Is building your own CRM the best choice for ambitious renewable installers?

When your business is growing, and especially in a fast-paced sector like renewable energy, the tools you use can make or break your ability to scale. A question I often hear from ambitious renewable installation companies is: “Should we build our own CRM, or should we use an off-the-shelf solution?”

It's tempting to think that building your own custom CRM could give you everything tailored perfectly for your business. You know your processes, right? You know what’s missing from other solutions. So, why not just make something that does exactly what you need? But before you jump into this, there are a lot of factors to weigh up. Let’s break it down.

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The appeal of building your own CRM

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1. Customisation:

The biggest reason companies consider building their own CRM is total customisation. When you build something yourself, you can theoretically tailor it to your exact processes. Every form, every report, every field in your CRM would be designed to match how your business works. No compromises, no bloated features, just the essentials that you and your team need.

2. Ownership:

With your own CRM, you own the data, the design, and the infrastructure. There are no subscription fees, and you’re not tied into a long-term relationship with a third-party vendor.

3. Flexibility:

Need to make changes as your business grows? When you own the platform, you're not waiting on a vendor’s update schedule. You control the roadmap, adding new features and capabilities exactly when you need them.

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But, here’s where it gets complicated…

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1. Do you have the expertise?

Building software is not as straightforward as it might seem, even if you’re clear about what your business needs today. Building a CRM isn’t just about knowing the solution—it’s about knowing how to execute it well.

As a renewable energy installation business, your expertise lies in solar panel installations, heat pump projects, and EV charging systems, not in software development. So, you’ll need to hire skilled developers, UX designers, and potentially a product manager to keep everything on track.

And here’s the tricky part: even if you hire great developers, building software is an ongoing process. A CRM isn’t something you build and forget. It requires constant updates, bug fixes, security improvements, and performance tweaks. Do you have the budget and patience to commit to this over the long term?

2. The reality of timelines and budgets

Most custom software projects run over time and over budget—and I say this from experience. Software development is notorious for unexpected issues cropping up. What starts as a 6-month project can easily turn into a 12-month (or longer) commitment. And if you’ve set aside, say, £50,000 for development, don’t be surprised if that doubles before you get a functional, reliable CRM. This will only cover the basic framework, and every additional feature or improvement you need will likely come with an extra charge. Each enhancement becomes another project, stretching your budget further and creating ongoing costs you didn’t initially expect.

Timelines are especially tough when your developers are unfamiliar with your business’s intricacies. They will need time to understand your workflows, sales pipelines, compliance processes, and more. Every delay impacts your ability to grow and serve your customers. Can your business afford that?

3. Will it actually be that great?

When building your own CRM, it's easy to focus on the ideal—your perfect software—but building great software is incredibly difficult. It’s not just about putting the right boxes on the screen or creating a few automation workflows. It’s about creating something that’s intuitive, reliable, and scalable. Most importantly, will your staff actually use it?

Established CRM providers have spent years refining their products, testing them across hundreds of businesses, and improving usability. They have dedicated teams just focused on making the software better day after day. Can you afford to match that level of refinement, or will you end up with a clunky tool that frustrates your team more than it helps?

4. Maintenance and support

When you buy a CRM, maintenance and support are handled by the vendor. When you build your own, you’re responsible for everything. If something breaks, you need to fix it. If your developers leave, you need to hire replacements who can understand and maintain the system.

Every day spent fixing software bugs is a day you’re not installing renewable technologies. Do you want your team focused on fixing your CRM or on driving your business forward?

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Why Payaca might be a better option

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At Payaca, we understand the specific challenges faced by renewable energy installation businesses. Our CRM was built with those challenges in mind—compliance tracking for schemes like MCS and BUS, field service management, customer portals, and more. And because Payaca is designed for your industry, you get the best of both worlds: a system that’s ready to use and customisable enough to grow with your business.

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1. Ready-to-go, but flexible:

With Payaca, you get industry-specific features out of the box. Need to manage installations, track compliance, or improve your customer experience? We’ve got you covered. And if you need additional functionality, Payaca is designed to be flexible enough to adapt to your business.

2. No development overhead:

We’ve done the hard work for you. Instead of hiring developers, managing timelines, and worrying about ongoing maintenance, you can focus on what you do best—scaling your renewable energy business. We handle the software side of things, so you don’t have to.

3. Constantly evolving:

Our team is dedicated to improving the product continuously, so you always benefit from the latest features and updates, without having to worry about development delays or added costs.

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Conclusion: Build or buy?

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At the end of the day, the question comes down to resources and focus. If you have the budget, the time, and the in-house expertise to manage a long-term software project, building your own CRM might seem like the right choice. But for most ambitious renewable energy installation businesses, an out-of-the-box solution like Payaca gives you the best balance of industry-specific features, customisation, and long-term reliability—without the headaches of building and maintaining your own software.

Before you commit to building a CRM, ask yourself: Do you want to be a software company, or do you want to grow your renewable energy business?

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