Blog
Know your margin before you send the quote
How Payaca's live profit forecast in the proposal builder helps clean tech installers stop mispriced jobs from going out the door.
Matt Franklin
13 July 2026
Business Growth
19 articles tagged with Business Growth
Blog
What a pallet of panels really costs your margins
Bulk-bought stock used to land its whole cost on one unlucky project. Payaca's Stock Locations, now live on every account, hold it at real weighted average cost until a job actually uses it.
Matt Franklin
13 July 2026
Blog
Heat pump installer income guide 2026: what MCS-certified businesses actually earn
Real income numbers for MCS-certified heat pump installer businesses in 2026. Day rates, annual turnover, BUS grant impact, and what a 5-person team can realistically earn.
Ben Clarke
29 June 2026
Blog
Solar installer economics: where the margin actually goes
A practical breakdown of where UK solar installer margin is won and lost - from survey to DNO energisation. Covers the real cost of quoting, MCS and DNO admin, on-site overruns, and how growing installers protect 20% margins as volume scales.
Jamie Duncan
15 June 2026
Blog
The Warm Homes Plan is delivery-constrained, not money-constrained
The 拢15bn is real. The 5-million-homes target is real. What's missing is the engineers. For UK heat pump installers, the next four years are an installer-capacity market - and the operations playbook that wins it is different from the one that won 2024.
Jamie Duncan
14 May 2026
Blog
EV charger operations: running a high-volume install business without the chaos
EV charger install businesses live or die on throughput. A practical operational playbook for teams running 40+ installs a month - scheduling density, quote speed, mobile field completion, and keeping margin tight as volume grows.
Jamie Duncan
28 April 2026
Blog
Heat pump installer economics: what actually drives margin
A practical breakdown of where heat pump installer margin is won and lost - from survey to commissioning. Covers the real cost of quoting, MCS admin, on-site overruns, and how growing installers protect 20%+ margins as volume scales.
Jamie Duncan
22 April 2026
Blog
Why solar installers are replacing their generic CRMs
Salesforce, HubSpot, and ServiceTitan weren't built for clean tech. Here's what happens when installers switch to a purpose-built platform.
Matt Franklin
4 April 2026
Blog
The Warm Homes Plan: what growing installers need to know
The UK government's 拢15 billion Warm Homes Plan is the biggest home upgrade programme in British history. This is the operational guide for growing installation businesses - what it means for your pipeline, accreditations, and operations through 2030.
Jamie Duncan
16 March 2026
Blog
Why solar companies are leaving Salesforce (and what they switch to)
Ben Clarke, Account Executive at Payaca with 10+ years in field service management, explains why solar businesses keep abandoning Salesforce and generic CRMs - and what actually works instead.
Ben Clarke
10 March 2026
Blog
The Guild of Master Heat Engineers - why it matters for growing heat pump businesses
A new peer-driven recognition model is emerging for UK heat pump installers. Here's what the Guild of Master Heat Engineers is, why the industry needs it, and what it signals about where quality standards are headed.
Matt Franklin
4 March 2026
Blog
The ECO scheme is ending. Here's how to build a business that sells direct
ECO businesses know how to sell, but selling funded measures to eligible households is a completely different discipline from selling to homeowners spending their own money. With the scheme ending in 2026, Jamie Duncan explains what needs to change and why the able-to-pay market is a bigger opportunity than ECO ever was.
Jamie Duncan
27 February 2026
Podcast
How the best renewable energy companies onboard and scale
Jamie Duncan, Head of Customer Operations at Payaca, shares what separates thriving renewable energy businesses from those that stall out. Structured onboarding, AI tools like Agent Dave, and a willingness to embrace change.
Jamie Duncan
26 February 2026
Blog
What software do EV charger installers need?
A practical guide to the software options for EV charger installation businesses. Covers the difference between charger management and installer management, compares tools from spreadsheets to purpose-built platforms, and explains what to look for as you scale.
Jamie Duncan
14 February 2026
Blog
What CRM do heat pump installers use?
A practical comparison of CRM and business software options for heat pump installation companies. Covers generic CRMs, HVAC field service tools, and purpose-built clean tech platforms.
Joe Gravestock
13 February 2026
Blog
What job management software works for battery installers?
Battery storage installers have unique operational needs that generic field service tools don't address. We compare the software options available, from spreadsheets and solar-specific tools to purpose-built clean tech platforms.
Jamie Duncan
12 February 2026
Blog
What software do solar installers use to manage their business?
A comprehensive guide to the software solar installation businesses use, from CRMs and field service tools to design platforms and compliance systems. Covers what to look for at every stage of growth.
Ben Clarke
11 February 2026
Blog
Stop trying to fit a square peg: why generic CRMs are hurting your renewables business
Ben Clarke, an Account Executive at Payaca with over a decade of field service management experience, argues that renewable energy businesses suffer when using generic CRM software designed for other industries.
Ben Clarke
19 December 2024
Blog
Do I need a CRM for my business?
This article weighs up the reasons why you should consider investing in a CRM, including signs that you need it and what type of solution to look for.
Felix Rusby
20 January 2024