How We Helped Lighthouses Turn a Bureaucratic Bottleneck into a Lead Generation Engine

Introduction

Lighthouses is a Belgian specialist in terrasoverkappingen, carports, glasschuiframen, and zonwering. They work with a personal approach, founder Kris is present on every job, from first conversation to final installation.

But before a client can even book an installation, there's a recurring question that stops most of them in their tracks:

‍do I need a permit for my terrace cover or carport?

In Belgium, the answer depends on a complex combination of factors: the dimensions of the structure, the surface it's placed on, its location relative to the house, the distance to neighbouring properties, and the zone the client lives in. Getting it wrong means delays, fines, or worse.

Lighthouses was spending time answering this question manually, for every single lead. We automated it entirely.

The Challenge

Every prospect asking about a terrasoverkapping faces the same uncertainty: will I need a permit from the Flemish government, and how do I get one?

The problem was twofold:

• Lighthouses had to answer this question manually for every lead: a recurring time cost with no scalable solution
• Prospects who did need a permit often dropped off, intimidated by the administrative process

The permit question was acting as a conversion blocker. And there was no system in place to qualify, inform, and guide leads through it automatically.

The Solution

We built a two-part tool on the Lighthouses website that handles the full flow from unknown visitor to qualified lead — without Lighthouses lifting a finger.

Part 1 — The Permit Check (4-Step Form)

A structured four-step form that collects all the variables needed to determine whether a permit is required:

• Product details — height, width, and depth of the structure
• Surface type — what the terrasoverkapping will be placed on
• Location — whether it's attached to or freestanding from the house
• Neighbourhood context — distance to the neighbouring property and the zone the client is in

Based on the inputs, the tool immediately tells the client whether or not they need a permit from the Flemish government.

Part 2 — The Smart Contact Form

Immediately after the check, a smart contact form captures the lead and qualifies how they want to be followed up:

• Email or call? — the client chooses their preferred channel
• If call: when? — they select a time slot that works for them

This means Lighthouses receives leads that are already pre-qualified: the client knows whether they need a permit, and Lighthouses knows exactly when and how to reach them.

The automation

The insight that made this truly valuable: the client already provides all the information needed to submit a permit application.

So we automated that too.

When a lead requires a permit, the entire permit application is generated and submitted automatically — no manual work required from Lighthouses. The overhead of permit admin, which used to eat into the team's time, dropped to zero.

This created a new commercial angle: Lighthouses can now offer to handle the permit as a service, turning a bureaucratic burden into a reason to sign the client early in the process.

The results

Every lead comes in knowing their permit status

‍Lighthouses no longer spends time on manual permit screenings.

Zero admin overhead per permit application

‍The full permit flow runs automatically from the information the client already provided.

A new commercial hook

‍Prospects who need a permit have a clear reason to engage Lighthouses immediately, handling the application is a natural first step toward becoming a full client.

Higher lead quality

‍The smart contact form means every lead tells Lighthouses how and when to follow up, reducing friction on both sides.

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