A couple of weeks ago, I had one of those weeks that felt like it was trying to tell me something.
Our Q1 board meeting was on a Monday, where the big question on the table was, after three challenging years, where solar is heading and what adjacent opportunities make sense for a company like ours. Tuesday, I was with one of our largest strategic partners, a leading provider of home electrification products, talking about solar and everything beyond it. Wednesday, I was at RE+ Northeast surrounded by contractors who were optimistic about the future but clearly thinking about their businesses differently than they were two or three years ago. Thursday, I spent the day in meetings with customers who were doing roofing, HVAC, and other home services alongside solar. Friday, I went to look at electric vehicles and ended up in long conversations about vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid technology.
It was not a typical week of just talking about solar. But I think it might be a preview of what a typical week looks like from here on out.
What I Mean by “No More Solar Contractors”
I’m not predicting that solar goes away. I’m predicting that the pure-play solar contractor—the business whose entire identity and revenue stream is built around selling and installing solar systems—largely disappear over the next several years.
What replaces it is already taking shape. The contractors doing this well are rebranding from “ABC Solar” to “ABC Energy” and dropping the word solar from their name entirely. They’re merging with roofing and siding companies. Adding battery storage, EV charging, HVAC, and other home services. And becoming home electrification businesses, or broader home improvement businesses, that happen to do a lot of solar.
The ones who haven’t started this transition yet are behind. And if you’re only now thinking about betting the farm on diversification, you’re late. That’s not a criticism, it’s a heads up.
Why Solar Contractors Can Make This Transition Better Than Anyone
Here’s what I genuinely believe: solar is the hardest trade there is.
Think about what a solar installation actually involves. At its core, you’re putting a customized power plant on someone’s home. That means working with the full electrical system of the property, assessing roof structural integrity, running conduit, sometimes moving pipes, and working in attics with drywall and carpentry. Add a battery, and you’re now managing appliances, backup configurations, and load calculations. Layer on top of that the permitting complexity, local jurisdiction rules, utility interconnection requirements, state rebate programs, and federal incentive structures, all of which change constantly.
Anyone who thinks you can easily add solar to a non-solar contracting business is mistaken. The learning curve is enormous. But anyone in solar who wants to add a complementary trade? The learning curve is more manageable.
Solar contractors are, by necessity, some of the most adaptable people in the trades. To survive in this industry, you have to navigate constant regulatory change, shifting incentive structures, hardware supply volatility, tariffs, utility pushback, and rapid technology evolution. That kind of operating environment either breaks a business or builds an organization that’s genuinely resilient and comfortable with change. The contractors who’ve made it this far have earned that resilience. It’s a real competitive advantage going into a broader home services model.
What the Expansion Actually Looks Like
For most contractors, the diversification happens in concentric rings moving outward from what they already know.
Batteries and electrical work come first
If you’re not already selling and installing battery storage, you could be falling behind regardless of what market you’re in. For example, residential battery storage installations grew 57% in 2024 alone, and in states like North Carolina, battery attachment rates are approaching 100%. California, Arizona, and Texas are seeing significant volumes of battery-only jobs. Additionally, some people in solar think that we’ll be a battery industry with solar attachments. Look at Sunrun’s Google tagline: “the #1 home storage and solar company.” And EV charging installations follow naturally. The same electrical expertise, same customer relationship, and incremental complexity.
Roofing is another logical step
Solar contractors are already on the roof. Homeowners regularly raise concerns about roof age before committing to solar, and many installers are already coordinating roof replacements as part of the sales process. Whether you bring roofing in-house or partner with a local subcontractor and sell it as an add-on, formalizing that relationship is a straightforward revenue opportunity.
HVAC, heat pumps, and generators round out the home electrification story
These are more operationally distinct from solar, but they’re high-margin home services with strong recurring demand, and they’re significantly less seasonal than solar. They help stabilize revenue through the slower months and deepen the contractor’s relationship with the homeowner.
Siding, windows, gutters, and broader exterior work make up the outer ring
Although farther from solar’s core, these adjacent trades are increasingly common among contractors who have built the operational infrastructure to handle multiple trades and want to maximize the value of each customer relationship.
The Business Case Is Simple
Once you’re in someone’s home for solar, you’ve already done the hardest part of customer acquisition. The trust is established. The relationship exists. Homeowners want a reliable contractor they can call back for the next project, the next upgrade, the next thing that breaks or needs replacing.
Contractors who capitalize on that relationship by offering additional services have a structural advantage over everyone chasing new leads for every job. Lower acquisition costs, higher lifetime customer value, and a more stable revenue base that isn’t entirely dependent on the month-to-month volatility of solar market conditions.
Diversification also reduces existential risk. Solar has always been subject to forces outside any contractor’s control. A business with multiple revenue streams is far better positioned to weather any one of those market shifts than a pure-play solar contractor who has to absorb the full impact.
Where This Ends Up
The solar contractors who build lasting businesses will look less like solar companies and more like full-service home electrification and improvement contractors who are particularly good at the most technically complex parts of the job.
Solar won’t disappear from what they do. It will just become one offering in a broader portfolio, probably still a flagship one, but no longer the only thing holding the business together.
That evolution is healthy. It reflects what the best contractors already figured out, and what the industry as a whole is slowly catching up to. The week I described at the top of this post—board room conversations about adjacent markets, meetings with home electrification partners, contractors talking about roofing and HVAC, EV dealerships discussing vehicle-to-grid—that’s not an unusual week anymore. It’s just the industry showing where it’s going.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are solar companies expanding into other home services?
A combination of market volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and the natural opportunity that comes from already being in a customer’s home. Solar contractors who add complementary services lower their customer acquisition costs, stabilize seasonal revenue swings, and reduce their exposure to any single policy or market shift.
What services are solar contractors most commonly adding?
Battery storage and EV charging are the most common first additions, followed by roofing, then HVAC and heat pumps. Some contractors are also moving into siding, windows, gutters, and other exterior home improvement work.
Is the solar industry declining?
There is no doubt that solar has experienced significant volatility since interest rates rose in 2022 and several major policy changes reshaped key markets. However, the contractors navigating it best are the ones who’ve used the slower period to diversify and build more resilient businesses.
Why are solar contractors well-suited to expand into other trades?
Solar is one of the most technically complex residential trades, involving electrical systems, roofing, structural assessment, permitting, and rapidly changing technology and regulations. Contractors who have mastered solar have already demonstrated they can handle complexity and adapt quickly, making it relatively straightforward to add adjacent trades.
What does “home electrification contractor” mean?
A home electrification contractor installs and services the systems that power and manage a home’s energy use: solar panels, battery storage, EV chargers, heat pumps, and smart home energy management systems. It’s a natural evolution from the pure solar installer model as more homes shift toward full electrical operation.
