Software for small plumbing business is bought in the wrong order more often than it is bought wrong. A one- or two-truck shop does not need a dispatch board on day one; it needs the money chain: a price book, an estimate printed from it, an invoice printed from the estimate and payment taken on site. Then the customer and property record. Then the board, the day the second truck makes the whiteboard fail. The price book template on this site is the free first step, and the rest of the chain is free here too.
First, the money chain
The price book with the shop's own task prices; the estimate priced from it and signed on site; the invoice printed from the estimate; the payment taken before the van leaves. The price book, flat rate pricing, estimating and invoice tools on this site are that chain, free, without an account. This is the software that changes the bank balance.
Second, the record
The customer, the property, the equipment on site and what was done, kept so the next call starts from the history. The customer record guide on this site is what it holds. A shop with the record wins the repeat work without advertising for it.
Third, the board
When two trucks are out and the emergency call comes in, the whiteboard fails and the board earns its keep. The dispatch guide on this site is what to look for. Buying the board before the second truck is paying for a column nobody drags a card onto.
What it costs, and how it is priced
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. For a small shop the per-crew price is the one to find, because the per-user price grows with every hire.
Questions people ask about software for small plumbing business
Can I run a small shop on the free tools alone?
The money chain, yes: every document prints without an account. Keeping the record, the board and taking payment is the subscription.
Do I need accounting software as well?
Yes, and the job software hands the paid invoices to it. The accounting guide on this site covers the hand-off.
Where do the prices come from?
The vendors' own pricing pages, cited below, on the day they were read.