Below is our recent interview with Scott Courtney from Route 66 Solar:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: Route 66 Solar is a family-owned solar company based in Illinois. We started the company in 2019 with a fairly simple idea: homeowners considering solar deserved better information, better workmanship and a company that would still be there for them after the installation was complete.
Since then, we’ve grown to more than 5,000 solar installations. One thing we’re particularly proud of is that we’ve remained very hands-on as owners. We aren’t simply a sales organization that hands projects off to subcontractors. We have built an experienced local team that manages the process from design and permitting through installation and ongoing support.
Solar has changed tremendously since we started, but our philosophy hasn’t: educate the customer first, recommend what actually makes financial sense for them, and then do exceptional work.
Q: What makes you the best choice? How are you unique?
A: We believe our biggest differentiator is trust.
Solar is an unusual industry because customers are being asked to make a major financial decision about a product they may know very little about. Unfortunately, that can create an environment where the person who gives the best sales presentation wins—even when they aren’t offering the best solution.
We’ve taken a different approach. We want our customers to understand exactly what they’re buying, how the economics work, what the incentives are, what their utility will still charge them and what they should realistically expect from their system.
We’re also genuinely local. We don’t subcontract our installations, and the owners remain involved in the business. If something goes wrong five or ten years from now, our customers know who installed their system and who to call.
Our goal isn’t to sell solar to everyone who contacts us. If we don’t believe solar makes financial sense for someone’s particular situation, we’re willing to tell them that. We think that willingness to say “no” is actually one of the most important things a company can do to earn long-term trust.
Q: Any highlights about your latest announcement?
A: One of the most exciting developments for us is the evolution of Route 66 Solar into a more comprehensive energy and home-services company.
After installing thousands of solar systems, we realized that solar doesn’t exist independently from the rest of a home. The condition of the roof matters. Electrical infrastructure matters. Energy storage matters. Financing and incentives matter. And what happens to the customer years after installation matters.
That’s why we’ve continued expanding our capabilities beyond simply putting solar panels on a roof. We’re building the expertise and infrastructure to take care of the customer throughout the life of the system.
We think the next generation of successful solar companies will be defined less by how many systems they can sell and more by how well they can serve the customers they’ve already earned.
Q: What can we expect from you in the next six months? What are your plans?
A: Our focus over the next six months is growth, but disciplined growth.
The solar industry is changing rapidly. Financing is changing, incentives are changing, utility economics are changing and battery storage is becoming increasingly important. We see that as an opportunity.
We’re continuing to invest in our people, our installation capabilities, our roofing and service operations, and new financing structures that can make solar and energy storage attractive to more Illinois homeowners.
We’re also putting a significant emphasis on education. Consumers are being presented with increasingly complicated choices involving ownership, leases, power purchase agreements, batteries and incentive structures. We want Route 66 Solar to be the place people turn to for a straightforward explanation—even before they’ve decided whether they’re going to buy anything from us.
Our objective isn’t simply to become bigger. It’s to build the company that we would want to hire if we were putting solar on our own homes.
Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
A: Probably how often we’re willing to tell someone not to buy something from us.
There’s tremendous pressure in the solar industry to maximize every lead and every sale. We look at it differently.
Sometimes a homeowner doesn’t need a battery. Sometimes the economics of solar aren’t compelling for a particular property. Sometimes they should fix their roof first. And sometimes the smartest thing they can do is nothing at all.
We’d rather lose a sale today and have that person remember that Route 66 Solar gave them an honest answer.
We believe businesses are ultimately built on reputation, not transactions. When you’re a local, family-owned company and your name is attached to the business, you tend to think about decisions differently. We want customers to feel comfortable calling us years after their installation—not just on the day they sign the contract.
That may not be the fastest way to build a solar company, but we believe it’s the right way to build one that lasts.
