Running a service business with techs in the field requires more than just finishing projects and picking up tools. That's just the job part, and for some - the easy part. Running a business means doing paperwork, checking the numbers and organizing your time. How else do you keep track of who owes you money, which poor tech has to go to Ms Followyouaround's house on Friday and whether you're profitable at the end of the month? If you've been using google calendar, spreadsheets and email to organize your business I feel your pain. I've been there. If you're here reading this you know there's a better way. All that double-entry is not sustainable. Sure it may work for a time. Even years. But it gets old and so do you. Don't spend your life doing paperwork in triplicate. You need some automation in your life Jerry. Check out one of these products. You'll thank me later.
I know long blog posts aren't for everyone so I put the highlights right up top. BUT PLEASE make sure you read the following no matter which software you use:
Quick Note: We are partners with both software companies so we get a kickback no matter which one you sign-up for using our link. Win Win.
Why? Because unlike many reviews that are researched for the sake of a review I actually use the software I am reviewing. Both of them. For several years. I own multiple service businesses with different needs and these are just 2 of the dozens of software products we use. I've discovered the benefits and the limitations for my use-case and I have gathered feedback from UpEngine's clients as well. I want to share my conclusions with you. And yes, there is one I prefer.
Jobber is a great software put out by some very friendly people (see Canadians). I've used their software since their early days and 90% of my complaints were fixed years ago. They have greatly improved their mobile app as well as added many features in the last few years that have really made the software robust. Where Jobber really shines is in their ease of use. Their UI (user interface) is user friendly, modern and well thought-out. These friendly people really know how to make a concise dashboard that looks attractive and is built on a foundation that can handle new features without looking too complicated. But Jobber isn't just a spreadsheet with a pretty paint job, the features are solid and save you time with automation and organization. I like nearly everything about their platform. The estimates and invoice templates are customizable, their client profile layout is easy on the eyes, and their desktop calendar is the best I've seen. I've customized the calendar to show different trucks on the road which makes it easy to see your team at a glance. I do wish they would bring monthly calendar view to their mobile app though. Also their time tracking features need more meat. HCP's timesheet is not much better but at least they total hours for all employees on the same page.
The Jobber team has really put a lot of thought into how new and established businesses will use this product. It's jam-packed with features and yet it appears very simple. It is a model for user-friendliness. Although I could imagine a couple of more tweaks I can tell that Jobber listens to it's clients. I sent them a list of 20 items they needed to change a few years ago and all but 2 of them were addressed. Unlike HCP, their product updates have impressed me from day one. It a very solid platform that doesn't over-hype itself. I'd recommend Jobber to anyone.
HCP is a good product with many features. It does almost everything I want it to. Although it is missing some 'nice to have' features it will still dramatically help your business if you are looking for an all-in-one solution for your field service business. However it's not perfect. The workflow and the layout certainly need some work. It appears dated compared to some of its competitors, and it doesn't allow for as much customization as I would like. Although I can mostly look past these things, they are deal breakers for some business with unique workflows. Another issue is that with Housecall Pro I feel as though I am doing more clicks to accomplish the same thing as Jobber, and I can't understand why they don't focus on fixing some of these issues. I think that the developers of this product didn't put enough effort into making it awesome before calling it that. I mean, their hype machine is going full throttle. At one point it even made me feel like things are better than they are, and I use it often. They've put a lot of money into marketing but not enough into their product fundamentals. That being said HCP isn't so far behind that they couldn't catch up. They just need to redesign their UI, dashboard and tab structure and add about 5 key features to be on-par with Jobber. Depending on your use-case these pain points can be very frustrating.
Where they shine though, is in their community engagement. It's on the level. Classes, pro groups, advanced training. I would venture to say that their Facebook group is better than Jobber's as well. There are a lot of pros helping pros there. It's a great resource for new service business owners. I just wish they would focus on their product more. That's what businesses pay for. Not to say that no one prefers HCP over Jobber. I know a couple guys who prefer HCP. Why? I can only conclude that they never truly gave Jobber a chance. Also it's hard to change software like this once you've committed and gotten used to a product. Actually its not, but when you have a lot of other things going on, it feels like another mountain you have to climb. That being said I think I'd love HCP too if I never gave Jobber a chance. It saves you time and organizes your business. That's definitely worth a look.
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Ok let's go over their features point by point.
Both products are priced near to each other until you get to the higher end plan. Although they are priced the same for the top non-enterprise plan, jobber allows for 30 users vs 9 at HCP.
