Rooftop solar in India has grown fast since PM Surya Ghar, and so has the number of installers. Many small firms grow quickly for a year and then stumble: cash runs out, quality slips as new crews are hired, or the monsoon empties the order book. This lesson is about growing steadily, with the numbers in view.
Lead sources: cost and quality
Not all leads are equal. Track for each source: cost per lead, conversion to orders, and average order value.
| Source | Cost | Typical quality | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals from customers | Low | High | Ask every happy customer (lesson 4) |
| Society / RWA talks and camps | Low–medium | High | One visible system sells many |
| Local electricians and contractors | Referral fee | Medium–high | Train them; protect their relationship |
| National portal vendor selection | Low | Medium | Customers choose from registered vendors in their DISCOM |
| Google Business Profile and maps | Low | Medium–high | Reviews and photos drive it |
| Paid online ads and lead aggregators | Medium–high | Low–medium | Many leads are shared with several installers |
| Newspaper inserts, hoardings | Medium | Low–medium | Brand awareness in smaller towns |
| Banks and loan camps | Low | Medium | Customers already financed |
Keep a simple lead register (date, source, stage, outcome). After three months you will know which sources make money.
Partners
Local electricians
Every neighbourhood has an electrician the families trust. Make them partners: - Pay a fair, disclosed referral fee on commissioned jobs. - Train them in survey basics and safety; the national Suryamitra skill programme and your own sessions both help. - Never go around them to their customers. - Some can grow into your installation crews or service partners.
Distributors and manufacturers
- Negotiate credit terms (even 15–30 days helps cash flow) once you have a payment record.
- Prefer suppliers who stock DCR modules reliably and honour warranty claims quickly.
- Ask for training and technical support on inverters; it reduces your service calls.
Financiers
Bank tie-ups for PM Surya Ghar loans, and NBFCs for customers who do not qualify, widen your market. Learn each lender's documents and disbursement rules, and train your sales team on them.
Builders, architects and societies
New buildings can be designed for solar (structure points, cable ducts, inverter space). Societies decide once for many flats. Both need patience and a good reference project.
Capacity: crews and cash
Crew capacity
A trained crew of four typically installs a 3–5 kW residential system in about two days, including travel and testing. With about 24 working days a month and time lost to weather, revisits and travel, a realistic plan is about 10 jobs per crew per month, fewer in the monsoon.
To grow from 10 to 30 jobs a month you need three crews, three sets of tools and test instruments, transport, and supervisors who check quality. Hire and train ahead of the season, not during it.
Worked example: working capital
You plan 20 residential jobs a month at ₹2,02,272 each (material cost ₹1,36,200), with the 20/60/15/5 payment terms from lesson 3.
- Retention outstanding: 20% of each contract (the last two milestones) is typically collected 30–60 days after installation. 20 jobs × ₹40,454 ≈ ₹8.1 lakh per month's cohort; with an average delay of about 1.5 months, roughly ₹12 lakh is outstanding at any time.
- Stock and timing gaps: if suppliers want payment a week before delivery and the customer pays 60% on delivery, you carry about a week of material: roughly 5 jobs × ₹1,36,200 ≈ ₹6.8 lakh.
- Total working capital need: about ₹18–19 lakh, before overheads.
Ways to reduce it: supplier credit, faster DISCOM follow-up, the 45-day cap on the last payment, and a bank working-capital limit arranged before you need it.
The Indian solar year
Demand and installation conditions follow the seasons. The pattern below is typical for north and central India; adjust for your region (the south-west and north-east monsoons arrive at different times, and the far south has milder summers).
Plan the work to the season
- January–February: hire and train crews, stock up, confirm supplier credit, launch campaigns before bills rise.
- March–May: peak orders and installs. Start early each day to beat the heat (module 9, lesson 1). Protect quality: supervisors on site, checklists, no rushed jobs. Commercial customers buy before 31 March for tax planning (solar assets have attracted accelerated depreciation; confirm the current rate with a CA).
- June–September (monsoon): fewer roof days. Use the time for DISCOM paperwork, follow-ups, O&M and CMC visits (pre- and post-monsoon checks), surveys and proposals for the next season, commercial projects with longer sales cycles, and training.
- October–November: festive buying; good weather for installation in most regions.
- December: good installation weather in the south and west; plan next year's targets.
The numbers to track every month
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Leads by source and conversion rate | Which marketing works |
| Cost of acquiring a customer | Marketing and sales spend ÷ orders |
| Average order value and margin per job | Whether growth is profitable |
| Days from order to installation, and to net meter | Operational speed; where delays sit |
| Receivables outstanding (₹ and days) | Cash risk |
| Complaints per 100 systems and repeat visits | Quality |
| Specific yield of installed systems vs design | Engineering quality |
| Reviews and referrals per month | Reputation |
Start with a spreadsheet. Software helps once the habit exists.
Key points
- Track every lead source by cost, conversion and order value; referrals and society work are usually the best.
- Build real partnerships with electricians, distributors, financiers, builders and societies.
- Plan capacity at about 10 residential jobs per crew per month, and hire and train before the season.
- Forecast working capital: retentions and supplier timing can tie up lakhs per month of volume.
- Plan the year around summer demand, monsoon slowdown, festive buying and financial year-end, and track a few key metrics monthly.
Check yourself
- A crew does about 10 jobs a month. How many crews do you need for 35 jobs a month?
- What productive work can a solar installer do in the monsoon months?
- Name three numbers to review every month.
Answers
- Four crews (35 ÷ 10 = 3.5, rounded up), plus supervision.
- Any of: DISCOM follow-ups, O&M and CMC visits, surveys and proposals for the next season, commercial project sales, training and hiring.
- Any three of: leads and conversion by source, customer acquisition cost, average order value and margin, days to installation and net meter, receivables, complaints per 100 systems, specific yield vs design, reviews and referrals.