is exactly where each default came from.
- Aged lead pricing by age tier ($0.17 to $3.00): Aged Lead Store, solar installation leads pricing and Invention Solar, how much do solar leads cost.
- Exclusive lead pricing, $80 to $150 fresh cluster: VA Horizon research synthesis across multiple exclusive solar lead and appointment vendors, cross-referencing RunsForYou, Omnivortex, and Solar Exclusive.
- General lead-to-close band (8 to 12%, single-source): AgentZap, solar lead statistics.
- Exclusive close-rate band (25 to 35%): industry-estimated range, consistent with AgentZap's finding that exclusive leads convert meaningfully better than shared or aged ones.
- No-show rate (30 to 40%, informing the 65% show-rate default): existing VA Horizon research plus industry sources via Invention Solar.
- VA Horizon pricing ($300 one-time setup + $249 per booked appointment): published VA Horizon solar pricing. See how solar pricing works.
Cost per install, answered.
How is cost per installed system calculated?
What is a realistic close rate for aged solar leads?
What is a realistic close rate for exclusive solar leads or appointments?
Is VA Horizon always the cheapest option per install?
What is show rate and why does it matter?
Want appointments already booked, not just leads?
VA Horizon books exclusive, double-confirmed solar consultation appointments at a flat $249 per booked appointment, plus a flat $300 one-time setup. No-shows are replaced free. Book a 15-minute call to see your exact rate.
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