How do commercial solar and energy efficiency installers find new customers?
Updated 26 October 2026 · by Matt Vallis, Salenovo · counts from our own daily files, read from public registers
The firms that win most new commercial work reach a business at the moment it has to decide, before it has asked anyone for a quote. A new occupier specifies its lighting and heating in the fit-out weeks, and a let commercial building rated F or G can't go on being let without works or an exemption. We tell you which premises are at that point, with the building's energy rating where it has one. In our daily files from 20 to 26 October 2026, 163 businesses across Great Britain were at that point for an energy efficiency desk, 115 of them opening or about to.
Why timing matters for commercial solar and energy efficiency installers
The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 set a minimum of E for let commercial buildings: no new lease below E since 1 April 2018, and no continuing lease since 1 April 2023, unless the landlord has registered an exemption. A non-domestic building needs an energy performance certificate whenever it's built, sold or let (the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012), and each certificate comes with a recommendation report. Where a certificate can be told apart for the premises, the row carries its rating and the assessor's recommendations, beside the trade, the floor area and the rateable value, so a kitchen, a factory and an office get the right call. Certificates just lodged for premises a business trades from, rated F or G, or D or E with recommendations, come in as rows of their own.
The usual ways to find new customers, and what each is good for
Referrals and repeat customers
The cheapest work there is, and the most likely to say yes. The catch is that you can't turn the volume up when you need more.
Your own website and Google Business Profile
These bring in businesses already searching for what you do. They're searching for your competitors too, so you're one quote of several.
Trade bodies and accreditation
MCS and TrustMark each list the installers they certify.
Quote websites
Sites such as Bark pass on requests from businesses ready to buy. You pay to respond, and other suppliers can answer the same request, so the work goes to whoever answers first or cheapest.
Public tenders
Contracts Finder and Find a Tender list public sector contracts and are free to search. The jobs are larger and the paperwork heavier, and the decision takes months.
Bought lists
A list broker sells names in bulk by trade and area. Plenty of names, but no reason to call any of them today, and they go out of date quickly.
The moment a business needs you
Food registers, licence applications, the care regulators, operator licences and the councils' rates lists show the week a business takes on premises, changes hands or is about to open, each dated, if someone reads them every day. That's what we send: a file each weekday of the businesses at that point in your region, graded for your trade. Work the A rows first: the kitchens, workshops, care homes, gyms and large sites opening, moving in or changing hands. Then the certificates just lodged, F and G before D and E. The job column says what you'd offer before you ring; the reason column says why now.
What a business at the right moment looks like
The moments at a premises that matter to commercial solar and energy efficiency installers:
| Coming | A business is about to open: a licence applied for, a unit being fitted out, a new company set up to trade from the address. |
| Just moved in | A business has started at premises that had nobody in them: a new ratepayer, a new food business, a newly registered care home, nursery, surgery or garage. |
| Changed hands | A new operator at premises that were already trading: a pub, shop or care home under new ownership, often keeping the old name on the door. |
Last week in numbers
In the daily files from 20 to 26 October 2026, businesses that took on premises, changed hands or were about to, graded A or B for an energy efficiency desk: 163 across Great Britain, 115 of them opening or about to and 48 just moved in or under a new owner. 125 came with a landline to ring. 58% of them could not have been flagged by a service working from Companies House alone: the premises isn't the registered office, or nothing new was on the register.
| Region | Rows graded A or B | Opening or about to | Moved in or new owner | With a landline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East | 26 | 17 | 9 | 23 |
| North West | 23 | 16 | 7 | 19 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 22 | 18 | 4 | 18 |
| Scotland | 17 | 15 | 2 | 13 |
| West Midlands | 17 | 10 | 7 | 13 |
| East Midlands | 16 | 12 | 4 | 11 |
| East of England | 16 | 13 | 3 | 9 |
| London | 12 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
| North East | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| South West | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Wales | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Some of last week's rows for South East, said in words (the file has the name, the address, the number and where each came from):
- A new premises licence business in Adur, not open yet, 25 October. A landline to ring. A mailbox.
- A restaurant or cafe in Brighton and Hove, opening or just opened, 23 October. A landline to ring. A mailbox.
- A restaurant in Brighton and Hove, opening or just opened, 23 October. A line at the premises, which may be the last occupier’s.
- A dental practice in Epsom and Ewell, opening or just opened, 20 October. A landline to ring.
- A dental practice in Reading, new owner, 22 October. A landline to ring.
- A manufacture of other electrical equipment business in Buckinghamshire, moved in, 23 October. A landline to ring.
Counted from the daily files dated 20 to 26 October 2026, the seven days to the latest file, as they were read on 26 October 2026. Each event is counted once, on the first file it reached.
What we send
A file by 8am every weekday with the businesses in your region at one of those moments, graded so your team rings the best first, each row saying what happened, when, what kind of business it is and a way to reach it where one is public. £250 a month for a region, or £1,000 for Great Britain, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end. The first two weeks are free.
Questions people also ask
Do you see their energy bills or who supplies them?
No. Bills, meter numbers and supplier contracts aren't public, and we don't guess them. Where a non-domestic energy certificate can be told apart for the premises, the row carries its rating, floor area, heating fuel, what a building like it uses in a year by the certificate's own model, and the assessor's recommendations, with how sure the match is. Otherwise the trade and the size of the premises say what the building is likely to run.
Is it legal to email a business we haven't dealt with?
A limited company or an LLP can be emailed without its prior consent under PECR, as long as you say who you are and give a way to opt out. Sole traders and partnerships are treated as individuals, so the rules are stricter. Screen phone numbers against the TPS and CTPS before you ring.
What does it cost?
£250 a month for a region, or £1,000 a month for the whole of Great Britain, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end. The first two weeks are free.