Exclusive appointments vs shared solar leads.
Shared solar marketplaces sell the same homeowner interest into a pool of installers all chasing the same household. We book you an exclusive, double-confirmed consultation appointment instead. Here is exactly how the two compare, with every competitor number sourced.
Average lead spend per closed job on shared solar marketplaces nationally, ranging from about $500 in Texas and Florida to about $2,000 in California and Massachusetts.
What exclusive solar leads run compared to shared ones, by industry estimates, though they convert far better.
How fast homeowner interest decays if it is not confirmed quickly, by industry estimates.
You are not buying an appointment. You are buying a queue.
On the big solar marketplaces, a homeowner fills out one form and that interest gets sold into a pool of installers. You are not the only company calling. You are one name in a rotation, and the household has no idea how many other pitches are already on the way.
The cost of that model shows up on the bottom line. Nationally, installers spend about $1,400 in lead costs per closed job through shared marketplaces, with the range running from roughly $500 in lower-cost markets like Texas and Florida up to about $2,000 in higher-cost markets like California and Massachusetts. That figure is the price of winning the race to a shared lead often enough to close a job, not the price of a guaranteed, confirmed conversation.
Exclusive leads sit at the other end of the spectrum. Exclusive solar leads run about 3x the price of shared ones, by industry estimates, but they convert far better because the homeowner is not being split across a pool of competing installers at the same time. We take that logic one step further: instead of selling you a raw exclusive lead, we book and double-confirm the consultation itself, so the only thing left for your team to do is show up and sell.
Lead marketplaces have a paper trail.
Solar is not the only vertical these marketplaces touch, and the enforcement record around shared, resold leads applies to the model generally, not just to one trade. In 2023, the FTC issued a final order requiring HomeAdvisor, one of the largest shared-lead marketplaces in home services, to pay up to $7.2 million over misleading claims about its lead quality. That is the same marketplace model solar installers buy into when they pay for shared leads: pay first, hope the homeowner is real and reachable second.
Meanwhile, vendors who already sell exclusive access charge accordingly. Exclusive, pay-per-call solar leads run $24.85 to $29.85 per call on the open market. Exclusivity is not a marketing word here. Installers already pay a real premium for it because an exclusive, single-buyer conversation is worth more than a homeowner being pitched by a rotation of competing installers.
Speed compounds the problem for shared leads. Homeowner interest in solar decays within 48 to 72 hours if it is not confirmed fast, by industry estimates. Real-time leads that get contacted right away close at roughly 3 to 10%, industry estimates say, while the broader lead-to-close range across the industry runs about 8 to 12%. A shared lead sitting in a marketplace queue is losing value by the hour.
Shared leads vs exclusive appointments.
Same goal, a homeowner consultation, but a different starting point. Here is what changes when you move from a shared lead marketplace to exclusive, double-confirmed appointments.
Marketplace figures above are competitors' published terms and public records, cited throughout this page. See the full offer on the solar appointments overview or how it works.
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When shared leads make sense.
Shared leads are not a scam, they are a volume model, and volume has a place. If you run a large inside sales team that can dial fast, contact leads within minutes, and absorb a high rate of dead ends without it costing you install capacity, shared leads can still deliver cheap top-of-funnel interest. They can also be useful for testing a brand-new territory, where the goal is raw signal on demand rather than a guaranteed conversation. The economics only work if your team treats cost-per-lead as the metric that matters and has the bandwidth to out-dial the other installers chasing the same household.
When exclusive appointments win.
If your sales team's time is worth more than a stack of maybe-real leads, exclusive appointments win. Interest decays within 48 to 72 hours by industry estimates, so a lead sitting in a shared queue is already losing value while your team waits its turn. We remove the queue entirely: the homeowner has already agreed to a specific time, matches the criteria you set at kickoff, and is double-confirmed before the slot.
That is the difference between paying for a chance and paying for a conversation. Your reps stop dialing unreachable numbers and start selling to homeowners who are expecting the call, and every appointment is exclusive to you, so you are not competing with the next installer in the same rotation.
Shared leads vs appointments, answered.
What is a shared solar lead?
How much do shared solar leads actually cost?
Are VA Horizon's solar appointments exclusive?
What happens if the homeowner does not show up?
Why does speed matter so much in solar?
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Commercial disclosure: VA Horizon authored this page and is a competing provider. No payment, affiliate commission, or endorsement from the compared company is claimed. Favorable VA Horizon statements are first-party positioning, not independent proof.
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