Field Service Software for Small Trade Businesses

We cover what field service software is, the work it should handle from the first booking to the paid invoice, what to look for, how the common pricing models add up for a small team, and how to switch without losing your customer list. We make SixStack Relay, so we use it for the examples and say plainly where it fits and where it does not.

What is field service software?

Field service software is one system for the work a service business does at the customer's address. It holds your customers and their properties, the requests that come in, the quotes you send, the visits on the schedule, what the tech did on site, and the invoice and payment at the end. The office and the field look at the same job instead of passing it along by phone.

The test of good field service software is simple: can anyone on your team open a job and see what was asked for, what was agreed, who is going, what happened and whether it is paid, without calling someone?

Field service software vs. a calendar and spreadsheets

A shared calendar knows when something happens, not what. It does not know the customer approved option two of the quote, that the gate code changed, or that the invoice from last month is still open. Spreadsheets can hold all of that, but nobody updates them from a ladder. Field service software ties the time slot to the customer, the scope, the checklist and the money, and lets the tech update it from a phone.

Field service software vs. accounting software

Accounting software is where your books live: income, expenses, taxes and reports for your accountant. Field service software is where the jobs live. The two meet at the invoice and the payment. Most small businesses keep both and move payment records from one to the other. Relay, for example, exports payments to QuickBooks Online after you review the mapping. It is an export you run, not a live two-way sync.

Who needs it, and who does not yet

Working alone. If you do every job yourself, the payoff is time back in the evening. Customers book online instead of calling while you are under a sink, quotes go out from saved services in a minute, and the invoice is sent and paid before you leave the driveway. A one-user plan with every feature, like Relay's Solo plan at $59/month, is the right size.

Two to fifteen people. This is where software pays off fastest. As soon as one person books work and another person does it, information gets lost in between. Conflict checks, a shared schedule, required checklists and a dispatch map stop the double bookings and the "what did the customer say?" calls.

Larger or more complex operations. If you run several locations, a call center, commission plans for sales staff or inventory across warehouses, you may need heavier software with a heavier price and setup. That is the honest trade-off, and our ServiceTitan comparison goes through it.

You might not need field service software yet if you do a handful of jobs a week for repeat customers and get paid on the spot. A calendar and a notebook are fine until the day they are not, usually the day you hire someone.

The work it covers, end to end

Here is a job's path through field service software, step by step, with what each step looks like in Relay. Use it as a map when you look at any tool: if a step is missing, you will end up doing it on paper.

1. Requests and online booking

Work starts as a request: a phone call, a form on your website, or an online booking. All of them should land in one list where each request has an owner and a response deadline, so no lead waits without someone responsible for it. In Relay you add a booking button or request form to your own website, and calls your team types in sit in the same list. See requests and online booking.

2. Quotes customers sign online

A quote that sits in an inbox as a PDF is easy to ignore. A quote the customer can open, compare options on and sign from their phone gets answered. Look for quotes built from your own service catalog, good, better and best options, and an alert when the customer answers. In Relay each quote has a private link to view, download, approve and sign, Relay emails you when they answer, and revisions keep the earlier version on record. See quotes signed online.

3. Scheduling with conflict checks and recurring plans

The schedule is where most small businesses feel the pain first. You want day and week views, drag and drop, a warning before you double-book someone, and recurring plans for repeat work like weekly mowing, every-other-week cleans or quarterly pest service. Relay does all four, and one-way Google Calendar sync puts scheduled visits next to your personal appointments. See scheduling.

4. Dispatch map and suggested stop order

Once the day is booked, someone has to decide who goes where, in what order. A dispatch map shows every tech's stops, and a suggested stop order cuts the back-and-forth driving. In Relay the map suggests an order you can change, and each tech's My day lists the stops in that order with one tap to directions. It does not reroute crews while they drive.

5. A phone your techs will actually use

The field half of the software lives on the tech's phone, so it has to be fast and simple and work in a basement or a rural driveway. Relay runs in the phone's browser and can be added to the home screen. There is no app to download from an app store. When the signal drops, the tech keeps working, and saved steps and photos catch up when the phone is back online.

