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.

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Choose the right level of support

Three ways to run your DNO applications

In-house isn't wrong. It's one of three valid choices, and we'll help you pick the one that fits your business today.

In-house

Run it yourself

Free CRM included

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.

See DNO Management