Be first to the solar lead that was just sold to 2 other installers

The tax credit died on December 31, 2025: follow-up is now the whole game

Since January 1, 2026, a homeowner who buys solar with cash or a loan gets no federal tax credit: Section 25D expired with no phase-down under the budget law signed July 4, 2025 (EnergySage). The 30% credit survives only through Section 48E on third-party-owned systems, leases and PPAs, and in practice mainly for projects that begin construction by July 4, 2026; later starts must be in service by December 31, 2027 to qualify (Electrek, May 13, 2026).

The H2 2025 rush pulled demand forward, the "30% off from the IRS" opener is gone, and the 2026 close now runs through financing math most homeowners have never heard of. Lead costs didn't drop to match: shared solar leads run $35–$125 each, get sold to 2–3 installers, and close at 3–5%; exclusives run $100–$200+ and close at 8–15%; either way the effective acquisition cost lands at $1,000–$2,500 per signed deal (LeadGen Economy, 2026). The same guide measures contact rates improving 20–30% when leads are worked during business hours, exactly when your crews are on roofs and your closers are at kitchen tables.

That gap is what we automate: a response-and-nurture layer that contacts every new lead in under 60 seconds, runs financing-objection sequences that can explain lease-versus-loan post-25D, and chases proposals through your design tools. It is the solar-specific build of our AI automation service.

What you get

Every item below runs in accounts you own and names the tool it runs on.

• Lead-source intake: webhooks from EnergySage, SolarReviews, Meta lead forms, and your site into one pipeline (n8n)

• Sub-60-second first touch: SMS plus a voice attempt on every lead, seven days a week (Twilio or Telnyx, Claude)

• Missed-call text-back on your main line, the same math we documented for contractors who miss calls

• After-hours AI phone answering that books site surveys into your calendar

• Financing-objection nurture: a 12-touch, 60-day sequence covering loan vs. lease/PPA vs. cash, written against current Section 48E rules

• Safe-harbor deadline sequence for prospects who can still begin construction before July 4, 2026, factual deadlines only, no manufactured scarcity

• Proposal follow-up triggered by Aurora Solar or OpenSolar proposal events, not by guesswork

• Site-survey confirmation and reminder flows that cut no-shows

• Pipeline build in your CRM (HubSpot or GoHighLevel): lead → contact → survey → proposal → contract → permit → install → PTO

• Permit and interconnection status updates that answer "where's my project" before the phone rings

• Post-PTO review requests and a referral sequence into your installed base

• TCPA hygiene: consent capture at the form, quiet-hours enforcement, automatic opt-out handling, logged consent records

• Monthly reporting on cost per contact, per survey set, and per signed kW

Out of scope: we do not sell leads, we do not canvass, and we are not a financing broker.

Solar workflows we build

Six builds installers scope with us most often. For the difference between a real agent and a plain drip campaign, read AI agents vs. automation.

The shared-lead race. A marketplace lead is being dialed by two or three shops within minutes. Our agent texts and calls in under 60 seconds, confirms roof ownership, utility, and rough usage, and books the survey while competitors are still ringing.

The dead-credit objection. "Why buy now that the credit's gone?" gets a sequence, not a shrug: third-party ownership still carries the 30% credit through 2027, utility-rate escalation does the rest, and the agent hands off to your closer the moment a prospect replies with a real question.

Proposal ghosting. An Aurora or OpenSolar proposal gets opened twice, then silence. A 21-day sequence keys off view events: financing re-framing on day 3, a payment-comparison touch on day 7, quote-expiry notice on day 18.

Survey no-shows. Confirmation at booking, reminder at 24 hours and 2 hours, one-tap reschedule. Crews stop driving to empty driveways.

Install-to-referral. PTO triggers a review request and a neighbor-referral offer. Against a $1,000–$2,500 purchased-lead acquisition cost, every referral the sequence produces is the cheapest deal you will sign all year.

Battery and service reactivation. Outreach into your past-customer base for storage retrofits, panel service, and monitoring upgrades, revenue that needs zero new leads.

How an engagement runs

1. Scope call, 45 minutes. Lead sources, CRM, proposal stack, call volume, financing products offered.

2. Audit and design, 5 business days. Workflow map plus TCPA consent review; you approve before anything is built.

3. Build, 2 to 3 weeks. Constructed inside your n8n, CRM, and telephony accounts, not ours.

4. Supervised launch, 2 weeks. A human reviews transcripts daily, escalation thresholds get tuned, and the rollback plan is documented before full volume.

5. Operate, monthly. Reporting by cost per survey set and per signed kW, not vanity open rates.

What this work costs in the market

Agencies serving solar installers charge $2,500–$8,000 per month, the second-highest retainer band of 15 verticals ranked for 2026 (NetPartners); the figure comes from one agency-ecosystem source, so treat it as directional. What moves a quote inside that band: the number of lead sources to integrate, monthly call and SMS volume, voice-agent minutes, whether lease/PPA products are in scope, and existing TCPA consent infrastructure. For the underlying component costs, models, telephony, orchestration, see how much an AI agent costs. The low end of that band buys roughly 25–70 shared leads a month closing at 3–5%. We don't publish a rate card because integration count swings the work by weeks, we quote your exact scope at /contact.

Why installers pick us

1. We build agents that survive. 75% of enterprises rolled back customer-facing AI agents, citing data exposure (31%), hallucination (22%), and missing diagnostics (16%) (Sinch survey, n=2,500+, May 2026). Our builds ship with transcripts, audit trails, and a documented rollback plan, more in why companies are rolling back AI agents.

2. You own everything. The n8n instance, the CRM, and the phone numbers are registered to your business. Fire us and it keeps running.

3. Model-agnostic by contract. We pick the cheapest adequate model per task, and your sequence copy and routing logic live in plain text you can hand to anyone.

FAQ

Does this work with shared leads from EnergySage or SolarReviews?
Yes, shared leads are where speed matters most, because the same homeowner is sold to 2–3 installers. The agent fires an SMS and a call attempt in under 60 seconds and keeps a persistence schedule a human team rarely sustains past day two.

What does follow-up even say now that the 30% homeowner credit is gone?
Three things with substance: third-party ownership still carries the 30% credit under Section 48E through 2027, projects starting construction before July 4, 2026 get the longest runway, and utility-rate escalation math stands on its own. Every claim is checked against current IRS guidance before launch.

How do you keep SMS sequences TCPA-clean?
Consent is captured at the form with the exact disclosure language, quiet hours are enforced by timezone, opt-outs are processed automatically and logged, and the consent record is stored against each contact. We design to current TCPA requirements but we are not your law firm, your counsel signs off.

Who owns the workflows, phone numbers, and CRM when we part ways?
You do, from day one. Everything is built inside accounts registered to your company, and the design documents and sequence copy are delivered as files. There is no proprietary platform between you and your pipeline.

We already tried an AI dialer and shut it off. Why would this be different?
Most shutdowns trace to the three causes Sinch measured: data exposure, hallucination, and no diagnostics. We launch supervised, review transcripts daily for two weeks, cap what the agent may claim about pricing and incentives, and document the rollback path before volume ramps.

Get a scope and quote

If your leads cost $1,000–$2,500 per signed deal, the response layer is not overhead, it is the margin. Tell us your lead sources, CRM, and monthly volume, we'll return a scoped quote at /contact.

Related: AI automation for home services covers the roofing and HVAC side of the same economics, and paid ads feeds the system first-party leads instead of shared ones.