Solar Appointment Setting Outsourcing

Last updated: 2026-04-27

Why Solar Installers Are Moving to Dedicated Live Transfer

Marketplace shared solar leads at $50 to $100 each used to be the default. The same contact gets sold to four installers, consent provenance is fuzzy, and conversion is poor. That model worked when solar payback periods were short and contracts closed on volume. Under tightened post-NEM 3.0 economics in California and stricter ICP requirements nationally, marketplace shared transfers have stopped paying back for many installers.

The shift is to dedicated nearshore appointment setting at $12 to $18 per hour fully loaded, with exclusive ownership of the lead, recorded consent, and a qualification stack tuned to the installer's actual close drivers. Three things made this shift possible:

• Caribbean and Colombian wage parity. Native and near-native English agents in Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, and Colombia at $12 to $18 per hour all-in. Onshore US solar appointment setters cost $25 to $38 per hour fully loaded for the same work.
• TCPA enforcement intensified. A single recurring violation (autodialed calls without prior express written consent, or calls into the federal or a state DNC list) compounds into hundreds of thousands of dollars in $500 to $1,500 per-call statutory damages plus class action exposure. Marketplace shared providers cannot offer the consent provenance needed to defend.
• QA and recording infrastructure matured. 100 percent recording, automated transcript scoring, and weekly script tuning are now standard at nearshore BPOs. Installers get a feedback loop from sit-to-close data that marketplaces do not provide.

The fuller framing of warm-transfer vs marketplace lead economics is in our live transfer call center guide. The deeper compliance walkthrough is in our TCPA compliance for call center outsourcing writeup.

The TCPA + State DNC Stack

Solar dialing sits on top of federal TCPA plus a state-by-state DNC posture. CFG runs the same compliance backbone for every state and adds state-specific overlays where needed. The components:

• Federal TCPA. B2C calls made via autodialer or prerecorded message require prior express written consent. Statutory damages are $500 to $1,500 per call. Refer to our TCPA guide for the full breakdown.
• Federal Do Not Call registry. Scrub every lead at the time of dial against the federal DNC list. No calls to listed numbers without an established business relationship or specific written exemption.
• State DNC registers. California, Texas, Florida, and several other states maintain their own DNC lists. CFG scrubs against the relevant state register at the time of dial based on the called party state.
• Time-of-day rules. No calls before 8am or after 9pm at the called party local time. The dialer enforces at the lead level so cross-zone errors are not possible.
• Recorded consent. Every transferred call captures recorded verbal confirmation of intent and consent for the appointment, the warm transfer, and any follow-up communication.
• Lead source documentation. Consent provenance traceable back to the original opt-in event, including the specific business named on the consent record.
• Internal suppression and revocation. Opt-outs, do-not-contact requests, and revocations honored immediately, persistently, and across all CFG campaigns for the requesting consumer.

State Coverage Across the Top US Solar Markets

The top US solar markets by installed PV capacity are California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Each has a distinct grid posture and a distinct ICP that the qualification stack should reflect.

For state-specific deep dives, see California solar appointment setting and Texas solar appointment setting.

CFG Live Transfer Process

The process is dialer-driven and recorded end to end. Every step is auditable. Every call is graded against the QA scorecard.

1. Lead ingest and TCPA review. Lead source consent provenance reviewed before any dialing. Federal DNC plus state DNC plus internal suppression scrubbed at the time of dial. Time-of-day rules applied at the lead level.
2. Qualification call. Agent runs the configured qualification stack: bill amount, ownership, roof condition, shading, decision-maker presence, motivation, and any installer-specific gates such as battery interest or roof age.
3. Recorded consent capture. Inside the call, the agent captures recorded verbal confirmation of intent and consent for the appointment, transfer, and follow-up.
4. Warm transfer or appointment set. Qualified prospect is transferred live to the installer's inside team or scheduled directly into the installer's calendar with confirmation SMS or email.
5. Callback and no-show recovery. Set appointments not immediately reachable get a structured callback cadence. No-show appointments get same-day and next-day re-engagement.
6. Weekly calibration. Sit and close data flows back from the installer CRM into the qualification stack. Scripts and gates tune weekly based on what is actually closing.

KPIs CFG Reports Weekly

Solar programs report against the full funnel from dial to closed install. The seven KPIs CFG shares weekly:

• Contact rate. Dial to live conversation. Function of lead quality, dialer pacing, time-of-day fit.
• Qualification rate. Live conversation passing all qualification gates.
• Set rate. Qualified to scheduled appointment. Healthy programs run 55 to 75 percent.
• Sit rate. Set to homeowner present at appointment time. Healthy programs run 60 to 75 percent.
• Close rate. Sit to signed contract. Owned by the installer, but tracked back to the qualification stack to tune.
• Cost per qualified transfer / cost per set. All-in CFG cost divided by qualified outputs. The scaling number.
• Cost per sit. All-in cost divided by sits. The truer measure of program economics.

What This Costs in 2026

Solar live transfer and appointment setting from CFG runs $12 to $18 per hour fully loaded in 2026, including wages, employer taxes, supervision, dialer, QA, recording, and TCPA scrubbing. Per-set pricing is also available where the installer prefers a variable cost model. Per-sit pricing is roughly 1.5x to 2.5x the per-set rate. For a deeper cost framing including how cost-per-sit and cost-per-installed-system math out, see our solar appointment setting cost guide.

Run your own scenarios in our cost calculator.

Bilingual Spanish Coverage

A meaningful share of solar buying decisions in California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona happen in Spanish-first households. CFG runs bilingual programs from Colombia where every agent is screened to native or near-native Spanish and B2-C1 CEFR English. Dialers route by language preference at the lead level, or run blended where agents code-switch mid-call. TCPA disclosures and state DNC disclosures are reviewed in both languages and tracked at the call level in the language they were delivered.

Onboarding Timeline

Standard ramp from contract to live calls is 2 to 4 weeks. Solar programs move faster than Medicare or insurance because no individual-agent state licensing is required for the appointment-setting layer. Installer-side licensing such as CSLB in California applies to the installer, not CFG.

1. Week 0 to 1: Scope and lead source review. Lead source TCPA review, qualification stack design, scripting, dialer configuration, integration with installer calendar and CRM.
2. Week 1 to 2: Recruit and train. Agents sourced from Caribbean and Colombia operations with prior solar or home services experience. TCPA, federal DNC, state DNC, and time-of-day training. Script and qualification calibration.
3. Week 2 to 3: Calibrate. Live calls under QA monitoring with daily calibration sessions until set rate hits target.
4. Week 3 to 4: Full production. Production dialing against full QA, weekly performance reviews, weekly script and qualification tuning based on close-rate data.

How to Engage CFG for Solar

1. Submit a quote. The contact form asks for state mix, lead source, expected daily volume, qualification depth, language mix (English, Spanish, blended), and target start date.
2. Get a custom proposal in 24 hours. Staffing plan, hourly versus per-set pricing options, qualification stack draft, TCPA and state DNC review notes on the lead source.
3. Sign and onboard in 2 to 4 weeks. Recruiting, compliance training, script calibration, and dialer integration run in parallel.

Frequently Asked Questions