Where can solar installers buy leads in Ireland – and how do you tell if a lead is grant-ready?

What kinds of lead sources exist for solar installers in Ireland?

There are five routes to bought work: job marketplaces, subscription platforms, lead packages for registered installers, comparison sites that charge a fee, and brokers that route homeowner requests by area. Directories of registered installers are a related channel. For the wider picture, see the solar installer guide for Ireland.

Two registers matter even if you never buy a lead: the SEAI register of solar PV companies, which lists more than 500 firms (SEAI register, November 2026), and Safe Electric’s “find a REC” search, which the CRU points homeowners to. Listing starts with registration: see solar PV installer qualifications.

How do Irish solar lead sellers describe their own model?

Each seller below is described as its own website puts it, as read in November 2026. We have not verified any of it.

• Solar Info offers leads for SEAI-registered installers in packages agreed by county and volume. It says each lead is shared with only a few installers and that homeowners reach it by searching Google.
• SolarSelect.ie describes itself as a list of every SEAI-registered solar installer in Ireland, and says it is not affiliated with SEAI.
• The Eco Experts is UK-based. By its own account it receives a fee from installers when it connects them with a homeowner, and it vets and tests installers before they receive enquiries.
• Bark, according to its own website, November 2026: requests are free to see, you buy credits and use them to contact customers, and the cost in credits is shown before you reply. Credits expire after 3 months, the first credit pack carries a guarantee, and there is no commission.
• OnlineTradesmen.ie, according to its own website, November 2026: a monthly membership with no fixed term, and qualification requirements. A job goes to qualified tradespeople in the area, and the interested ones respond, so the homeowner receives several quotes. Our guide to job platforms for electricians covers Bark and OnlineTradesmen.ie.

What makes a solar lead grant-ready in Ireland?

A grant-ready lead is one where the homeowner could plausibly qualify for the SEAI Solar Electricity Grant. As of November 2026, SEAI’s grant page sets out these conditions: the home has an MPRN, it was built and occupied before 2025, and there has been no earlier solar grant on that MPRN. Approval must be in place before work starts, and the homeowner then has 8 months to complete the works and submit the documents.

A name and a phone number show none of that. Check which of these the supplier collects:

• MPRN
• Build year
• Any earlier solar grant on that MPRN
• Eircode and county: they tell you whether the address is inside your area.

Treat everything else as questions for your first call. Our guide to qualifying solar leads covers the call, and selling with the SEAI solar grant covers the grant process. Grant conditions change, so check SEAI’s page before you quote.

Shared or exclusive: what is the difference, and what does the evidence say?

A shared lead goes to more than one installer, and an exclusive lead goes to one. Neither word has a fixed meaning in this market, so ask each supplier what it covers.

We found no independent Irish study comparing close rates for shared and exclusive solar leads. The figures in circulation come from sellers, so treat them as their claims, not as measurement.

With sharing, other installers may be calling the same homeowner, so a fast first call matters more; see solar lead response time.

Compare sources on cost per won job, not cost per lead. Cost per won job is your total spend on a source divided by the jobs you won from it, which equals cost per lead divided by your own close rate. If you win one job from every ten leads, a job costs ten times what a lead costs.

The full formula is in the cost of winning a heat pump customer; the arithmetic is the same for solar.

How do the lead models compare, and what should you check in each?

The models differ in how you pay, how many installers see each request and what you can verify first.

Which questions should you ask a lead supplier before you sign up?

Ask eight things, and get the answers in writing, because a verbal assurance does not help when you dispute a lead later.

1. How many installers get each lead, and is it ever resold?
2. Where does the traffic come from?
3. What did the homeowner agree to? Ask for the exact consent wording and a record per lead. The Data Protection Commission explains that electronic direct marketing is regulated by S.I. 336/2011 on top of GDPR; our guide to contacting leads legally goes through the rules.
4. What does the form collect? Eircode, county, ownership, build year, MPRN and earlier grant are the useful fields.
5. What happens when a lead is unusable? Ask for the replacement rules: what counts, how you report it and how it is settled.
6. Can you set your area and a cap? Filters and a weekly maximum protect you from leads you cannot serve.
7. How are leads delivered, and can you pause? Ask how quickly a pause takes effect.
8. Is there a binding period or a minimum volume?

What can we say about our own leads?

Smart Solar passes on solar PV enquiries from private homeowners to installers and installs nothing itself, so put the same questions to us.

• Source and consent: requests come through smart-solar.ie and Facebook ads with a form. The homeowner fills in the form and consents to installers contacting them about quotes.
• Sharing: our leads are not exclusive and can also go to other installers. The same enquiry is never sent twice to the same installer.
• Content: contact details, an address with Eircode and county, annual usage, roof pitch, a satellite-based roof and solar assessment and image where available, and the homeowner’s wishes on battery and finance. We check the Eircode against the official register.
• Area and cap: you choose counties or Eircode areas and set your own weekly cap. The cap is a maximum, not a guarantee, and you can ask us to raise or lower it.
• Terms: delivery is by email as standard, and other methods can be agreed in writing. You pay a fixed price per delivered lead, with no commission, success fee or sales reporting. The standard agreement has no binding period, can be ended with 14 days’ written notice and is not exclusive, though individual agreements may differ.
• Unusable leads: a lead cannot be rejected only because the homeowner chose another installer or did not buy.

How do you test a new lead source with little risk?

Start small, decide your success measures before the first lead arrives, and judge the source on cost per won job.

1. Cap the volume at what you can call the same day, in one or two counties you can reach quickly.
2. Write down what a good lead means for you: reachable, owner-occupier, plausible for the grant and inside your area.
3. Log every lead: source, time received, time of first call and outcome (reached, survey booked, quote sent, won).
4. Run it for one full cycle, from first call to the customer’s decision.
5. Work out cost per won job and compare it with your referrals and other channels.
6. Decide whether to widen the area, tighten the filters or stop. Keep a second source running to compare.

What are the typical mistakes when buying solar leads?

• Comparing sources on cost per lead instead of cost per won job.
• Not asking how many other installers receive the same lead.
• Treating every lead as grant-ready without checking the MPRN, build year and earlier grant.
• Assuming that buying a lead settles consent, without seeing the wording.
• Keeping no records, so a replacement request has nothing behind it.