Management software for plumbers is the search a contractor makes when the whiteboard, the invoice pad and the spreadsheet stop agreeing with each other. The category does five jobs: the customer and property record, the schedule and dispatch board, the estimate and the invoice from one price book, payment in the truck, and the hand-off to the accounts. This page is what each job needs to do, and what the vendors charge from their own pricing pages. The price book template on this site is the free piece: the rates every estimate and invoice draw from.
The record and the board
The customer and property record holds the person, the property, the equipment on site and the history, and survives the phone call. The board shows the day by truck and pushes changes to the technician's phone. The customer record and dispatch guides on this site say what each needs; a product that does one without the other leaves the office re-typing.
The estimate and the invoice from one price book
The estimate is priced from the price book and the invoice is printed from the estimate, so the two never disagree. That is the single most common cause of an unpaid invoice removed. The price book template on this site is where the rates live, and the estimating and invoice tools print from it.
Payment and the accounts
Payment taken in the truck by card or link, before the technician leaves, and the paid invoice posted to the accounting product without re-keying. The accounting guide on this site covers the hand-off. Software that invoices but does not take payment leaves the hardest part of the job to the office.
What it costs
From the vendors' own pricing pages on the day they were read: Tradify lists its Lite plan at $47 USD per user per month, Pro at $51 and Plus at $61; Jobber's Core plan is $49 per month for one user with additional users at $29 per month each; Housecall Pro's Basic plan is $59 per month billed annually or $79 billed monthly. RoughInDesk Pro is $47 per month for the whole crew. The comparison that matters is per crew, not per user: a three-truck shop on a per-user price pays three times.
Questions people ask about management software for plumbers
Do I need all five jobs on day one?
The record, the price book and the invoice, yes. The board earns its keep the first day two trucks are out; payment in the truck the first month an invoice goes unpaid.
Per user or per crew?
Per crew, if you can find it. Per-user pricing is the figure that grows with the shop.
What is free here?
The price book, estimating, invoice, proposal and contract tools, all without an account. RoughInDesk Pro is the record, the board and the payments.