Field service software is judged on one thing: whether the right technician arrives at the right address with the right information. Everything else — invoicing, inventory, customer portal — is secondary until scheduling and dispatch work.
Core capabilities by team size
| Team size | What you need | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| 1–5 technicians | Calendar, job notes, photos, invoicing | $30–$60/user/month |
| 6–20 | Dispatch board, route order, customer notifications | $50–$120/user/month |
| 20+ | Optimisation, inventory, SLA reporting, API | $100+/user/month |
Scheduling versus dispatch
Scheduling assigns work to a day. Dispatch decides the order and handles the exceptions: the emergency call, the technician who finishes early, the job that needs a part. Software that only does scheduling looks fine in a demo and fails on a busy Monday. Test the dispatch board with a deliberately messy day before buying.
Mobile experience decides adoption
Technicians will not fill in a twelve-field form in a driveway. Look for job notes that work offline, photo capture that compresses before upload, and a signature flow that takes seconds. If the app needs a strong signal to open, it will be abandoned in the first week.
What drives cost up
- Route optimisation modules, often priced per vehicle
- Inventory and parts tracking with barcode support
- Customer portal and automated notifications
- Integration with accounting or ERP systems
Implementation reality
A five-technician business can be live in a week: import customers, set job types, configure two forms, train on a single device. A twenty-technician operation with inventory and accounting integration should plan four to eight weeks, including a pilot with two crews.
FAQ
Do we need route optimisation?
Above roughly eight vehicles with dense daily routes, it usually pays for itself in fuel and overtime. Below that, a sensible manual order is enough.
Can it replace our accounting software?
It can invoice, but most businesses keep accounting separate and integrate. Running payroll and tax from field service software is usually a compromise.
How do we handle emergency jobs?
Reserve capacity in the dispatch board and define an escalation rule. Software cannot create time; it can only show you where it exists.
What about offline work?
Test it explicitly. Install the app, disable data, complete a job, and re-enable. If notes or photos are lost, the tool is not ready for your routes.