Some business owners have told me that Field Service software is too expensive when you have just a couple employees. They prefer google calendar or spreadsheets or even pen and paper, however I would say that getting a real CRM is just what companies that want to grow do these days. If you're on the fence about it consider how much your time is worth. If you charge $50/hr+ for your services don't spend hours extra every week doing admin work. Invest in your future. Save what really matters - time.
Jobber wins this one through customization. Both software allow you to send estimates using prescribed products and pricing however, Jobber allows you to customize your email text so that you don't have to keep writing a new email every time you send a bid. Housecall Pro does allow you to add default text to bids, however this same text will appear on your invoices too. What?!
If you create a recurring job with Housecall Pro it assigns the invoice numbers ahead .. far ahead. We're talking a couple of years buddy. And it freezes the screen for like a minute while it messes up your invoice sequence. So when you send a new invoice it may be hundreds off the last one you sent as it already assigned the in-between numbers to future invoices you haven't even done the work for yet. Probably makes your customers think they are the only job you have cuz its been years and the invoice numbers don't skip. Another gripe I have with HCP is that when you click on the Invoices tab to see all your invoices you cannot click to open one. You can only open it from the job itself. Hmmm.
Jobber payments is super easy to set up. So is HCP's payments. This makes it easy to get paid. They both even offer instant deposits if you don't wanna wait 2 days (plus weekend) for the money. However HCP may make you submit 3 months of bank statements before approving your account for taking payments. They say it's the processors requirement. I know that both Jobber and HCP use Stripe to process payments. Jobber doesn't ask for bank statements. Makes you wonder why Stripe requires only HCP to do this. Hmmm.
Both products allow you to drag and drop and all that. That's a given these days. However the difference for me comes in the recurring jobs. When scheduling recurring jobs HCP seems buggy to someone not used to the way they do things. If you are fixing your schedule from a previous week, maybe adding or editing a recurring job, HCP acts strange. It may not schedule your first job if its in the past. Also when you make a change to one it may not ask to change all of the future ones to match. When you are dealing with a lot of recurring jobs that don't always get done on time this is very frustrating.
Online booking is available for both. But with Jobber a customer can request their preferred time but can't book directly to your calendar. I would imagine most service businesses would prefer not giving over control of their schedule to their site visitors. Daily scheduling needs change too rapidly to allow for that with my businesses.
Both Jobber and HCP automate followups on quotes, invoices and even review requests. They both integrate with reputation management software as well as Responsibid.
Jobber's reporting functions are WAAAYY better than Housecall Pro. HCP's reporting features are just bonkers. So much so that I'm not sure why Housecall even has a reports tab. I would be less frustrated it they didn't. Many of the important reports that should be in the reporting tab are on the dashboard tab. Come on guys. Jobber's reporting tab comes with dozens of reports out of the box. Including tax reporting. Housecall expects you to create the reports using confusing options that are not user-friendly and are even less comprehensive.
Although Jobber's employee time tracking functions work well, their time sheets are almost unusable. They don't even total employees hours for each week. Housecall's timesheet functions are slightly better than this but they inch ahead with their integration with Gusto.
Jobber and HCP both have an integration with Mailchimp for email and marketing. Jobbers integrates with Mailchimp's postcard marketing features as well. HCP's has a native postcard marketing function where the postcards are cheaper than Jobber's cards sent through Mailchimp. To be fair though Jobber has a native integration with SendJim which is about the same price as HCP's cards. You can also connect HCP to SendJim via Zapier. The winner here will come down to what workflow you value most. For either I would recommend using your own branded postcards.
Both companies have descent customer service after the fact when you run into issues., however one of them lets you pick up the phone and call them, no matter which plan you are on. That is Jobber.
I found that both companies provide a good onboarding experience. They're friendly and thorough. But this makes sense as they are trying to win your business. What really matters is what happens down the road.
Draw
Housecall Pro and Jobber both have good apps. I wish Housecall's looked a little better but it just needs a couple tweaks. Jobber's app doesn't show you a full month's schedule as a tech, but their contacts tab is better. HCP's punch in /out feature is not my favorite but it does give you the weeks hours total- usefull if you are an employee.
I'll make this simple. It's Jobber hands down. No surprise if you've read to this point. Jobber just outperforms Housecall Pro in nearly every area. It's a great team that continues to update their product in ways I never even expect. Honestly I have to step back and look big picture to see why anyone would use Housecall Pro over Jobber. It does do most of what a field service business needs. But it's pain points are very frustrating. If you'd like to give Jobber a try please use the link below. You won't regret it.