6. Required checklists, photos, parts and signatures

Callbacks and disputes usually come from a skipped step or a missing photo. Required checklists fix that: the visit cannot be marked complete until the required steps and photos are done. Good tools let techs mark up a photo to show what they found, record parts used and capture the customer's signature on site. Relay does all of that, and every visit ends with a work summary the office can read without calling the tech. See phone checklists and photos.

7. Invoices from approved quotes and card payments

Retyping a quote into an invoice is where mistakes and delays creep in. Look for invoices created straight from the approved quote and online card payment. In Relay customers pay by card through your own Stripe account, so the money goes to you and SixStack never holds your customers' funds. Unpaid invoice reminders can go out on their own. See invoices and card payments.

8. Customer emails and optional texting

Customers want to know you are coming and when. Automatic emails cover it: visit booked, the day-before reminder, on my way, thank you, visit time changed and unpaid invoice reminders. In Relay each one is off until you switch it on. Texting is optional and only on paid plans, with 250 customer texts a month included, and customers must agree to receive texts.

9. Memberships and maintenance plans

Maintenance plans smooth out the slow months: an HVAC comfort club, a quarterly pest plan, weekly pool care. You need a plan with a price, included visits and a member discount, and a way to see which included visits are coming due. Relay bills plans monthly or yearly and lists included visits that need booking.

10. Customer portal

A customer portal answers the "just checking" calls. Customers see their quotes, visits and invoices, approve work and pay without calling the office.

11. Time tracking, job profit and reports

Busy is not the same as profitable. When techs track time on each job and add the parts they used, you can see what each job made after labor and parts. Reports should show payments, quote close rate, response time and completed visits, and download as CSV for your bookkeeper. See reports.

12. Your brand and your team

Quotes and invoices with your logo and colors make a small business look established. Relay's brand kit puts them on quotes, invoices and receipts. Team roles keep things tidy as you grow: owners, managers and staff see what they need.

Field service software by trade

The job flow above is the same in every trade. What changes is the detail: the services you sell, the checklist steps that matter, and the kind of repeat work you do. Recurring route trades like lawn care, pool service and pest control lean on recurring plans and the suggested stop order. Repair trades like plumbing, HVAC and electrical lean on fast scheduling, signed options and equipment history. Project trades like roofing and landscaping lean on quotes with options and job profit.

See all industries, including what to do if your trade is not listed.

What to look for

Feature lists all look the same. These are the questions that separate a tool you will use from one you will cancel.

Does the field side work on a cheap phone with a weak signal? Ask your least technical tech to try it during the trial.
Can customers approve and sign quotes without creating an account? Every extra step costs you jobs.
Does it handle your repeat work? Recurring visits, maintenance plans and a way to see what is coming due.
Where does the card money go, and when? Know whose payment account it is and who handles refunds and disputes.
Is every feature in the plan you are pricing? Watch for add-ons for things like online booking, memberships or reports.
Can you get your data out? You should be able to export your records any time, without asking.
What happens when you add a person? Pricing that punishes hiring a helper will shape your decisions.

How field service software pricing works

Most field service software uses one of three models. None is wrong, but they add up very differently for a small team, so do the math for your headcount today and in two years.

Per user. You pay a set amount for every login. Simple at one or two people, but the bill grows with every hire, and owners end up sharing logins or keeping office staff off the system to save money.
Tiers. A cheaper plan with core features and pricier plans that unlock things like online booking, automations or reports. Check which tier has the features you listed above, not the one in the headline.
Flat with users included. One price covers a team of a set size, and you pay a smaller amount for each person beyond it. Your cost is predictable, and adding the office manager does not change the plan you are on.

