What custom software costs, and what changes the price

What does a scheduling and dispatch system cost?

These are our typical prices. A focused fix, like one form or one connection, is $750–$3,000 and takes 1–⁠2 weeks. One business system, for example scheduling and invoicing for a crew of 5 to 10 connected to QuickBooks Online, is $6,000–$18,000 and takes 6–⁠10 weeks. A full system with customers, jobs, invoices, payments and a crew app is $18,000–$40,000 and takes 10–⁠16 weeks.

For example, a 6-truck HVAC company wants the office to book jobs, a dispatcher to assign them, and invoices to go straight into QuickBooks Online. That sits in the one-system range. Add a phone app so techs can see their day, take photos and collect a card payment on site, and it moves into the full-system range.

The number of trucks matters less than most owners expect. Fifteen techs using the same screens usually cost little more to build than five. What adds cost is new kinds of work: a new type of user, a new connection, a new step.

What changes the price

When we price a system, these are the things that move the number most. None of them is good or bad. Each one is simply more to build and test.

• How many kinds of users. An office manager, a dispatcher, a tech and a customer each see different screens and have different rules about what they can see and change.
• How many connections to other apps. QuickBooks Online, Google Calendar, Stripe or Square each need their own setup and testing. If you use something else, we check it before we quote.
• Moving old data in. One clean customer spreadsheet is quick. The same customers spread across an old app, a notebook and three phones, with duplicates, take real time to sort out.
• A phone app for crews. Showing today’s jobs is simple. Working without signal, photos, signatures and an app store listing each add work.
• Payments. Sending a payment link is simpler than deposits, partial payments, refunds and saved cards for repeat customers.
• How many screens and steps. Request, scheduled, done, invoiced is one path. Approvals, change orders or a second path for maintenance plans each add more.

Why do quotes for the same idea vary so much?

Two quotes can differ by thousands because they price different jobs. One includes moving your old data and a crew app. Another leaves both out, or marks them “to be decided.” One is a fixed price. Another is an hourly estimate that can grow. Some show monthly costs, and some leave them out completely.

Some quotes are for setting up an existing product for you, and some are for software written for your business. Both can be fine. They aren’t the same thing, and the quote should say which one it is.

The way through is to have everyone price the same list. Ask each one what’s included, what isn’t, what happens if you need a change, and what you’ll pay every month after launch. When we quote, you get a fixed price in writing within 48 hours of a short first call, with hosting and care listed monthly.

Can you start with something smaller?

Yes, and it’s often the smarter way to spend. Build the part that hurts most, use it for a few weeks, then add the next part. Each piece is a smaller quote, and what you learn from the first one shapes the second.

For example, a landscaper with 4 crews might start with customers and invoices connected to QuickBooks Online, so billing stops living in a notebook. Once that’s running, add scheduling and dispatch. Then add the crew phone app. Each later part builds on the first one instead of starting over.

Sometimes the first step is smaller still. A café taking catering orders by phone, email and text might only need one order form that puts every order in one list. That’s a focused fix, not a whole system.

Paying works the same way: a deposit to start, then the rest as each milestone is done. Every launch includes 30 days of fixes.

What do you pay every month after launch?

Custom software has running costs, and a fair quote shows them. With us, hosting and care are listed as monthly lines in your quote. We don’t post a monthly price on our site, because it depends on what we build for you. Ask any studio what its care covers: updates, backups, small changes, and help when a connected app changes how it works.

Then there are other companies’ fees, which you pay to them:

• Card payments. Stripe, for example, lists 2.9% + 30¢ per successful payment on US cards, with no monthly fee.
• Apps you already use, like QuickBooks Online, stay on their own bill.
• App stores. If the crew app has to be in Apple’s App Store, Apple charges $99 a year for its developer program. Ask whether your crews need a store app at all, or can open the app from a link on their phones.

References: Stripe: Pricing (opens in a new tab) · Apple Developer: Apple Developer Program (opens in a new tab)

Is a monthly app cheaper than custom software?

Sometimes, yes. Field service apps like Jobber or Housecall Pro cost less to start and you can sign up today. If one fits how your shop works, it may be the right choice, and we’d rather say so than sell you a build.

The tradeoff is that the bill keeps coming, and it often grows with your team. Jobber’s pricing page, for example, sells plans by the month, charges a monthly fee for each user you add, and counts anyone in the office or field who views or manages the schedule as a user. Hire a tech, and the bill goes up.

Custom costs more up front. In return, it works the way your shop already works. Once the project is paid in full, you own the code we wrote, while tools from other companies keep their own licenses. Hosting runs on our account, and you can take it over after payment. Custom tends to make sense when you’ve outgrown an app’s way of doing things, or your team types the same job into two or three apps that don’t talk to each other.

Reference: Jobber: Pricing (opens in a new tab)

What to write down before you ask for a price

You don’t need a technical document. A page of notes gets you a much better quote. Write down:

Bring those notes to a first call. The call and the written price are both free. If an app you already pay for turns out to be the better fit, that’s a good answer too.

• Who will use it: office, dispatch, techs, customers, and roughly how many of each.
• The one job that goes wrong most today, step by step, from first call to paid invoice.
• Every app you use now, and which ones have to connect.
• Where your old customer and job records live, and roughly how many there are.
• Whether crews need a phone app, and whether they lose signal on jobs.
• Your budget range and any date that matters, like the start of your busy season.