Why Outsource?
Is outsourcing your DNO applications actually worth it?
A straight comparison of in-house vs outsourced DNO application delivery, from the perspective of a specialist DNO team. Including the situations where you should absolutely keep it in-house.
In-house vs outsourced
A straight comparison. No sales gloss. Some businesses genuinely should keep DNO work in-house. Read this and decide.
Keeping it in-house
What that actually looks like
- Recruit a DNO application specialist (£35-45k salaried)
- Train them on every UK DNO's portal, forms and quirks
- Cover holiday, sickness and staff turnover
- Buy or build a CRM to track application status
- Chase DNOs on top of your day job
- Own every technical mistake and rejection
- Capacity to submit ~10-15 applications a week per person
- Full ownership of the customer relationship (a plus)
Outsourced to us
What that actually looks like
- Predictable monthly fee, no employment overhead
- Our team already runs every UK DNO portal daily
- Named account owner plus resilient team behind them
- Portal included, no extra spend, no lock-in
- Structured chase cadence, escalations handled
- We take engineering responsibility for the submission
- Elastic capacity, scale up or down without hiring
- Full ownership of the customer relationship, we stay behind the scenes
Six reasons installers outsource
The most common answers we hear from installers who've made the switch to outsourced DNO delivery.
Salary is only the start
A DNO specialist costs £35-45k plus NI, pension, holiday, sickness cover and desk. £55-70k fully loaded.
You need one now, not in 3 months
Recruitment cycles take 8-12 weeks. Onboarding takes another 6. That's a whole install season gone.
DNO knowledge decays quickly
Portals, tariffs and DNO expectations change quarterly. You need someone doing it every day to stay current.
One person is a single point of failure
If your one DNO specialist leaves, resigns or goes on parental leave, your business stops taking projects that day.
Your best installers should be on tools
Every hour a senior installer spends on a DNO portal is an hour they're not designing or commissioning.
You want predictable pricing per project
Outsourced DNO cost is a fixed line item. Easier to price into jobs, easier to explain to customers.
When you should keep it in-house
Outsourcing isn't right for everyone. If any of these apply, you're better off building the capability internally.
You submit 100+ applications a month
At that volume, a full in-house team can be cheaper than any retainer. We'll tell you honestly if that's you.
DNO strategy is your USP
If your entire commercial pitch is 'we manage the grid connection ourselves', outsourcing dilutes that.
You're building a data / platform play
If DNO application data is core to your product, you need the interaction happening inside your company.
Not sure which way to go?
Send us your rough monthly volume and we'll do the maths honestly. If in-house is cheaper for you, we'll tell you.