Relay uses the last model with every feature on both plans. Solo is $59/month for one user. Team is $149/month with 5 users included, then $29/month for each added user. Here is what that comes to:

SixStack Relay monthly cost by team size
Team size	Plan	How it adds up	Per month
1 person	Solo	One user, every feature	$59
3 people	Team	5 users included	$149
5 people	Team	5 users included	$149
8 people	Team	$149 + 3 × $29	$236
12 people	Team	$149 + 7 × $29	$352

Prices in USD before tax. Customer card payments carry Stripe's processing fees on your own Stripe account.

To compare with a per-user tool, multiply its per-user price by your headcount, add any add-ons you would need, and check whether office staff count as users.

Costs to ask about before you sign

Card processing fees, and whether the vendor adds its own fee on top of the processor's.
Texting: how many messages are included and what each extra message costs.
Setup or onboarding fees, and whether onboarding is required.
Contract length and what it costs to cancel early.
Price changes when your trial or first-year discount ends.

With Relay there is a 30-day free trial with no card required, no setup fee and no contract. See pricing for the full details.

Switching from another tool

The biggest fear about switching is losing your customer history. In practice, the customer list is what matters most, and it moves with a CSV file.

Export your customers from your current tool as a CSV file. Relay shows the export steps for Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan.
Import the file into Relay and check that the columns match before anything is saved: names, phones, emails, addresses and notes.
Merge any duplicates side by side. You pick what to keep, and the history moves to one record.
Run new jobs in Relay for a week while you finish open jobs in the old tool, then cancel the old subscription.

Comparing the big names

Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan are the names most owners know. Each is a capable product aimed at a slightly different business. Our comparison pages go through features, pricing models and fit side by side, including where those tools are the better choice.

A checklist for choosing

Use this during any free trial. If a tool cannot do one of these with a real job, cross it off.

A customer books online and the request shows up with an owner.
You send a quote with two or three options and the customer signs it on a phone.
You book the visit and the software warns you about a conflict.
You set up one recurring visit for a repeat customer.
Your least technical tech finishes a checklist with a required photo on their own phone.
The approved quote becomes an invoice without retyping.
A test card payment lands in your own payment account.
You import your customer list from a CSV file.
You can export your data any time.
You know the monthly price for your team today and with two more people.
There is no contract, or you are comfortable with its terms.

Getting started in your first week

Day 1: Start the trial, pick your trade so the template adds your services, checklists and quote options, and change the prices to yours.
Day 2: Import your customers from a CSV file and add your logo and colors with the brand kit.
Day 3: Edit one checklist so it matches how your best tech does the job. Make the photos that matter required.
Day 4: Send a real quote and get it signed online. Put the booking button on your website.
Day 5: Schedule next week in Relay, invite your team, and have each tech add Relay to their home screen.

By the end of the week you will know whether it fits, with real jobs rather than a demo. Start your free trial when you are ready.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between field service software and a CRM?

A CRM tracks contacts and sales conversations. Field service software does that and runs the job itself: the quote, the schedule, the checklist on site, the invoice and the payment.

Do I need field service software if I work alone?

Not always, but it saves evenings. Online booking, quick quotes and card payments on the spot cut the paperwork. Relay's Solo plan is $59/month for one user with every feature.

Does SixStack Relay have an app?

Relay runs in the phone's browser and can be added to the home screen, so it opens like an app. There is no App Store or Play Store download. Work saved without a signal catches up when the phone reconnects.

Can I move my customers from Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan?

Yes. Export your customers as a CSV file and import them into Relay. Relay shows the export steps for each tool and lets you check the column matches before you import.

How do card payments work?

You connect your own Stripe account. Customers pay invoices by card online, and the money goes to your Stripe account. SixStack never holds your customers' payments.

Is texting included?

Texting is optional and available on paid plans, with 250 customer texts a month included. It is not available during the free trial. Automatic customer emails are included on every plan.

How much does it cost to add users?

Team is $149/month with 5 users included. Each added user is $29/month. Solo is $59/month for one user.

Is there a contract or setup fee?

No. There is a 30-day free trial with no card required, no setup fee and no contract. Cancel any time and export your data whenever you like.